MSP Hockey Puck antennas

[AZDon]

Can someone tell me what are the two round 8” diameter hockey puck antennas mounted on the roof of MSP squad cars in Macomb County?

 

[iMONITOR]

Can someone tell me what are the two round 8” diameter hockey puck antennas mounted on the roof of MSP squad cars in Macomb County?

I live in Macomb County, Michigan and I've never seen anything like that. You say it was round correct?

I've seen something like this on the TV show "Live PD". They're used for the video feed to satellites. I'll ask around.

 

[Hit_Factor]

I see them frequently in Berrien County.

Yeah just like in the pic, except there are only two, they are on the back edge of the roof, they are round and black. Ok, so not much like the pic, but it's possible they serve the same function.

 

[tdeater]

I don't know about those counties, but m vehicle has 2 round black antennas like you describe, they are for the 800mhz radios in my vehicle. Just a different form of a whipless antenna. If I remember right, they are marketed more towards transit, like busses and such. So that would be my guess. I have seen GPS/MDT antennas look like that too.

 

[afera15]

It's kinda hard to see but are you talking about those on the back of that car. I believe they are just more antenna for the AVL/MDT/Radio communications.

 

[drdispatch]

I think maybe one GPS & the other for MDC? There is also quite often a black cylinder-shaped antenna, about one to one-and-a-half inches tall, which is for the MPSCS radio. I've noticed a lot of county & city cars sporting these lately, too.

 

[FFPM571]

Cell/Wifi data or mobile video upload/download

 

[AZDon]

Believe one of the two black cylinder antennas Is used for the MDC Verizon Data Network. Could MSP be using the low profile antennas in question for vehicle repeaters?

 

[drdispatch]

Believe one of the two black cylinder antennas Is used for the MDC Verizon Data Network. Could MSP be using the low profile antennas in question for vehicle repeaters?

I don't think they've used vehicular repeaters since switching to MPSCS.

 

[freqs]

Modem and GPS Antenna

 

[Hit_Factor]

It's kinda hard to see but are you talking about those on the back of that car. I believe they are just more antenna for the AVL/MDT/Radio communications.

Yes, that's what I have seen on MSP vehicles.

 

[opps2016]

Watch Guard video upload to the cloud

 

[Noah]

Here's a better pic of them on a car in Oakland County. The trunk antennas surely are radio/MPSCS so it'd make sense the discs are for data.

 

[iMONITOR]

Here's a better pic of them on a car in Oakland County. The trunk antennas surely are radio/MPSCS so it'd make sense the discs are for data.

Doughnut warmers?

 

[fnnm1062]

Those are antennas for the vehicles, they have two different cellular connections on them, one is for the MDC and one is for the camera system for remote uploading of video.

 

[scanmanmi]

Those are antennas for the vehicles, they have two different cellular connections on them, one is for the MDC and one is for the camera system for remote uploading of video.

They upload video? Like constantly? Do tell.

 

[ffexpCP]

Here's a better pic of them on a car in Oakland County. The trunk antennas surely are radio/MPSCS so it'd make sense the discs are for data.

Multi-port Antennas

Rugged vehicular antennas built for public safety, the first responder network, aftermarket fleet applications and other transportation applications

www.lairdconnect.com

 

[ffexpCP]

I live in Macomb County, Michigan and I've never seen anything like that. You say it was round correct?

I've seen something like this on the TV show "Live PD". They're used for the video feed to satellites. I'll ask around.

View attachment 106411

It's bonded cellular for the TV production. QUAD Antennas - Passive & Active Archives

 

[ffexpCP]

They upload video? Like constantly? Do tell.

The only ones I've seen are wifi, they upload when parked back at the station.

 

[Golay]

They upload video? Like constantly? Do tell.

I'm not saying either of the two hockey puck antennas in the discussion are for video uploads.
But there's been systems for video uploads for 20 years now.
How it works is the car is recording the video and saving it. When the car gets close to a base, all the video gets downloaded over the air to the base. It's all automatic. No one at the station or in the car does anything or is even aware it's going on.

As far as the original topic, I first started seeing those two hockey pucks on specialty SUV's about 3 years ago. Canine units. Crime labs. That sort of thing. Then for about the last year, they've been showing up on patrol cars.