Hunterdon County

[SCPD]

Anyone know what the status is of the proposed 460MHz trunked system. I thought I saw a post on this somewhere here.

All I can find is numerous 470MHz (WQFA917,918) pairs on the FCC database but they have it listed as conventional. Did they change their mind?

http://tinyurl.com/6yqm5e


Thanks,
Bob

 

[W2SJW]

There isn't going to be a trunk system. The freq. pairs will be used in narrowband conventional analog format.

 

[SCPD]

There isn't going to be a trunk system. The freq. pairs will be used in narrowband conventional analog format.

So they're going to UHF just not trunked?

 

[W2SJW]

Yep - multiple UHF analog repeaters (broken down by public safety users) & TAC secondaries for on-scene operations.

This is the game plan as of now. Hunterdon is working on getting the new dispatch center finished before deployment of all of this occurs. Things might change, but digital & trunking is not well liked by the powers that be in the county...

 

[nnjradiotech]

Things might change, but digital & trunking is not well liked by the powers that be in the county...

It's a far cry from their cans with strings...gotta love Hunterdon!

 

[W2SJW]

They were upset that 'Mother-/\/\' came in and tried to shove a P25 TRS down their throat at expenditure levels that the county probably couldn't justify.

As others have said before, If you don't have the right connections, it's darn near impossible to get /\/\ to build you a 3600 baud Type-II TRS anymore...

 

[FF86]

Are the 3600 Type-IIs significantly cheaper then their ASTRO-25 product?
I can see a customer interested in a TRS with analog voice, especially a fire customer. The P25 digital voice, although VERY clear/ feature rich for wide area communications is terrible for fireground use, especially with a SCBA mask on, or if your operating at the pump panel, with saws, etc...
I'm surprised they're not offering it anymore. M/A-Com will still sell an EDACS network, and as long as the radios have P25 functionality, I believe it is still eligible for federal funding. (System does not necessarily have to be operating in P25, so long as the user radios are capable of it).

 

[W2SJW]

I would love to tell you that I know the cost of the infrastructure equipment to build the system, but I don't!

The 'subscriber-unit' equipment cost is one & the same. I believe that the Q361 P25 trunking option is like $365 or something close (above the base cost of the unit).

 

[robbinsj2]

Really? When I was pricing out radios for my department a year or two ago, the basic radio came with analog and digital conventional and an upgrade to analog voice trunked (3600 system) was X and an upgrade to digital voice trunked (3600 or 9600 system) was Y. The difference between X and Y was not insignificant then; maybe they have changed their pricing since.

Analog trunking over digital trunking is an improvement for fireground channels. Analog simplex (conventional, no repeater) is generally considered a further improvement. I can think of no technical reason why a fire department on a P25 system couldn't establish analog tactical channels for fireground use.

Sorry for going off topic there. I've admired Hunterdon, what I've been able to hear of it, for its apparent lack of excess chatter. If they can achieve adequate communications without the expense and complexity of a trunked system, I say kudos to them.

Jim

 

[W2SJW]

Jim,

I was quoting the price of getting P25 trunking as a stand-alone option. I know /\/\ has 'package-deals' for some of the more popular feature sets...

 

[mondaro]

They were upset that 'Mother-/\/\' came in and tried to shove a P25 TRS down their throat at expenditure levels that the county probably couldn't justify.

As others have said before, If you don't have the right connections, it's darn near impossible to get /\/\ to build you a 3600 baud Type-II TRS anymore...

Mother M tried doing the same thing to us then we broke it to them where only 1 square mile and we have no money.