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Just an FYI to those of you who use control channel decoding software like UniTrunker or Trunk88: It has been 10 years already that Hennepin County has been on ARMER, and as such, they are replacing much of their portable radio fleet of XTS5000's and migrating to APX6000 and 7000 portable radios.
For example, the specific radio ID you have logged for a Hennepin County Sheriff deputy, will no longer be that same radio ID once they get their new radios and I assume that as all agencies that get their radios serviced by the Hennepin County tower get them replaced over the next year or two, you will see a lot of changes.
Mobile radios were installed about a year or two later and will also be replaced on the 10 year cycle, so they will also be coming down the line. I am not sure if they are going to continue replacing their ASTRO Spectras with XTL2500's like they have been doing over the past 4 years, or if they will migrate to the APX Mobile radio series.
The XTS series of radios will be discontinued in 2015, so everyone will have to be migrating to APX or whatever flavor or radio they decide to go with at the time. One of the features of the APX radios is that they support Project 25 Phase II, which is a TDMA (versus Phase I's FDMA) based system that uses a 6.25 khz bandwidth, which would effectively double the capacity of ARMER, but at current, ARMER has plenty of growth before they run out of 800 MHz pairs in my understanding.
As a side note to criminals, these new radios are smaller, 1/2 the weight and the audio quality is noticeably superior to their XTS predecessors, so expect less success in the future. I've been using an APX6000 for about a week now, and they are amazing!
For example, the specific radio ID you have logged for a Hennepin County Sheriff deputy, will no longer be that same radio ID once they get their new radios and I assume that as all agencies that get their radios serviced by the Hennepin County tower get them replaced over the next year or two, you will see a lot of changes.
Mobile radios were installed about a year or two later and will also be replaced on the 10 year cycle, so they will also be coming down the line. I am not sure if they are going to continue replacing their ASTRO Spectras with XTL2500's like they have been doing over the past 4 years, or if they will migrate to the APX Mobile radio series.
The XTS series of radios will be discontinued in 2015, so everyone will have to be migrating to APX or whatever flavor or radio they decide to go with at the time. One of the features of the APX radios is that they support Project 25 Phase II, which is a TDMA (versus Phase I's FDMA) based system that uses a 6.25 khz bandwidth, which would effectively double the capacity of ARMER, but at current, ARMER has plenty of growth before they run out of 800 MHz pairs in my understanding.
As a side note to criminals, these new radios are smaller, 1/2 the weight and the audio quality is noticeably superior to their XTS predecessors, so expect less success in the future. I've been using an APX6000 for about a week now, and they are amazing!