mobile extenders in various states

[northzone]

nmfire10 knows what he is talking about and did an excellent job in the previous posts describing how an extender works. There is no voter, they use a priority system with the last on turned-on sends out a burst tone that turns the others at a scene off (you can hear it on the portable channel). He is right, they all work the same and in fact are interchangeable.

I was very involved in California Highway Patrol extender project. The CHP extenders output about 1/2 watt and the sensitivity is set for 110 microvolts, you need to be very close to use them. This was done so an extender will not repeat traffic from distant portables that may be on a different color (dispatch frequency) This board is great, but there are alot of people posting that know nothing about mobile radio. To someone in the industry it is easy to see who knows and who does not. nmfire10 is the real deal!

 

[northzone]

ECPD279 said
"Let me elaborate a bit here. I am speaking from experience ONLY of CHP extenders. These units are always POWERED when the vehicle is on but the only TRANSMIT when activated. When an officer turns on a portable it sends a signal to the extender bringing out of a sort of STANDBY mode. "

This is not true. When the portable is turned to channel 2 and keyed twice the extender is turned on.

 

[ECPD279]

Then why is it that there is a tone transmitted when they turn on their portable?

 

[ECPD279]

nmfire10 knows what he is talking about and did an excellent job in the previous posts describing how an extender works.

I didn't say he doesn't know what he's talking about. I was commenting on the WAY he was talking about it.

 

[nmfire10]

Aww shucks NorthZone. Thanks

When they turn their portable on, there is a tone? Well most every commecial portable radio in exitance beeps when you turn it on. It's called a "power-on tone". This sound comes out the radio's speaker and is not transmitted over the air. It is just so the user knows the radio was just turned on. If the radio is transmitting a tone, then it probably has nothing to do with the vehicle repeaters.

ECPD... I'm blunt. It's nothing personal. Sue me. 8)

 

[CAPTLPOL1]

Has anyone in Tennessee actually verified that the use of mobile extenders is utilized by the Tennessee Highway Patrol? I see frequencies for the extenders and see them posted all over the net. However, I have never see one in use or action.

 

[PanJurekMrJerry]

tHAT DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU ARE @. MOBILE EXTENDERS ARE NOT VERY POWERFUL. THEY ARE LIMITED IN POWER SO THAT MEANS THEIR RANGE IS LIMITED TOO.
THEY MIGHT ONLY HAVE A 1/2 TO 1 MILE RANGE.

 

[CAPTLPOL1]

I am thoroughly familiar with how a mobile extender works and the range involved. I have monitored them throughout the country. I work calls with THP from time to time, just so involved at a scene that I don't ever chit chat much or go mulling around the vehicles. I just have never heard a blurb of traffic or had seen them in use by the THP. I know how nmfire10 feels about these replies now.

 

[scanfan03]

I am speaking for Texas, I think they (DPS) dosn't use extenders, because they don't use handhelds (in Houston). In Harris County they only have STAR-Net handhelds.

 

[PanJurekMrJerry]

:arrow: NO HANDHELDS IN HOUSTON? How do they communicate when they are out of their cars?

 

[INDY72]

Question as to no HT's in Houston:

Do they use Nextel or the like?

 

[nmfire10]

I don't know how they can't use portables. Something doesn't sound right about that. On that notw, any agency that relies on NexTel for their front line communications needs to have some sense beat into them badly.

Jerry, is the big text really needed? You do realize that is more annoying than anything else. We can all read just fine with the normal sized text.

 

[SCPD]

NO HANDHELDS IN HOUSTON?

Go back and reread scanfan's statement.

In Harris County they only have STAR-Net handhelds.

So ... IIRC, the HTs talk directly on the trunked system without the need for an extender.

-rick

 

[MOTORHEAD3902]

why would one care where the cops are parked with their vehicle repeaters switched on and their hold buttons switched on and their lasers on their dashboards (or rear package shelves) or maybe was it their radar antennae with their caps lock switched on and their fonts set to "kill" while using wild colours....? huh? huh? have I missed anyone?
why does anyone CARE where the cops are? to tell the truth, I couldn't care less what anyone's justification would be.

 

[waynesewell]

Opinion noted and disregarded.

I am speaking for Texas, I think they (DPS) dosn't use extenders, because they don't use handhelds (in Houston).

Nah, I'm pretty sure they don't. I don't know what the beartrackers key on in states without extenders. Car to car maybe? Anyway, I didn't get a single ping out of the bct-8 from Houston to Dallas, though of course I could still hear voice. The bct-8 has both state and local police frequencies preprogrammed, but for some reason they set it up so that you can't have both active at once. So I set the bct-8 to state and had the bct-12 set to the local police frequencies so I could hear what was happening in the towns I passed through.

 

[nmfire10]

why would one care where the cops are parked with their vehicle repeaters switched on and their hold buttons switched on and their lasers on their dashboards (or rear package shelves) or maybe was it their radar antennae with their caps lock switched on and their fonts set to "kill" while using wild colours....? huh? huh? have I missed anyone?
why does anyone CARE where the cops are? to tell the truth, I couldn't care less what anyone's justification would be.

Should I tear him apart too? I'm getting kind of worn out. Maybe tommorow when I am board I will rip that moronic post to pieces too. :roll:

 

[INDY72]

nmfire,.. allow me for once ok ty!
Firstly its not just finding out where a cop is,.. its good to know that there may be a magor wreck ahead that you can avoid, and if you have a scanner that picks up the "heads up" then good, you may be able to avoid said hazzard. And in a city environ, lewts say something big is going down, its good to know where to not be traveling through. Scanners will and do give you a heads up in advance of any known news agency! How do you think they get the news,.. ummm CAN WE SAY A SCANNER????

I thought we could! And not only do they have just one.. usually in a good newscenter you have three or more running, one for state, one for county, and one for local. Now back to being kind and gentle. Yeah I know the moron speaks up and tells off someone,.. scarier and scarier.

 

[waynesewell]

It's hard to figure out the point of the somewhat incoherent post, but I get the impression that the bozo was not railing against monitoring the police frequencies in general, but the beartracker functionality in particular.

My guess is that he's a Road Nazi, one of those people who has deputized himself to aid in law enforcement. You will find him on the highway, always in the left hand lane. After all, it's his moral right to be there, no matter what the other traffic is doing. He will have a bumper sticker that says "if you pass me, you are speeding". He will angrily honk his horn and/or flash his lights at anyone who dares pass him.

The problem is that his speedometer isn't calibrated on a regular basis like that of real police cars. So he could actually be driving 5 miles under the speed limit, and all of the people forced to pass on the right and incurring his wrath might not actually be speeding.

 

[MOTORHEAD3902]

while I probably AM a bozo, my speedometer IS calibrated, and I like being called a road nazi, but I don't have any bumper stickers (owner of my work car prohibits them). And another thing, I ENJOY clogging the hammer lane. But, then again, I get paid to do this.
NOW,
To make this post relative to the thread, 458.350 is indeed the Va SP mobile extender freq. Some of the mobiles used by this agency activate the M/E when the portable is pulled from the charger, but others use the opening of the driver's door to activate it.
P

 

[waynesewell]

Thanks. Information is always preferable to gibberish. If you are a cop, you could have just said so, as the other officers did.