radioman2001
Member
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Which ones were these? The DC ones?
DC Key yes, they had 3 or 4 levels of signal quality (I forget), based on the quality a combination of 2 different tones would also go down the phone line to let the comparator know which had the better signal. IMO it never really worked well, it seemed to pick the first one and lock, though I think that might have been jumper selectable. The levels were set by different squelch controls for each. You had to set them on the receiver that it came with, slightly different variations in squelch levels made it impossible to just set them all on the bench. Then you had differences in the phone line levels unless you paid for a conditioned line. The selected receiver could be the best signal but low or higher audio.
I think I threw out all those comparators I had a long time ago. I still have a few Spectra Tac ones with DES, they are twice the the size, and use different cards or SQM's. I still use it at Alpine as a way to select different DES codes kinda like a community repeater.
For Spectra Tac you also had selectable transmit steering which was terrible, never worked right always selected the wrong transmitter. Yonkers PD had them we pulled those cards right after we got the contract.
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NYC NEVER had "standard" anything. When everyone else was sold on console priority, NYPD wanted SUBSCRIBER priority so they could interrupt the dispatcher.
I don't think that was true, NYPD had custom made consoles by ??? Maybe even the radio shop made them, I know their alert tone was made in the NYPD radio shop and is very distinctive. The dispatcher could over ride the subscriber, and you could hear the unit calling in the background from the dispatchers microphone.
I am not familiar with Bergen's system, but the old Centracom I consoles had a card in them if ordered called a LOS card (very interesting card that looked at the audio and if it was symetrical it would mute) that muted the Modat. Most of Westchester County departments had them, from the old LEAA funded systems which was to move all PD radios on a common band of VHF. Sound familiar?
Which ones were these? The DC ones?
DC Key yes, they had 3 or 4 levels of signal quality (I forget), based on the quality a combination of 2 different tones would also go down the phone line to let the comparator know which had the better signal. IMO it never really worked well, it seemed to pick the first one and lock, though I think that might have been jumper selectable. The levels were set by different squelch controls for each. You had to set them on the receiver that it came with, slightly different variations in squelch levels made it impossible to just set them all on the bench. Then you had differences in the phone line levels unless you paid for a conditioned line. The selected receiver could be the best signal but low or higher audio.
I think I threw out all those comparators I had a long time ago. I still have a few Spectra Tac ones with DES, they are twice the the size, and use different cards or SQM's. I still use it at Alpine as a way to select different DES codes kinda like a community repeater.
For Spectra Tac you also had selectable transmit steering which was terrible, never worked right always selected the wrong transmitter. Yonkers PD had them we pulled those cards right after we got the contract.
Quote"
NYC NEVER had "standard" anything. When everyone else was sold on console priority, NYPD wanted SUBSCRIBER priority so they could interrupt the dispatcher.
I don't think that was true, NYPD had custom made consoles by ??? Maybe even the radio shop made them, I know their alert tone was made in the NYPD radio shop and is very distinctive. The dispatcher could over ride the subscriber, and you could hear the unit calling in the background from the dispatchers microphone.
I am not familiar with Bergen's system, but the old Centracom I consoles had a card in them if ordered called a LOS card (very interesting card that looked at the audio and if it was symetrical it would mute) that muted the Modat. Most of Westchester County departments had them, from the old LEAA funded systems which was to move all PD radios on a common band of VHF. Sound familiar?
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