New antennas on CHP.

[OpSec]

Here is a video of the VM-7000 in use that I found on YouTube...CHP's setup includes a lowband deck (obviously) that is not shown here.

 

[ScannerDude244]

That's a cool setup how much does that cost compared to a APX setup? I know here in Monterey county they order APX's 700/800 VHF boards with out UHF to keep the cost down.

 

[mmckenna]

That's a cool setup how much does that cost compared to a APX setup? I know here in Monterey county they order APX's 700/800 VHF boards with out UHF to keep the cost down.

I don't know what the EFJ pricing is, but the list prices for the individual Kenwood branded stuff is:

NX-5600H - 100w low band deck: ~$1800
NX-5700H - 100w VHF deck: ~ $2000
NX-5800H - 100w UHF deck: ~ $2000
NX-5900 - 35w 7/800 deck: ~ $1000
Figure another $750 or so for control head, cables, etc. More for adding all the additional fun toys: P25 trunking capability, 4000 channel upgrades, SVR200, and since they are EFJ, they may have SmartZone capability added.

And likely somewhere better than 30% off that list price, maybe more for the thousands of radios they purchased. They may also not be using high power VHF and UHF decks, which would knock $1000+ off the top for each deck.

For a clean single head system, it's hard to beat.

And since the APX don't do low band, it's not really an option. The idea was to have one radio control head.

 

[djpaulino]

pictures??

 

[scannerboy02]

Being that this thread has kind of morphed into being about the new CHP radio setup from the few images I have seen of the Kenwood control head it appears they have labeled the channels with the division numbers and office number using the "new" numbering scheme.

As an example I have seen a Golden Gate radio with the zone name labeled '301 GG Div' (showing zone 3) and a channel of '320 CCO MRN2' (showing channel 1) and a Valley radio with the zone name '201 V Div' (showing zone 2) and a channel of '250 NSA GLD3' (showing channel 9) and I wondering if anyone happens to know if CHP is at some point going to start using those numbers in the callsigns? Again as an example, North Sacramento is/was 46-xx so would they switch to 250-xx??

Also does anyone happen to know if the channels are labeled for each area office even if they have more that one on a channel? As an example South Sacramento and East Sacramento share BLK3 so would the display be the same for both area offices or would they have two different channels programmed??

 

[box23]

As of a few months ago, the answer to that is no. The VM-7000 platform allows multiple, separate radios to be attached to one head. They do not interact with each other such that a VHF radio and 800 radio on the same multi-band trunking system would seamlessly roam between bands.

We demo'd this setup and asked for exactly this feature, which was said to be under consideration.

The VM-7000 paired with a Pyramid SVR repeater really is a slick setup.

As of late December, with software release 21.1, up to 3 decks of differing frequency bands in a VM7000 can be grouped to function as a single multi-band radio allowing proper site roaming in a multi-band trunking system, utilizing a single radio ID.

 

[OpSec]

As of late December, with software release 21.1, up to 3 decks of differing frequency bands in a VM7000 can be grouped to function as a single multi-band radio allowing proper site roaming in a multi-band trunking system, utilizing a single radio ID.

Well, I'm glad they did it finally...but that would have useful from the start.

 

[scannerboy02]

As of late December, with software release 21.1, up to 3 decks of differing frequency bands in a VM7000 can be grouped to function as a single multi-band radio allowing proper site roaming in a multi-band trunking system, utilizing a single radio ID.

While this is a great feature addition, if I am reading the firmware notes correctly the multi-band trunking operation would effectively render two or more radios useless for anything other than the trunking system? If CHP were to setup the VHF and 700/800 radio for CRIS they would no longer be able to use those radios for anything else?

Do you happen to know if the multi-band trunking operation can be enabled and disabled by the user? If not I'm guess just selecting the talk group on the appropriate radio when necessary would probably be better for them.

 

[box23]

I'm not sure where you got that. I read it as simply grouping up to 3 decks as a single multi-band radio, functionally similar to the other manufacturer's multi-band radios. There is no indication the radio grouping becomes locked to only trunking, and I don't know why that would even be the case.

Using this should be no different than current multi-band radios. You simply scroll to the appropriate conventional channel or talkgroup. The change is that if the talkgroup is part of a hybrid, multi-band system, the grouped radios will seamlessly roam across bands and sites as expected, using a single radio ID and presenting a single audio path to the user.

I have not investigated this in Armada yet to see exactly how it is set up, but I highly doubt a user would be able to change it on the fly. As for the CHP, I would envision their 4-deck radios would be grouped so as to present two interfaces to the officers: the main low-band radio and a multi-band VHF-UHF-7/800 radio for everything else.

 

[scannerboy02]

I'm not sure where you got that. I read it as simply grouping up to 3 decks as a single multi-band radio, functionally similar to the other manufacturer's multi-band radios. There is no indication the radio grouping becomes locked to only trunking, and I don't know why that would even be the case.

Using this should be no different than current multi-band radios. You simply scroll to the appropriate conventional channel or talkgroup. The change is that if the talkgroup is part of a hybrid, multi-band system, the grouped radios will seamlessly roam across bands and sites as expected, using a single radio ID and presenting a single audio path to the user.

I have not investigated this in Armada yet to see exactly how it is set up, but I highly doubt a user would be able to change it on the fly. As for the CHP, I would envision their 4-deck radios would be grouped so as to present two interfaces to the officers: the main low-band radio and a multi-band VHF-UHF-7/800 radio for everything else.

"Simultaneous reception Rx audio is also not available from the
different bands in grouped decks, only the active receiving band."

This is what I was referencing, if they group the decks together they would only be able to monitor one channel at a time (not necessarily just a trunking system I guess) as with each radio operating independently they would be able to monitor 4 (low, VHF, UHF, 700/800) different channels at the same time.

 

[KN4EHX]

"Simultaneous reception Rx audio is also not available from the
different bands in grouped decks, only the active receiving band."

This is what I was referencing, if they group the decks together they would only be able to monitor one channel at a time (not necessarily just a trunking system I guess) as with each radio operating independently they would be able to monitor 4 (low, VHF, UHF, 700/800) different channels at the same time.

Can confirm the Kenwoods are not true multi receive / transmit. Although I don’t live or work in CA, I do live and work in Tennessee where we have a statewide P25 Phase II system on both VHF and 7/800. Most people are using single band 7/800 radios and don’t bother with the VHF side of life, but for those who work in an area with VHF, UHF, and 7/800 they have to switch over to whatever band they want to use when rocking the Kenwood radios unlike Motorola. Kenwood does not automatically switch to VHF or 7/800 based on signal strength or TG slot availability. I personally use Motorola, but several people I know are using multi deck Kenwoods. I will say they do sound nice.

Regrettably we scrapped all of our low band stuff a few years ago. I personally think low band is good stuff, but it has fallen out of fashion in the Eastern US. When the lights go out low band continues to work here 7/800 isn’t so hot in the mountains.