Airwaves Users

[vk2dmr]

I would be interested to hear from users (and listeners) of the Airwaves TETRA system as to how it is going and any user feedback on the system and the handsets (both Motorola and SEPURA).

The interest is both personal and professional as my company manufactures a wide range of accessories for bothe the Motorola and Sepura portable handets.

Denis McKay
McKay Associates P/L
www.mckayassociates.com.au

 

[2e0aiv]

Airwave

I will be getting the new Tetra Motorola system in March 2005 - my training for it is in Jan 05 - If you email me - i will give you a rundown from the users point of view after i have had a chance to play with all the new features and can evaluate it professionally - As for Listeners - I doubt for the forseeable future you will have many people in the UK able to listen in to the Police System as it is digitally encrypted, trunked and in the Microwave bands for frequencies. I have the handbook on pdf for the handsets we are getting and if you require a copy i will email it to you - just drop me you email address - and i will do what i can for you

Cheers
Andy
2E0AIV

 

[morfis]

Re: Airwave

- As for Listeners - I doubt for the forseeable future you will have many people in the UK able to listen in to the Police System as it is digitally encrypted, trunked and in the Microwave bands for frequencies. I have the handbook on pdf for the handsets we are getting and if you require a copy i will email it to you - just drop me you email address - and i will do what i can for you

Cheers
Andy
2E0AIV

Encryption will stop people listening.......not the fact that it is trunked (it is an open standard system) nor the frequencies used (which aren't microwaves except for links between main mast sites?)

 

[2e0aiv]

Airwave

Having used the system for some time now - i am not impressed - coverage is poor and there are many problems with the software in these handsets - although encrypted and therefore secure - getting use out of the system is hindered by other callers cutting out your fuctions on the handsets - at least the old VHF/UHF system could be heard and used - frankly if someone offered you a mobile phone with all these facilities i personally would not accept - overall - very poor system - not all it was cracked up to be - would not recommend other users to upgrade to Tetra until they have sorted all the problems out

 

[Raccon]

Having used the system for some time now - i am not impressed - coverage is poor and there are many problems with the software in these handsets - although encrypted and therefore secure - getting use out of the system is hindered by other callers cutting out your fuctions on the handsets - at least the old VHF/UHF system could be heard and used - frankly if someone offered you a mobile phone with all these facilities i personally would not accept - overall - very poor system - not all it was cracked up to be - would not recommend other users to upgrade to Tetra until they have sorted all the problems out

Can you provide more details about your experience with the system and radios used? Saying that you do not recommend TETRA is like recommending not buying any laptop based on experience with one make; there are several TETRA vendors for systems and radios, and not all are bad.
In fact some network get lot's of positive feedback, proof that the TETRA standard can deliver.

 

[2e0aiv]

UK Police Forces to dump Tetra in 2016?

Feature: Airwave Could Be Replaced | UK Police News - Police Oracle

I think the comments from this article confirm my original post back in 2006 - The system was a case of NOT listening to the users of the system and buying into the Govt Hype that forced the UK police forces to buy a sub-standard system, which frankly was not up to scratch and is still not.

 

[mlmummert]

You revived an 8 year old thread?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Raccon]

The only definitive timescale of the programme is that a system must be ready when the current Airwave contract ENDS in 2016. [...]

Good luck with that. Building a nation-wide system based on a new technology within 3 years that solves all the problems Airwave has seems a bit of a challenge, to say the least.

 

[Pete_uk]

It won't happen. TETRA is a European wide (except France, of course) system brought in to do European wide things. Until the EU brings in TETRA 2 or whatever, we will stay with it. Then there is the cost...

I expect the next generation of emergency comms will be some fancy IP based network.

 

[Raccon]

It won't happen. TETRA is a European wide (except France, of course) system brought in to do European wide things. Until the EU brings in TETRA 2 or whatever, we will stay with it. Then there is the cost...

TETRA 2, or more correctly TETRA Release 2 already exists, it includes for example TEDS (TETRA Enhanced Data Service).

I expect the next generation of emergency comms will be some fancy IP based network.

That is likely going to be PMR over LTE, possibly with TETRA (for voice/SDS) and LTE (for data) running in parallel during the transition phase.

 

[car55]

The police in the UK are now encrypted but the fire and EMS are not .

No scanner can monitor the fire or EMS.Even if the police ,fire and EMS used analog system it is illegal.

Scanners for most part are illegal in the UK.Where in the US you can well monitor every thing but cell phones being illegal.So even before in the past when the police,fire and EMS used old analog system it was illegal to monitor them.

The laws in the UK are very different than the US or Canada.

 

[Pete_uk]

The police in the UK are now encrypted but the fire and EMS are not .

I doubt the fire/ambulance are not, but I don't have any proof of that!

 

[rapidcharger]

"Public safety organisations in America are leading the field when it comes to LTE of their communications systems. A nationwide public safety broadband system for all emergency services in each state is progressing following $7million of federal funding."

You REALLY don't want to follow our lead in this department.
Our rush to do all this is a result of corruption and corporations influencing politicians who buy radio systems. Our advancements in public safety radio systems haven't made us any safer and they sure as heck haven't made agencies more interoperable (quite the contrary).

The nationwide 700 LTE plan is a joke. $7 million? What is $7 million supposed to do? That's not even enough to pay for a feasibility study.

I'm not a fan of outsourcing to cell phone companies but this is actually one area that privatization would be beneficial. I believe it would be considerably cheaper than the radio systems that have been put into place in the past 10 years but that'll never happen. The war profiteers will never let that happen. Saving money isn't the goal. Spending as much money as possible is the goal.

Do yourselves a favor and if there are public meetings over there, attend them and rather than point at America and say "We should follow their example"... Instead point at America and say "Those are mistakes we need to avoid!"

We'll have to revisit this in another 8 years and see where you're at.

 

[francisuk29]

I expect the next generation of emergency comms will be some fancy IP based network.

Every company will go like this, Look at the MOTOTRBO Capacity Plus feature