How has Vermont completely avoided digital and trunking and even 7/800mhz?

[rapidcharger]

Forgive me if this has been asked or if I missed something but how has Vermont completely avoided digital and trunking and even 7/800mhz on public safety?

It's like none to the usual scare tactics (terrorists, school shooters, etc) and other reasons (interop, mandates, end of life) for going to digital and/or insanely expensive trunking systems has worked there. Even though it has worked in neighboring states.

There are similarly sized cities to Burlington and Montpelier in other places that have spent many millions of dollars they never had to begin with to go digital, and go trunked and go to 800 and go encrypted. Heck, there's cities that are a lot smaller that aren't even cities at all, they're just vast agricultural areas or even swampland with hardly any inhabitants that have put up multi-million dollar digital trunking systems!

What can we learn from Vermont?

 

[NDRADIONUT]

BAN MOTO SALES REPS... LOL

 

[KB1VLA]

There is plenty of P25 encryption in Vermont, Burlinton PD, Newport PD, UVM PD are %100 encrypted, Colchester PD is about 50-50 P25 encrypted - analog clear. Many other communities have P25 capability. As far as lack of trunking (not just in Vermont, but Maine and NH as well), I attribute it to Yankee thriftiness.

 

[ecps92]

Correct, Plenty of P25 in both NH/VT

Trunking, why ? NH thought about it, and never moved forward.

Maine is undertaking the monumental task and having to beg-borrow and steal VHF frequencies from the Rail Roads, Paging, Taxi's and Federal Agencies just to build it.

There is plenty of P25 encryption in Vermont, Burlinton PD, Newport PD, UVM PD are %100 encrypted, Colchester PD is about 50-50 P25 encrypted - analog clear. Many other communities have P25 capability. As far as lack of trunking (not just in Vermont, but Maine and NH as well), I attribute it to Yankee thriftiness.

 

[jim202]

Forgive me if this has been asked or if I missed something but how has Vermont completely avoided digital and trunking and even 7/800mhz on public safety?

It's like none to the usual scare tactics (terrorists, school shooters, etc) and other reasons (interop, mandates, end of life) for going to digital and/or insanely expensive trunking systems has worked there. Even though it has worked in neighboring states.

There are similarly sized cities to Burlington and Montpelier in other places that have spent many millions of dollars they never had to begin with to go digital, and go trunked and go to 800 and go encrypted. Heck, there's cities that are a lot smaller that aren't even cities at all, they're just vast agricultural areas or even swampland with hardly any inhabitants that have put up multi-million dollar digital trunking systems!

What can we learn from Vermont?

Did you ever have the thought that just maybe Vermont has some people internally that are smarter than the Motorola sales force when they are trying to blow smoke and use mirrors to sell products to people that don't need it? There is enough room in and low density of radio use in Vermont that not every agency is stepping on each other for frequencies. Thus it is a hard sell to push trunking systems to the average agency.

Maybe they have more brains in Vermont, unlike the rest of the country that falls for the crap that the Motorola sales force dishes out all the time.

 

[rapidcharger]

There is plenty of P25 encryption in Vermont, Burlinton PD, Newport PD, UVM PD are %100 encrypted, Colchester PD is about 50-50 P25 encrypted - analog clear. Many other communities have P25 capability. As far as lack of trunking (not just in Vermont, but Maine and NH as well), I attribute it to Yankee thriftiness.

Strange, I looked in the database and didn't see any digital. I overlooked the Burlington dispatch channel and the others. Disappointing.

Correct, Plenty of P25 in both NH/VT

Trunking, why ? NH thought about it, and never moved forward.

Maine is undertaking the monumental task and having to beg-borrow and steal VHF frequencies from the Rail Roads, Paging, Taxi's and Federal Agencies just to build it.

I did notice that about Maine and New Hampshire which is why it was most puzzling to me about Vermont.

Did you ever have the thought that just maybe Vermont has some people internally that are smarter than the Motorola sales force when they are trying to blow smoke and use mirrors to sell products to people that don't need it? There is enough room in and low density of radio use in Vermont that not every agency is stepping on each other for frequencies. Thus it is a hard sell to push trunking systems to the average agency.

Maybe they have more brains in Vermont, unlike the rest of the country that falls for the crap that the Motorola sales force dishes out all the time.

