Trunking Radio System Grants

[sjmars0x]

Folks,

I actively ride on a volunteer rescue squad and fire department (separate organizations, same borough) in central New Jersey. For a few years, we have been applying for grants to convert to a trunking radio system, as our county has one in place, but we don't have the money to do it ourselves.

Any information on any possible grant out there for a motorola type II smartzone network that I could apply for would be awesome!

[Grog]

Why do you think you need one? Actually, just how much activity do you even have?

The federal cookie cutters won't be passing out valuable frequencies just because someone thinks it's cool to have a radio go blippity blip before talking on it.

[RolnCode3]

Good luck. Lots of work involved. Especially for something like an entire radio system. And it's not usually done upfront. From what I've read the agency usually has to put up the money (or significant portion of) and will be reimbursed later.

http://www.grants.gov/
http://www.nlectc.org/justnet.html

[jim202]

You would be much better off trying to obtain money for just your mobile and portable needs to ride on
the existing county trunking system. I would talk with them about working out some agreement.

You can't justify a license for just your agency for a trunking system. Besides that, you will probably
find that there are a lack of available trunking channels.

Jim

Originally Posted by sjmars0x

Folks,

I actively ride on a volunteer rescue squad and fire department (separate organizations, same borough) in central New Jersey. For a few years, we have been applying for grants to convert to a trunking radio system, as our county has one in place, but we don't have the money to do it ourselves.

Any information on any possible grant out there for a motorola type II smartzone network that I could apply for would be awesome!

[skywatch]

We asked, and got it, MotoTrbo system, link to the state DPS system 2-mtr ham radio, and a sat phone. all for the asking. Just talk to your homeland security rep. Lots of paperwork but it's worth it.

[Grog]

Originally Posted by skywatch

We asked, and got it, MotoTrbo system, link to the state DPS system 2-mtr ham radio, and a sat phone. all for the asking. Just talk to your homeland security rep. Lots of paperwork but it's worth it.

It's a shame you didn't actually buy anything that was meant for public safety use

[KS4VT]

Originally Posted by sjmars0x

Any information on any possible grant out there for a motorola type II smartzone network that I could apply for would be awesome!

Motorola no longer sells Type II smartzone or expansions to current systems. The only components that are still available are Gold Elite consoles and that is only until December of this year.

Motorola now only sells P25 trunking to public safety agencies, but Type II subscribers wil be available until 2015 or 2016.

[Unitrunker]

Originally Posted by KS4VT

Motorola now only sells P25 trunking to public safety agencies, but Type II subscribers wil be available until 2015 or 2016.

EF Johnson will likely continue to sell their Type II compatible radios beyond this date.

[jon_k]

Originally Posted by KS4VT

Motorola no longer sells Type II smartzone or expansions to current systems. The only components that are still available are Gold Elite consoles and that is only until December of this year.

Motorola now only sells P25 trunking to public safety agencies, but Type II subscribers wil be available until 2015 or 2016.

Why did they stop selling the older system? Because the repeaters don't cost half a million dollars as the digital repeaters usually cost? I sometimes wonder if digital is necessary.

[KS4VT]

The digital systems utilize the same repeaters as the analog systems - the Quantar.

As to why, its called third party equipment suppliers, or so I'm told. The contracts to supply the equipment have expired and these companies have moved onto building newer technologies. Also the newer IP based systems require less equipment than the older analog generation systems.

Mark