Nashua, NH aldermen to consider upgrades to city radio system

[zerg901]

John are you replying to me? I dont know where you get simple, overnight, dangerous, and all that stuff.

 

[n1das]

Looks like I ordered my PSR-800 just in time while they're still available. I expect Nashua's upgrade(s) to the TRS will add P25 x2-TDMA capability, an early implementation of future P25 Phase II operation.

 

[PeterGV]

John are you replying to me? I dont know where you get simple, overnight, dangerous, and all that stuff.

John knows what he's talking about. He LIVES this stuff. His point is that it's not nearly as simple as you're making it sound. You can't just wave your hand and make stuff happen.

From your comments about the proposed Nashua channel scheme, I wonder how much time you spend listening to Nashua. For example, you wrote:

1 simplex VHF freq for police, 1 VHF simplex freq for fire/ems, and 1 simplex VHF channel for everyone else

That would *never* work. First of all, one simplex frequency wouldn't reach all of Nashua reliably. Second, one frequency for each agency would never work. You need at least two (one dispatch, plus at least one TAC/Fireground) per agency... and that assumes only one "working" situation at a time. And before you suggest it, offloading regular TAC comms to one of the common VTAC frequencies has numerous problems associated with it, and the VTACs are best left for interop only use. Finally, you really wouldn't want to try to mix schools, buses, the dept of sanitation, etc all on one frequency. Very busy, very different types of traffic, etc.

Regarding a regional system in Southern NH: In the end, if well run, a regional system would be great. It would be a major asset to the area. But I can tell you from experience, that there's sooooo much politics and expense involved in this kind of thing, it's just pretty much NEVER going to happen. Local departments *really* like to have control over their own comms. There are a few regional systems that are well-regarded and widely used in Southern NH. Take for example, a couple of smaller ones near Nashua (I'm thinking Hillsborough County Sheriff, KMA/KCF415, and MACC Base). The use of THESE well-established and well-run systems is frequently contentious. There's never-ending carping about the cost, the procedures, the lack of control, the coverage. We have local departments that prefer to be on their own LOW BAND system, rather than move to one of these systems. Seriously.

Nashua is a busy, complex, place. And interop in Southern NH is a difficult subject. VHF High is jammed. and while there's a lot of spectrum that only gets used rarely, it still shows as allocated.

There's really no simple solution for Nashua... While I was skeptical years back when they moved to a trunked system (I figured it was another boondoggle), I was surprised to see that their 800MHz trunked system fits their needs pretty well.

Peter
K1PGV

 

[Lynch_Christopher]

Was looking on the City of Nashua website and read that the Nashua Police Department back in September took delivery of 65 Motorola APX 7000 radios through a Department Of Homeland Security grant. The radios will be used by the NPD speciality units.

Link to the PDF document
Pages 15 to 17
http://www.nashuanh.gov/agendas_minutes/Finance Comm/2012/Agenda/20121003 Finance Cmte.pdf