Difference between an ATAC 3000 and 9600 comparator

[emanuel32804]

Hi all,

Does anyone know the functional difference between these two comparators? I've looked at their spec sheets and they both seem to be almost identical, aside from the 9600 being a few years newer and having a slightly lower delay. I also noticed that the 3000 is programmed with RSS whereas the 9600 is via CSS. Is that right? I'm trying to get my hands on a comparator to use with some quantar receiving units and I want to make sure the one I get will work.

Thanks,
E

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

I believe there is distinct firmware differences, yet the hardware is same. IE: You can downgrade firmware.

 

[mikegilbert]

The 3000 can perform analog voting, whereas the 9600 is digital only. Keep in mind, the 3000 still needs V.24 connectivity for analog voting.

 

[emanuel32804]

Ah that's good to know. I was wondering about that. Can they be done simultaneously as a mixed system?

 

[mikegilbert]

Ah that's good to know. I was wondering about that. Can they be done simultaneously as a mixed system?

They sure can!

Here's some info.

https://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.php?t=114470

 

[emanuel32804]

Ah it looks like it gets complicated when trying to send mixed over v.24 over IP because of the guard tones. I might just stick with digital only.

Do either of you know how or if multiple channels works in an astro system like this? I read in the ATAC specs that the comparator supports something like 30 sites with 15 channels across them (numbers could be wrong from memory). What does that mean in a practical sense? Surely one repeater cannot TX on multiple frequencies simultaneously, right?

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Ah it looks like it gets complicated when trying to send mixed over v.24 over IP because of the guard tones. I might just stick with digital only.

Do either of you know how or if multiple channels works in an astro system like this? I read in the ATAC specs that the comparator supports something like 30 sites with 15 channels across them (numbers could be wrong from memory). What does that mean in a practical sense? Surely one repeater cannot TX on multiple frequencies simultaneously, right?

I think the ATAC 3K can do 16 base station sites with 32, 48 and 64 base station port expansions. 9600 supports 15 base station sites.. Those are base stations for ONE Channel. a chassis supports a single channel - a single frequency. This can be confusing because Digitac spoke of base station ports as being "channels" when in fact the chassis supported receivers only on one frequency (* unless your recklessly fiddling with multi frequency multisite) .

* You normally can have a single TX/RX site and many voted RX sites on same frequency pair. Or simulcast with many TX/RX sites on same frequency pair. Or you can multi cast with TX/RX sites where the TX frequencies are different and same RX frequency throughout. Or you can have different TX/RX pairs at many sites, though the receive site diversity improvement will be lost.

 

[emanuel32804]

Ah alright, that's much more in line with what I was expecting. I wonder why the documentation even mentioned multiple channels.

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Ah alright, that's much more in line with what I was expecting. I wonder why the documentation even mentioned multiple channels.

In reality a conventional system has no channel limitation other than rack space in the equipment room . The comparator for each channel are independent of each other. Trunking systems on the other hand, are limited in number of channel grant updates the control channel can broadcast within a period of time. A lot of Motorola's advertising brochures are meant to wow folks writing big checks and are barely helpful for outside engineers who are not privy to system planners, secret sauce and make it work option$.

 

[emanuel32804]

Oh jeez, don't get me turned on to a trunking system... I've already dumped enough money into this

But yeah, typical moto being money-grubbing with their marketing for the channel count... I have a couple channels that are direct only just because I don't have the hardware to repeat multiple channels, and I guess it's staying that way for the foreseeable future.