New Jersey Interoperability Communication System (NJICS)

[HM1529]

It's so rare that a little birdie once told me that even the APX mobiles in NJSP cars are only programmed with the 800 MHz system. I believe that info was from two or three years ago, so it may not still hold true. However, given the rarity with which the NJSP talkgroups are heard on most sites of the 700 MHz system, and with extremely few affiliations by NJSP subscriber IDs, it would seem to still be the case by and large.

Good to know. Maybe I’ll clear some stuff out of the G5 then.

 

[craneoperator99]

Anyone know what's going on with MICCOM?
Their TG 4647 has been active for months now off of the Ramapo site, but it appears that only units based out of St. Joes, Chilton, and some from Hackensack are using it.

Whenever dispatch keys up on the ICS TG the transmission will be multicasted on 155.175, but never vice-versa or for the individual units' transmissions.

 

[Murenovich]

It's so rare that a little birdie once told me that even the APX mobiles in NJSP cars are only programmed with the 800 MHz system. I believe that info was from two or three years ago, so it may not still hold true. However, given the rarity with which the NJSP talkgroups are heard on most sites of the 700 MHz system, and with extremely few affiliations by NJSP subscriber IDs, it would seem to still be the case by and large.

I get a ton of NJSP traffic on the Union County Simulcast. 4-Comm Troop B, 2-Comm Parkway North, 3-Comm Parkway Central, 3-Comm Turnpike North are the most common ones I get regular traffic on. My Unitrunker has over 2675 hits on 4-Comm alone in the last 5 days

 

[GTR8000]

I get a ton of NJSP traffic on the Union County Simulcast. 4-Comm Troop B, 2-Comm Parkway North, 3-Comm Parkway Central, 3-Comm Turnpike North are the most common ones I get regular traffic on. My Unitrunker has over 2675 hits on 4-Comm alone in the last 5 days

There are definitely exceptions, with the northeast area of the state being one of them. There are NJSP detectives that have APX portables on the 700 system, in particular the Auto Theft and Street Crimes/Suppression units, and especially for the West Orange and Union County simulcast cells.

I would be curious, however, as to how many radios are actually affiliating with the 700 system on a regular basis. It could be just a handful or so that are affiliating, which of course would cause the SmartZone traffic to be simulcast on those 700 sites. I suspect that those listening to 4-Comm on the 700 system would notice that almost all of the transmissions are originally analog from the 800 system (they sound pretty lousy), as opposed to first generation P25 audio inbound to a 700 site.

 

[Murenovich]

There are definitely exceptions, with the northeast area of the state being one of them. There are NJSP detectives that have APX portables on the 700 system, in particular the Auto Theft and Street Crimes/Suppression units, and especially for the West Orange and Union County simulcast cells.

I would be curious, however, as to how many radios are actually affiliating with the 700 system on a regular basis. It could be just a handful or so that are affiliating, which of course would cause the SmartZone traffic to be simulcast on those 700 sites. I suspect that those listening to 4-Comm on the 700 system would notice that almost all of the transmissions are originally analog from the 800 system (they sound pretty lousy), as opposed to first generation P25 audio inbound to a 700 site.

Ill start watching the Unit ID's and see whose affiliating on the regular. I have noticed that some of the audio is crappy sometimes but normally its pretty clear.

I was under the impression the simulcast of the talkgroups was all done at the controller so it's like a true patch. The audio gets transmitted on both the 800 and the 700 one in analog one in digital so you dont get weird distortion between the two, but im not as familiar with the technical side of things to confirm that myself just what ive picked up over time.

 

[GTR8000]

I was under the impression the simulcast of the talkgroups was all done at the controller so it's like a true patch. The audio gets transmitted on both the 800 and the 700 one in analog one in digital so you dont get weird distortion between the two, but im not as familiar with the technical side of things to confirm that myself just what ive picked up over time.

The two systems are linked via SmartX site converters:

The SmartX Site Converter provides the interface between the SmartZone system and the ASTRO 25 core. It translates SmartZone analog and digital audio into vocoded IP packetized audio, and then passes the audio on to the ASTRO 25 core.

In a nutshell, the device creates a permanent hardware patch between the two systems. However you still have the issue of analog vs digital. With the exception of the digital talkgroups on the 800 system, every other talkgroup is analog. That means that the radios themselves are analog, and so that analog audio still has to be converted to P25 audio before it goes out over the 700 system. The reverse is also true, whereby anyone talking in on the 700 system is digital, and so that must be converted to analog before going out over the 800 system.

The bottom line is that it's never going to be very good sounding audio when patching between either system, no matter how good the linking hardware is. The only talkgroups that sound similar on both systems and have minimal loss of audio fidelity are the ones that are already using the P25 CAI on the 800 system, e.g. the DRJTBC and DEP F&W talkgroups.

 

[Murenovich]

The two systems are linked via SmartX site converters:

In a nutshell, the device creates a permanent hardware patch between the two systems. However you still have the issue of analog vs digital. With the exception of the digital talkgroups on the 800 system, every other talkgroup is analog. That means that the radios themselves are analog, and so that analog audio still has to be converted to P25 audio before it goes out over the 700 system. The reverse is also true, whereby anyone talking in on the 700 system is digital, and so that must be converted to analog before going out over the 800 system.

