Fire Department radio selection

[ve2hkw]

Can we take this discussion off the board to email? If you send me a Private Message with an email address I'd like to talk more but not take bandwidth here.

Sure, ve2hkw@gmail.com

Yeah, every person who I've ever talked to who's worked on or knows someone who's worked on it has this fear and trembling notion about them.... It's a ****show and if the Ambulance service based out of our station is anything to go by, it sucks according to them. Everyone has older XTS radios and I believe the sites are upgraded to TDMA channels, but having no radios supporting it, they often run out of capacity at a site.....

 

[kayn1n32008]

Sure, ve2hkw@gmail.com

Yeah, every person who I've ever talked to who's worked on or knows someone who's worked on it has this fear and trembling notion about them.... It's a ****show and if the Ambulance service based out of our station is anything to go by, it sucks according to them. Everyone has older XTS radios and I believe the sites are upgraded to TDMA channels, but having no radios supporting it, they often run out of capacity at a site.....

Sent am email to you. It's from a proton account if you don't see it, check your junk or spam folder.

 

[ve2hkw]

So, a week into trying out 2 NX-5200 and 2 VP-8000 radios and my goodness they are amazing. (Obviously) Hytera just doesn't compare at all.

My own personal thoughts thus far:

NX-5200:
The size is slightly bigger than our Hyteras but still very easy to EDC on a belt or with your person. I find the UI to be okay but I like the PTT button guard on the VP to prevent accidental hits. We have a very basic programming right now as they are demo units, but I'm really curious What all the "little" options are (Beep when PTT pressed for example) I'm sure it exists but just would be nice to browse the software for the various options. The volume knob is way stiffer than the Hytera radios we have and I can comfortably wear it around without worrying about the channel or volume changing because I forget to lock the screen. We did some water and wind tests on it and it fared really well in the wind, but the speaker on the radio got bogged down with water and got really quiet and muffled. Still better than the Hytera (can you tell what I think of our Hytera radios? lol) I've heard that the KMC-70 mics would fix 95% of this problem, so the water issue hasn't discounted them thus far.

VP-8000:
What can I say? I'm a sucker for big radios and this radio checks all my boxes. Super clear audio and I love the way it fits in my hand. However.... I have to think about more than me and I can say that it's bulk and weight would definitely cause complaints from other members for an EDC radio.... The battery life seems okay but I believe the batteries we have are rental batteries and thus newer ones will probably last a hair longer. The one little thing we found in testing (pretty much by accident) is that if you shake the radio in a specific way to clear water from the front screen, it will water-log the mic and make the audio very muffled. It is only if you shake it in one particular direction, and it is repeatable. With the radio in your left hand and with the PTT by your thumb, shaking the radio away from you will throw just enough water behind the cover to make your audio suck for several minutes while the water dries out. The UI is very clean and while this radio also has a basic programming setup, I can see it's ease of use and glove/fire scene friendly features. Cost and size are the only issues I'm up against for other members of the department.

2 other committee members and myself went to a radio supplier trade show type thing in Drummondville yesterday, and saw the Tait lineup of radios, so I believe we'll be testing those out next. The size and small cost savings make them look very attractive and I'm curious if they have as many quirks now as they did a year ago with the mixed mode scanning and zones.

Comments always welcome.

 

[AM909]

Good info. Were you doing the water testing to the IP requirements and did they pass those, or did you go beyond the specs?

Did you confirm that the VP and NX meet your scan requirement? There are some combinations of analog/conventional/trunking scanning that can't be done, some understandably by the nature of the beast, but others not.

 

[ve2hkw]

Good info. Were you doing the water testing to the IP requirements and did they pass those, or did you go beyond the specs?

Did you confirm that the VP and NX meet your scan requirement? There are some combinations of analog/conventional/trunking scanning that can't be done, some understandably by the nature of the beast, but others not.

It was in about 25 cm of water total, but only 3-5cm to the bottom of the microphone. Something that we'd expect in terms of a deep puddle or a port-a-pond on a fire scene, nothing deep or high pressure. So I believe we were well within the IP ratings of the devices under test.

Good question.