New York, NY - Transit cops getting subwalkie-talkies

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radioman2001

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I guess we are going to see a lot of APX portables now. Upon further thought I guess the Transit officers can switch to the local precient freq when in a station, not that they will operate on that frequency. The local precient freq is BDA down to the platform, at least that's how it used to be, and yes EMS never had access to any BDA the frequencies were too far removed from the PD to allow the BDA to work on both.
 
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msradell

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I hope some people lost their jobs over this fiasco! $160,000,000 down the tubes with nothing to show for it? Rather than losing their jobs they should be brought up on criminal charges in all reality.
 

radioman2001

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That's pocket change for NYC, happens all the time. For NYC to install hundreds of miles of fireproof radiating cable in the tunnels it would have cost twice that amount. Their simple home brew (don't know if they are still there or went with a commercial brand) BDA that are rebroadcasting the local precient frequency was the best and least cost fix (BTW it was made up by the PD radio shop), AND that was installed in the early eighties. Until multi-band radios came out that was the only method available to get some coverage down in the tunnels, but transit cops would have to sign out and carry 2 radios.
I would like to know what radios or equipment they spent the 160mil on, anybody got specifics.
 
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kjczarzasty

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The other thing is that now that motorola has the apx they are selling them like it's some big breakthrough. There has been dual band equipment on the market from other manufacturers for years at a fraction of the cost of the APX.
 

studgeman

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There has been dual band equipment on the market from other manufacturers for years at a fraction of the cost of the APX.

The last type accepted portable prior to the APX line went out of production around 2004. It was made by Vertex. What dual band radios are you referring to?
 

radioman2001

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I would think they are the same, I don't see NYPD Transit going to UHF, the costs involved in installing additional equipment downstairs would be astronomical, plus new radiating cable (Over$10.00 per foot not installed) would have to be installed since the existing is set up for VHF transit freqs. I went through the same problem with FDNY and NYPD for the tunnels in and around Grand Central Terminal. You cannot share the coax with UHF since there are splitters all over the place set up for VHF only. The same holds true for NYCTA, there are numerous splitters all over to get into the nooks and crannies of those tunnels and hidden rooms.
Off topic but for general information in GCT the FDNY is supposed to be suppling their own new UHF equipment and doing their own antenna install sometime in the future to get off the exiting VHF system they have there now. NYPD for some unknown reason was unhappy with our offering of going on a new fiber optic system, and opted out, for now.
 

zerg901

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So what exactly is the radio situation in the subway tunnels now?

Trains and mtnce - VHF - coax antenna cables in subway tunnels and subway stations, linked to above ground VHF repeaters

Transit police - VHF - coax cables in tunnels and subway stations, linked to above ground repeaters

Transit police - UHF - ? above ground repeaters

NYPD - UHF - BDA (bi directional amplifiers) into subway stations

FDNY - UHF - 460.625 and 460.575 - coax cables in tunnels and stations

EMS - nothing
 

zerg901

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There is a current thread in the New York State forum that mentions the recent purchase of large numbers of new radios for the Transit Authority. There is also mention of changes that are scheduled to occur in February 2012.
 

zerg901

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What is heard on the Transit UHF channels? Anything? Is it the same traffic that is heard on the Transit VHF channels? Are just above ground units heard, or are below ground units also heard?
 

zerg901

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emcomm - which UHF are you talking about - NYPD UHF or Transit UHF?
 
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