The bottom line is that it's never going to be very good sounding audio when patching between either system, no matter how good the linking hardware is. The only talkgroups that sound similar on both systems and have minimal loss of audio fidelity are the ones that are already using the P25 CAI on the 800 system, e.g. the DRJTBC and DEP F&W talkgroups.

That makes sense thanks for clearing it all up for me.

 

[mondaro]

Anyone know what's going on with MICCOM?
Their TG 4647 has been active for months now off of the Ramapo site, but it appears that only units based out of St. Joes, Chilton, and some from Hackensack are using it.

Whenever dispatch keys up on the ICS TG the transmission will be multicasted on 155.175, but never vice-versa or for the individual units' transmissions.

I don't think MICOMM knows either, LOL - Charlie Foxtrot if you ask me.

 

[de784]

I am going to be up in the Edsion area do I just use the Rutgers University site for that are?
Thanks

 

[W2SJW]

No, use the Hunterdon Simulcast. The Rutgers site is primarily for the college, NBFD, & MedCentral. The college is 99.9% encrypted anyway.

You will hear a lot more on Hunterdon.

 

[rr60]

I get a ton of NJSP traffic on the Union County Simulcast. 4-Comm Troop B, 2-Comm Parkway North, 3-Comm Parkway Central, 3-Comm Turnpike North are the most common ones I get regular traffic on. My Unitrunker has over 2675 hits on 4-Comm alone in the last 5 days

I have not heard B2-5 for sometime on any of the 700 sites. Do you concur?

 

[Murenovich]

I have not heard B2-5 for sometime on any of the 700 sites. Do you concur?

I cannot say I’ve seen any traffic on B2-5 on the 700 sites yet. I’ll have to dig through my Unitrunker but off the top of my head I do concur I haven’t seen much of any traffic from B2-5.

 

[W2SJW]

B2-5 was heard on Hunterdon as of last weekend. I normally park my SDS on that site in search of unidentifed TG's & heard it for quite a number of hours...

 

[Murenovich]

I have no traffic for B2-5 on the Union County Site so I don’t hear them. I don’t get the hunterdon site where I am.

 

[W2SJW]

Still on Hunterdon this morning (and I'm picking them up out here in Bethlehem, PA).

 

[665_NJ]

Clifton Reconsiders to go to NJICS

Keep an eye on this one.

Apparently the City of Clifton Police Department has reconsidered and is now planning to switch their operations to the NJICS.

I have it on a good source who is an OEM coordinator and local (to me), has Motorola working on their Police communications system. Reported their Motorola Techs and Sales persons reported to him, Clifton has or is in the process of purchasing and installing NJICS radio equipment in their HQ and vehicles. I don't have a time frame when the switch over will be completed. However, It seems the town wants to switch over stealth fully! This is something that does not surprise me. The Passaic County Sheriff is a former Clifton PD captain, and since PCSD is already on the NJICS along with Little Falls PD and Clifton also covers Little Falls with its Health Department. There may have been pressure or more like strong recommendations for Clifton to switch. To be continued

Clifton Police Reconsiders to go to NJICS: Update

Reliable sources have confirmed, The City of Clifton is indeed going forward to move their police communications to the NJICS P25 Type II trunk system by the end of the 4Q of 2019.
Transition window is planned to start in the summer months of 2019 and to be completed by the end of the year.
Preliminary plans have PD yielding their 2 VHF Repeater Channels over to the Clifton Fire Dept. That would have Clifton Fire having 4 VHF repeater channels. Perhaps FD will dedicate one or two Channels to EMS Dispatch and operations, however at this point all of this only conjecture and speculation. Time will only tell. "Keep an ear on this one."

 

[craneoperator99]

Clifton Police Reconsiders to go to NJICS: Update

Reliable sources have confirmed, The City of Clifton is indeed going forward to move their police communications to the NJICS P25 Type II trunk system by the end of the 4Q of 2019.
Transition window is planned to start in the summer months of 2019 and to be completed by the end of the year.
Preliminary plans have PD yielding their 2 VHF Repeater Channels over to the Clifton Fire Dept. That would have Clifton Fire having 4 VHF repeater channels. Perhaps FD will dedicate one or two Channels to EMS Dispatch and operations, however at this point all of this only conjecture and speculation. Time will only tell. "Keep an ear on this one."

Any word on whether or not we'll see/hear the fateful E?

 

[665_NJ]

Any word on whether or not we'll see/hear the fateful E?

In Preliminary planning stages no "word" yet.

 

[Murenovich]

Still on Hunterdon this morning (and I'm picking them up out here in Bethlehem, PA).

I am getting them here as well at work on the West Orange Simulcast. Wonder why none of the 5-comm units in the union county area havent been on the 700 or haven't affiliated with the union site.

 

[APX8000]

I can tell you from experience that those specialized units that have APX6000s from NJSP on the ICS would have to force (site scan) the radio manually to get on Union vs West Orange. Might have to do with the fact that Union gives priority to their county users as they just share the State Core and the APX has preferred sites set up in the codeplug with Union not being one of them. Also has to do with the amount of APX radios that are out there for regular marked unit as I can confirm that the APX in a newer unmarked ONLY has the Smartzone system and no ICS programmed in. And finally, it has to do with those specialized units with APX radios affiliating to that talkgroup. Most of the time they are on the INV talkgroups (B2-21 and up).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk