• To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:

    Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.

    If you are having trouble legally obtaining software please state so. We do not want any hurt feelings when your vague post is mistaken for a free request. It is YOUR responsibility to properly word your request.

    To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

    The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online (i.e., Kenwood). Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. Often the Kenwood software is less than $100 so don't be a cheapskate; just purchase it.

    For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).

    This is a large and very visible forum. We cannot jeopardize the ability to provide the RadioReference services by allowing this activity to occur. Please respect this.

Mototrbo Emergency Mode

Status
Not open for further replies.

Astubs

Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2013
Messages
15
I am a relative novice to LMR, but am working to get our system fully operational.

We are running 3 XPR 8400 UHF Repeaters connected via IPSC and a combination of SL7550, XPR 7550, and XPR 3500 radios.

Radios are used for everyday operational purposes, facilities, securities, logistics, etc., as well as for emergency purposes. Currently we use one slot for all day-to-day operational needs (with approximately 5 talk groups) and the other slot is dedicated for emergency communications.

I have done some research on implementing an emergency mode on the Mototrbo system, but have a few questions...

1) Is it possible to force all radios "on" when an emergency alert is issued? I doubt this is possible, but would be great.
2) Is it possible to force all radios to slot 2, our emergency channel, when an emergency alert is issued? Many of our users live on Slot 1 for day to day operations and fail to switch channels/slots in an emergency.

Any other suggestions/models for emergency mode would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!
 

JRayfield

Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2009
Messages
797
Location
Springfield, MO
There is a way to get an "emergency mode" call that is generated on Slot 2 to be decoded/heard on Slot 1, but it will take an additional piece of equipment (c-Bridge Controller). PM me and I can fill you in on what's needed.

John Rayfield, Jr. CETma
W0PM

I am a relative novice to LMR, but am working to get our system fully operational.

We are running 3 XPR 8400 UHF Repeaters connected via IPSC and a combination of SL7550, XPR 7550, and XPR 3500 radios.

Radios are used for everyday operational purposes, facilities, securities, logistics, etc., as well as for emergency purposes. Currently we use one slot for all day-to-day operational needs (with approximately 5 talk groups) and the other slot is dedicated for emergency communications.

I have done some research on implementing an emergency mode on the Mototrbo system, but have a few questions...

1) Is it possible to force all radios "on" when an emergency alert is issued? I doubt this is possible, but would be great.
2) Is it possible to force all radios to slot 2, our emergency channel, when an emergency alert is issued? Many of our users live on Slot 1 for day to day operations and fail to switch channels/slots in an emergency.

Any other suggestions/models for emergency mode would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!
 

TampaTyron

Beep Boop, Beep Boop
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Feb 1, 2010
Messages
1,091
Location
Phoenix, AZ
Additionally,
There is a dedicated ALL CALL talkgroup which pulls all radios on the slot over to the specific talkgroup. Furthermore, there are some interesting scan options you can enable to simulate Emergency mode. I know Rayfield has installed a bunch of these and is very knowledgeable. I work in a large Motorola shop as well, and manage just under 200 ip site connect and capacity plus systems. We will get you fixed up, TT.
 

CaptDan

Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2013
Messages
275
Location
Ocala, Florida
Now this is what the internet and forum's should be all about ! Congrats to all of you that have posted up here - great job - qualified smart people helping other people out - great job and Merry Christmas !

Dan
 

Astubs

Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2013
Messages
15
First, happy holidays to all. I couldn't agree more with CaptDan, the internet is a great place and this forum especially, I've learned so much already just lurking. Thanks to all w oh have taken the time to look at my post and especially to those who have responded.

We purchased our system through one of the larger national distributors and while they did an excellent job, they didn't offer too much guidance on how to setup the channels. We have 20 radios, 15 are used for day-to-day operations for our facility, security, and event staff and 5 are used by floor wardens only during emergency situations. The 15 day-to-day users all have emergency responsibilities as well. As I mentioned currently Time Slot 1 is dedicated to day-to-day operations and we have 5 talk groups to accommodate the various user groups. Time Slot 2 is dedicated to emergency use. The floor wardens keep their radios on Time Slot 2 all the time, so they are prepared in an emergency, but our day-to-day operational users have to manually switch to Time Slot 2 when an emergency occurs. Many of these users forget to make the switch and our emergency communications have been compromised.

Based on your experience, what would you recommend we do? I think creating an emergency/all call talk group on Time Slot 1 is a great idea, but what do we use Time Slot 2 for? How do most users make use of the two time slots? I am looking into the c-bridge controller, but more info on that option would be helpful too.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thanks!
 

