McAlester going MotoTRBO

[KX5MOT]

Any members live in the McAlester area? I have family around there and visit occasionally and a relative who likes to listen to his scanner mentioned he read in the paper about the PD going to digital radios, so a friend searched and found this article. I was in town yesterday and heard them in analog still, anyone else heard when they might switch over?

McAlester police radios to go digital » Archive » McAlester News-Capital, McAlester, OK

 

[mam1081]

I wonder if their dispatch channel will actually be digital. The article didn't say anything about buying a repeater. If you figure all the radios together, it's 81 units for the price of $52,483.35 - works out to be $647.94/radio. That's about what just the radios cost new (so no infrastructure). Maybe repeaters/infrastructure is in a different grant/vote...

 

[plaws]

Isn't McAlester where one of the OKWIN P25 nodes is? If that's right, why would they go TRBO?

 

[KX5MOT]

Probably same reasons McClain Co, Blanchard, and others who slip my mind are TRBO. It was probably cheaper for them to get $600-700 each TRBO radios than $2500-$5000 each Smartzone radios or they had a really good salesperson that sold them on it.

 

[n5bew1]

Isn't McAlester where one of the OKWIN P25 nodes is? If that's right, why would they go TRBO?

Peter I think Muskogee or Gore are the closest P25 Okwin sites. McAlester is still 800 free.

 

[plaws]

Peter I think Muskogee or Gore are the closest P25 Okwin sites. McAlester is still 800 free.

Yeah, looked it up after I posted.

MotoTRBO is still the French word for "non-interoperable".

 

[mam1081]

Yeah, looked it up after I posted.

MotoTRBO is still the French word for "non-interoperable".

TRBO radios still do analog - which is usually interoperable.

I do think they sound better than P25 radios too. Two conversations on one repeater is pretty nifty also. The possibility of talkgroups, color codes, and time slots gets mind boggling when you think about all the "channels" one could set up in the radios. Too bad current ones max out around 160 channels.

 

[JRayfield]

XPR-series MOTOTRBO radios have been able to handle up to around 1000 channels for a long time now. Any information that you find on the internet (and I've found some, myself) that still says "160 channels" is really old information.

John Rayfield, Jr. CETma

TRBO radios still do analog - which is usually interoperable.

I do think they sound better than P25 radios too. Two conversations on one repeater is pretty nifty also. The possibility of talkgroups, color codes, and time slots gets mind boggling when you think about all the "channels" one could set up in the radios. Too bad current ones max out around 160 channels.

 

[LtDoc]

I live in McAlester and listen to the PD/FD frequencies often. The radios were installed about a week ago, and have had problems from the start, and are still having them. All systems have 'teething pains', but it's been hilarious listening to the "Can you hear me now?" comments. Some have been very reluctant to turn in those 'old' radios for the 'better' ones...
- 'Doc

(I wonder if the bid winner is going to open a local shop? They'll need one!)