Another NEXEDGE Agency....

[KG4EMJ]

I heard that the NXDN protocol has been made "open" to the public. I wonder if this means a scanner manufacturer might step up to the plate soon and incorporate this into a stand-alone unit?

 

[mmckenna]

I heard that the NXDN protocol has been made "open" to the public. I wonder if this means a scanner manufacturer might step up to the plate soon and incorporate this into a stand-alone unit?

Here it is:
https://www.nxdn-forum.com/download_file/

The NXDN protocol uses the AMBE+2 vocoder chip. That's the same one used for P25, so the physical hardware is there in a P25 capable scanner, with the exception (probably) of enough memory.

What the scanner manufacturers would ideally be looking for is there being enough of a market for this to warrant putting the design effort into building a scanner that does p25, NXDN and DMR. When the market is there, they'll do it. Right now a lot of people have purchased p25 capable scanners in the last 2 years. Rolling out an entirely new product would likely not pull enough sales yet. While there are the hard core guys that will purchase such a scanner as soon as it becomes available, it'll take a while before a lot of the market is ready to purchase again.
The other issue to look at is that since basic encryption is standard in NXDN radios, this sort of puts a damper on things. The additional confusion will come from Trunking. NXDN trunking is NOT the same between Icom IDAS and Kenwood NexEdge. The two trunking protocols are NOT compatible and are NOT standardized. It would take some cooperation between the scanner manufacturers, Icom and Kenwood to produce a scanner that will do the NXDN/IDAS/NexEdge trunking.

 

[rainmanky]

Gone Digital...

The Tompkinsville PD (Monroe Co) is going digital with their new cruisers they just got. The plan is P25 at the moment.

 

[KG4EMJ]

I suppose it does make sense that if Kenwood is selling NXDN hardware to agencies on the premise that it's "more secure", then they wouldn't want to allow scanner manufacturers to built stand-alone monitoring. But this is all a shame because over the next 5 years we are going to watch the hobby shrink to the point that NO scanners will be a good business case anymore and this will become a hobby where you have to literally build all your own stuff. Then only the truly hard core enthusiasts will remain in the hobby. Sad day indeed...

 

[cfd825]

Here it is:
https://www.nxdn-forum.com/download_file/

The NXDN protocol uses the AMBE+2 vocoder chip. That's the same one used for P25, so the physical hardware is there in a P25 capable scanner, with the exception (probably) of enough memory.

What the scanner manufacturers would ideally be looking for is there being enough of a market for this to warrant putting the design effort into building a scanner that does p25, NXDN and DMR. When the market is there, they'll do it. Right now a lot of people have purchased p25 capable scanners in the last 2 years. Rolling out an entirely new product would likely not pull enough sales yet. While there are the hard core guys that will purchase such a scanner as soon as it becomes available, it'll take a while before a lot of the market is ready to purchase again.
The other issue to look at is that since basic encryption is standard in NXDN radios, this sort of puts a damper on things. The additional confusion will come from Trunking. NXDN trunking is NOT the same between Icom IDAS and Kenwood NexEdge. The two trunking protocols are NOT compatible and are NOT standardized. It would take some cooperation between the scanner manufacturers, Icom and Kenwood to produce a scanner that will do the NXDN/IDAS/NexEdge trunking.

Encrption is the same.. i put a encrypted icom system in and use it on my kenwood radio.. works great..

 

[mmckenna]

I suppose it does make sense that if Kenwood is selling NXDN hardware to agencies on the premise that it's "more secure", then they wouldn't want to allow scanner manufacturers to built stand-alone monitoring. But this is all a shame because over the next 5 years we are going to watch the hobby shrink to the point that NO scanners will be a good business case anymore and this will become a hobby where you have to literally build all your own stuff. Then only the truly hard core enthusiasts will remain in the hobby. Sad day indeed...

It's got nothing to do with Kenwood. The NXDN protocol is well documented on the internet. NXDN Forum has it posted there in the open. The AMBE+2 vocoder, used for P25, NXDN and DMR, comes from DVSI (not part of Kenwood, Icom or Motorola), and is readily available. The hardware is already in scanners that receive P25.

What's holding it back is what I stated before, the scanner manufacturers don't see enough demand for it to warrant putting the effort into a new product at this time. When they feel the money is there, the product will be released. Until then, you are pretty much on your own. The hobby is shrinking already, and it isn't because of NXDN. It's because the general public doesn't care. They prefer to get their "news" precanned from network with the proper spin on it to support their own political views. Remember, this is a hobby. As for having to build you own gear, well, yeah, that's how amateur radio started out, and its still a popular part f the hobby. There are still parts of the radio spectrum that you need to build your own equipment for 136KHz, millimeter wave, etc, there are no off the shelf consumer radios out there for these bands, so if you want to play, you gotta build it yourself.

With things like FirstNet, LTE for public safety, the scanner hobby is likely going to die down the road anyway.

 

[KG4EMJ]

Yeah that makes sense. I doubt there are nearly as many people into the hobby these days anyhow, just because of all the other electronic goodies that consume interest now.

Sure do miss listening to EMS/fire though....

 

[cobraDIHO]

Letcher County recently added NXDN emissions to their licenses and the Sheriff's Department has been using mixed digital/analog on 460.0125.

 

[northstarfire0693]

In the past few weeks Montgomery county TN went NEXEDGE trunked as well as Stewart county. I am starting to wonder if they will be tied in to Christian county for mutual aid options.

 

[RonnieUSA]

Add Morehead State University Public Safety to the list.

 

[KG4EMJ]

And the new scanners coming out in 2014 still don't have any support for NXDN. Sigh......

 

[RonnieUSA]

Add Morehead PD .

 

[KG4EMJ]

Lawrenceburg PD also went encrypted...

It doesn't show in the database that they are encrypted. Are you sure?

 

[KG4EMJ]

Lawrenceburg Fire (158.745) is NXDN. Can somebody update the database? I believe the city municipal operations are also NXDN. I tried analog and it sounded like a machine gun so I had to switch it to NXDN.

P.S. a BIG thank you to all who helped me get up and going with a Kenwood radio. It feels awesome to be back in the hobby for a while longer.

 

[KG4EMJ]

Bluegrass Energy is now NXDN...for those who enjoy monitoring utility companies.