I sure would like to know. Not sure if it's intelligence or just ethics.
Maybe Vermont is not as corrupt as other places that buy those elaborate and unnecessary radio systems?
Maybe they are in the planning and budgeting stages of procurement?

 

[DaveNF2G]

Most if not all of Vermont is north of Line A, so any wholesale frequency change would involve the multi-year nightmare of coordination between FCC and Industry Canada.

 

[KB1UAM]

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[Blackink]

Ahhh....Yup!

I'll agree with what you said...

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[jimlawrence]

There is a fair amount of P-25 digital being used in Vermont. In addition to those PDs mentioned above, Bellows Falls PD is P-25 (100% encrypted last time I was there), Hartford PD is P-25 encoded (does anyone know if Norwich PD also went P-25 or are they still analog?) and Franklin Co. sheriff is using P-25. In addition, I have heard hearsay of loggings of P-25 on "channel 2", 460.5000, although I've never personally heard it.

As far as trunking, years ago there were a few commercial 800 MHz systems on the air in Vermont. They're all silent now but there are still several business-related trunked systems on the air in the UHF range, including some old LTR systems which could be easily trunktracked.

EDIT: Ooops, forgot to mention that South Burlington PD uses P-25 encryption now and then as well.

 

[Blackink]

Jim...I'm not sure where I saw it (within the last 2 weeks) but I remember seeing something about Norwich PD being digital. Now whether that means they're P-25, I'm not sure.

 

[LathamScan]

I would like to think that it's because most of Vermont's public safety officials are pretty down-to-earth and use common sense. When the whole inter-op question came to the state, no one wanted to re-invent the wheel; just use common VHF/UHF inter-agency frequencies. Simple - the way they like it. Also, install dual-band radios in the emergency vehicles. Now, inter-op is as simple as dialing up one of nine VHF or UHF channels. Again, pretty simple.

I have seen more and more law enforcement agencies switching to P-25 with encryption in the state. It will be just a matter of time before most (if not all) Vermont law enforcement agencies are using P-25 digital voice.

On the business side, more and more DMR (MotoTrbo) and NexEdge conventional and trunked systems are signing on the air but typically don't involve public safety agencies. Perhaps public service, like highway departments, public transit and the like.

Also, let's not forget, Vermont isn't a state made of money. Never has been. No one can afford elaborate statewide trunked systems like that or the equipment that goes along with it. Volunteer Fire Departments and Rescue Squads just can not justify having to spend up to $3,000 dollars for a mobile or portable radio when they can get one that works for them for under $800 dollars.

 

[ecps92]

Those 800's migrated to 900 when they sold off the Freq's to Nextel (Now Sprint), unsure how many are still active in VT. NH/ME/MA/CT/RI have a few

Industrial Communications And Electronics (ICE) - Scan New England Wiki

As far as trunking, years ago there were a few commercial 800 MHz systems on the air in Vermont. They're all silent now but there are still several business-related trunked systems on the air in the UHF range, including some old LTR systems which could be easily trunktracked.

.

 

[jimlawrence]

Add one more:
460.100 $878 - P-25 encrypted
This freq. is used by Essex PD in analog.

 

[jimlawrence]

And another one:
460.2500 - Norwich PD dispatched by Hartford PD in P-25 encoded, not encrypted.

 

[ecps92]

Jim, any NAC ??

And another one:
460.2500 - Norwich PD dispatched by Hartford PD in P-25 encoded, not encrypted.

 

[jimlawrence]

Jim, any NAC ??

$295 for Hartford dispatch, Bill.

 

[rapidcharger]

I would like to think that it's because most of Vermont's public safety officials are pretty down-to-earth and use common sense. )))

Yeah but what about county commissioners or city councils?
That's who's doing the shopping.

(((Also, let's not forget, Vermont isn't a state made of money. Never has been.

Yeah, neither was Detroit and look what they bought.
A lot of the placing buying DTRSs are not in good financial shape.


I just don't get how Vermont is staying safe from terrorists.

And how you live with all the "dead spots" you must have.

And all the obsolete equipment that they don't make anymore???

How has Vermont managed to cope with those things when no other state in the union has without spending hundreds of millions of dollars.