Astubs

Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2013
Messages
15
Rayfield- I tried to pm you, but I am too new and don't have the necessary privileges yet, but I am very interested in the c-bridge controller.
 

Firebuff880

Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2006
Messages
651
Location
Boynton Beach, FL
I am a relative novice to LMR, but am working to get our system fully operational.

We are running 3 XPR 8400 UHF Repeaters connected via IPSC and a combination of SL7550, XPR 7550, and XPR 3500 radios.

Radios are used for everyday operational purposes, facilities, securities, logistics, etc., as well as for emergency purposes. Currently we use one slot for all day-to-day operational needs (with approximately 5 talk groups) and the other slot is dedicated for emergency communications.

I have done some research on implementing an emergency mode on the Mototrbo system, but have a few questions...

1) Is it possible to force all radios "on" when an emergency alert is issued? I doubt this is possible, but would be great.
2) Is it possible to force all radios to slot 2, our emergency channel, when an emergency alert is issued? Many of our users live on Slot 1 for day to day operations and fail to switch channels/slots in an emergency.

Any other suggestions/models for emergency mode would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

So, first off do you have access to CPS and the proper cables for the XPR radios ?

Second, with all the load on one slot what kind of busy issues do you have ? Should you do some manual load balancing, or adjusting of the admit criteria.

Third and most important to this specific question, what happens to the Emergency users if the repeater is down ?

Having, answered these questions to your satisfaction then yes, you can get probably the emergency to behave the way you want to although with your mix of radios be careful of features across the various firmware loads. I am not sure how the 3500's will behave.

in CPS start with the Signaling Systems / Digital Emergency

Work down from there ---



-----------------
 

Astubs

Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2013
Messages
15
All great questions.

Yes, I have CPS and all necessary programming cables.

We only have 20 radio, so we have not had busy/load issues yet. I don't see us getting much larger, so hopefully no concerns there.

We have simplex channels installed on all the radios in case of a repeater outage.

Thanks!
 

FastusBirdus

Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2013
Messages
36
We have a dedicated ALLCALL timeslot on one of our XPR8400 repeaters. All of the radios in our fleet are set to autoscan that channel as receive only. I have a few portables set up as administrator radios that can broadcast to that channel in the event of an emergency.

Not the most efficient use of repeater bandwidth, but we ended up with quite a bit of surplus went we migrated 7 analog channels over to 14 digital.

I've disabled all user control over scanning on the individual units. In our environment, the users don't need to be scanning other channels/groups.

I'll be re-configuring our channels/groups sometime soon and probably do the ALLCALL a little differently.
 

Astubs

Member
Joined
Dec 23, 2013
Messages
15
OK, this has all been remarkably helpful. Based on all of the feedback I've received here, I spent some time reviewing the Motorrbo System Planner... I found lots of hpgreat answers, but am stuck with a few new questions. Perhaps folks here can help.

First, I think I've resolved the time slot issue I was struggling with. We would like to implement Digital Phone Patch in the near future. Given our location in a major metropolitan city, we are unable to receive a FCC license for a telephone interconnect with the PTSN, but would like to allow our radio users and out non-radio users to communicate over our PBX. I'd love some suggestions on this topic, but will create a separate post on that topic. If I understand correctly, a good use of our second time slot would be for the phone patch, no?

Second, as part of our overall configuration, with an eye towards emergency preparedness, I would like to implement the following features in addition to the digital emergency handling feature. Can you please help me understand whether the features need to be programmed on the "supervisor" radio alone, or on all the radios in the system?
1) Radio Enable/Disable
2) Remote Monitor
3) Radio Check
4) Call Alert
5) Remore Voice Dekey

Finally, and to the point of my original post, the digital emergency handling strategies. I want to make sure I understand how this works, as the System Planner has me a bit confused. What I am looking for is a configuration that would allow me as the "supervisor" radio to send an alert to all radio users in the case of emergency. This alert should interrupt all other traffic on the time slot and should reach all users on the time slot. After the alert is issued, I would like to be able to issue verbal instructions to all the radio users and then, depending on the situation, engage in a "roll call" with the radio users. Based on my reading of the System Planner, the digital emergency handling seems to focus on the initator radio communicating to the supervior radio, not the other way around. Am I trying to do the impossible here?

I know there's a lot here, so any help at all would be appreciated.

Thanks so much!!
 

n5ims

Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2004
Messages
3,993
Rayfield- I tried to pm you, but I am too new and don't have the necessary privileges yet, but I am very interested in the c-bridge controller.

FYI, you should be able to send/receive a PM once you have enough posts so that they no longer are moderated. Once a new post shows up quickly, you may want to try that PM again. If it is delayed, PMs are probably still prevented.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top