Here's the way I see it.
Kinnelon PD use a 6 site, IPSC, UHF, system with Gen 1 XPR6550s. They have used this system for a few years now and they are happy with their system. It gives them coverage around the entire town and for the most part, it is good when it works well. Sometimes officers have to manually switch sites because they are just out of range of the site they automatically connected to. I see that as a training thing not a radio problem. Now here's where we get to the problems. When we had the storm one of the sites went out and PD lost all communications in that area. Then there was a medical call there and PD on scene couldn't be reached and the ambo had no coverage in that area on their frequency. At one point, none of the sites were connected together and every site was like it's own repeater. Well now no one can call dispatch unless they are on the same site as dispatch.
Bloomingdale PD use a 3 site, IPSC, UHF, system with Gen 2 XPR3500es. They just switched to their IPSC system in the last 6 months and I don't think they are too happy with it. They seem to have coverage issues in town and one of the sites always seems to have a problem with it. There are times where I can hear units on 1 site but dead silent on another. Almost like the site loses connection somehow and just goes down. Radio shop came and "fixed it" but the problem persists AFAIK. They also reported that they didn't have coverage inside a structure right across the street from the site. This is probably because they were right under the site and the antenna was 35 feet above their heads. The radio company came out, did some tests, and probably told them there isn't much they can do about it.
IMHO the BIGGEST problem with IPSC and public safety is the time it takes for the radio to connect to a site. When you power the radio on, it immediately starts looking for a site. Depending on the beacon of the sites, it could be 5 seconds then it connects or it could be 30 seconds and then it connects. Imagine being an officer taking fire and needing to wait 30 seconds to call for backup. But wait... it gets better. When the radio goes out of range of a site the radio needs to not get signal for 1 MINUTE before it says "I'm out of range of a site, maybe I should look for another one" and imagine that same radio now also has to wait 30 seconds before it connects to a different site. That's 1 minute and 30 seconds between the radio going out of range and connecting to a new, closer site. For public safety, this is unacceptable. Especially considering that officers are constantly driving and moving and changing sites. Let's give an example, An officer is in a pursuit and is in the middle of a site change. Suddenly the car stops and the suspect runs. The radio is changing a site and the officer goes to key up to give his location. *BONK* Now what? He has to wait for the radio to pick a site and connect to it or manually look at his radio and switch to the site that he thinks is closest to him.
This also partly has to do with what the radio shops program the repeaters for. They could do a beacon every 5 seconds or every minute. Too fast and the radios might spaz out between sites, too slow and you are going to be waiting for a while to be reconnecting to a site. Kinnelon have every 10 seconds which IMHO is reasonable. Bloomingdale on the other hand, 30 seconds.
Whether a department use DMR or P25 or analog, there needs to be training with radios. Officers can't just be handed a radio and expected to know how to use it. I have seen officers struggle with why their radio wasn't connecting and if they were told "this is what happens" they would have an understanding. Going from an analog repeater to a 3 site DMR system is a big change. Going from analog to a county wide P25 trunking system is a big change.
Kinnelon PD use a 6 site, IPSC, UHF, system with Gen 1 XPR6550s. They have used this system for a few years now and they are happy with their system. It gives them coverage around the entire town and for the most part, it is good when it works well. Sometimes officers have to manually switch sites because they are just out of range of the site they automatically connected to. I see that as a training thing not a radio problem. Now here's where we get to the problems. When we had the storm one of the sites went out and PD lost all communications in that area. Then there was a medical call there and PD on scene couldn't be reached and the ambo had no coverage in that area on their frequency. At one point, none of the sites were connected together and every site was like it's own repeater. Well now no one can call dispatch unless they are on the same site as dispatch.
Bloomingdale PD use a 3 site, IPSC, UHF, system with Gen 2 XPR3500es. They just switched to their IPSC system in the last 6 months and I don't think they are too happy with it. They seem to have coverage issues in town and one of the sites always seems to have a problem with it. There are times where I can hear units on 1 site but dead silent on another. Almost like the site loses connection somehow and just goes down. Radio shop came and "fixed it" but the problem persists AFAIK. They also reported that they didn't have coverage inside a structure right across the street from the site. This is probably because they were right under the site and the antenna was 35 feet above their heads. The radio company came out, did some tests, and probably told them there isn't much they can do about it.
IMHO the BIGGEST problem with IPSC and public safety is the time it takes for the radio to connect to a site. When you power the radio on, it immediately starts looking for a site. Depending on the beacon of the sites, it could be 5 seconds then it connects or it could be 30 seconds and then it connects. Imagine being an officer taking fire and needing to wait 30 seconds to call for backup. But wait... it gets better. When the radio goes out of range of a site the radio needs to not get signal for 1 MINUTE before it says "I'm out of range of a site, maybe I should look for another one" and imagine that same radio now also has to wait 30 seconds before it connects to a different site. That's 1 minute and 30 seconds between the radio going out of range and connecting to a new, closer site. For public safety, this is unacceptable. Especially considering that officers are constantly driving and moving and changing sites. Let's give an example, An officer is in a pursuit and is in the middle of a site change. Suddenly the car stops and the suspect runs. The radio is changing a site and the officer goes to key up to give his location. *BONK* Now what? He has to wait for the radio to pick a site and connect to it or manually look at his radio and switch to the site that he thinks is closest to him.
This also partly has to do with what the radio shops program the repeaters for. They could do a beacon every 5 seconds or every minute. Too fast and the radios might spaz out between sites, too slow and you are going to be waiting for a while to be reconnecting to a site. Kinnelon have every 10 seconds which IMHO is reasonable. Bloomingdale on the other hand, 30 seconds.
Whether a department use DMR or P25 or analog, there needs to be training with radios. Officers can't just be handed a radio and expected to know how to use it. I have seen officers struggle with why their radio wasn't connecting and if they were told "this is what happens" they would have an understanding. Going from an analog repeater to a 3 site DMR system is a big change. Going from analog to a county wide P25 trunking system is a big change.
Sir I respectfully disagree
Or are there actually more than 3?
