VA State Police MDT

[KD4REL]

When did Virgina State Police install Mobile Data Terminals (MDT or KDT) in their vehicles? I saw a State PD car last night with one in his vehicle. It was the first I had ever seen.

I was not aware they had ability with their current frequencies to use a MDT. What frequency(s) does it use to function?

 

[Samuel]

They have had them for awhile now but they are still fairly new as I recall. I believe they operate through a Wireless LAN operated by a contractor like Verizon or another provider. Motorhead would know more than me so hopefully he can confirm this...

 

[Oxyg3n]

You are correct, The MDT's Operated on Verizons "CDPD" software however as of Jan 1 06 they now use "CDMA" with "wireless" cards inserted in each mdt. Stars is different, it works off of a "Data" signal that has been provided by Motorola.

 

[John]

Vsp Mdt

Just to add a little more confusion, we have several VSP units in our area that have MDTs that operate on our city 800 mhz (conventional) data system. This system is owned by the city but shared with the county and a local town. The state has about 15 troopers with IDs on our system that can sign in. I am not sure how many cars they equipped. The biggest advantge of this for them is getting all our BOLO notices since they are generally only done via MDT and not aired. This system was done prior to the CDPD system coming online for VSP.

There are certainly advantages to having a dedicated "public safety" system that doesn't rely on cellular coverage but getting coverage on as wide an area as VSP needs would be cost prohibitive.... unless it was part of a large system... like STARS.

As mentioned, STARS should replace it all.

John

 

[K4APR]

I just spent the last 3 days at Fort Lewis, Poor and Crowells Gap PM'ing the Roanoke trunked sites and part of it was checking out the data Quantar stations that talk RDLAP to the Roanoke in-car computers. Pretty awesome system at 19.2 speed.

 

[eweiner]

Actually, VSP uses Verizon Wireless CDMA. CDPD was phased out almost a year ago.

However, as part of the STARS system, VSP will be moving from the VZW network (running about 128kbs) to MOSCAD which will run them at about 9.6kbs. I was talking to the lead MDT engineer with VSP a while back and it seems taht they just taked on data to the RFP when it went out for the entire STARS system - nveer really thought it through.

 

[Navycop]

I hear alot of static on VSP freq 458.3500 and on smart traffic 47.2800. Why is that?
All the other VSP freqs come in clear. I am using a PRO-93.