Aside from the tones Verona is very happy with the switch. NJICS is light years better than that crappy EDACS they were stuck with for years.
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NJICS Municipal Migration Discussion - Statewide
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markjrenna
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I doubt they are that happy. I continually hear them say repeat that. EDACS was way better. NJICS is a poor mans communication system barely beating out a string and can.
slapshot0017
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I beg to differ. The master 3 was one of the best repeaters ever built. Some departments who have half a brain are just waiting for their systems to die before they have to upgrade. Harris radios are also dual mode so they can use edacs for themselves and still operate phase 2 trunked for interop.
Our EDACS had terrible coverage. There were so many dead spots that it was 50/50 if you could get through to dispatch. Combine that with a system administrator that ran it like his own kingdom, and it was for us, a disaster. Poor battery life and the fact that we were still using original MRK 2 portables that were not going to be updated also were problematic to say the least.
I recall one incident at a working house fire, if you were in the front yard you could communicate. If you were in the fire building or in the back yard, you couldn't. Once an ambulance left Verona you had to use VHF. I could go on and on.
No system is perfect. But so far, I have heard no complaints about NJICS. Only how nice it is to finally be heard 99% of the time.
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I recall one incident at a working house fire, if you were in the front yard you could communicate. If you were in the fire building or in the back yard, you couldn't. Once an ambulance left Verona you had to use VHF. I could go on and on.
No system is perfect. But so far, I have heard no complaints about NJICS. Only how nice it is to finally be heard 99% of the time.
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slapshot0017
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That sounds like a system admin problem. See we live in different worlds cause I have heard plenty of complaints. The only good thing is coverage (most of the time) because the infrastructure is there, but I can tell you plenty of towns that could talk on their own repeaters around their county with no issues.
I hear ya. If it was up to me we would go back to conventional. That just worked.
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W2IRT
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Which is why I'm hoping West Caldwell stays on VHF conventional.
Yup. There is no reason a tiny little town like Verona needed a trunked system to begin with.
I understand that West Caldwell has completed their coverage tests and are impressed with the results. Almost no dead spots and they would like to transition. However, there are a number of issues unrelated to the radio system that need to work themselves out first. The department is promoting and hiring a few new officers and want to get that straightened out first.
Also, Caldwell has not participated in the testing as yet. Since Caldwell is dispatched by West Caldwell, I would expect them to split the cost. Until all of these issues are resolved there will be very slow progress for the rest of the year.
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Also, Caldwell has not participated in the testing as yet. Since Caldwell is dispatched by West Caldwell, I would expect them to split the cost. Until all of these issues are resolved there will be very slow progress for the rest of the year.
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markjrenna
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I hear the system audio just fine and the coverage footprint is outstanding. All the haters fear advances in technology and encryption from reading through these threads. But one of my old agencies was using rolling code encryption on analog and our coverage increased when we switched to digital. Same repeater location, antenna and wattage.
I will admit it was a learning curve even when we switched from analog conventional to analog trunked on EDACS. I always thought it sounded kind of tinny. When I started using P25 I was like wow. Crystal clear. TDMA does sound louder and more compressed but I guess I've gotten used to it.
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I will admit it was a learning curve even when we switched from analog conventional to analog trunked on EDACS. I always thought it sounded kind of tinny. When I started using P25 I was like wow. Crystal clear. TDMA does sound louder and more compressed but I guess I've gotten used to it.
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That's great for you, but many people have problems hearing this system. And yes, we know, you are using a professional radio.
Take into account the human element also. Plenty of towns now converting have personnel who are not acclimatized to the audio of a digital radio. The signal may be absolutely flawless, but it doesn't mean a person just now hearing P25 regularly is going to get used to it immediately.
slapshot0017
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The biggest issue is just the fact that voice keeps getting more and more compressed. You keep making the bandwidth smaller and that's what's gonna happen unless someone invents a more efficient digital protocol. The voice complaints I've heard are that the noise cancelling is working to well so you cant get a word in if you're moving at all. Dead full quieting analog will always sound better than digital in my ears, but I digress... Not like I have a say.
On the topic of municipalities moving over it seems as if Scotch Plains PD is now full time ics with the FD not far behind. Anyone else hear any rumblings or discovered anything in the Union County section of the system?
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On the topic of municipalities moving over it seems as if Scotch Plains PD is now full time ics with the FD not far behind. Anyone else hear any rumblings or discovered anything in the Union County section of the system?
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markjrenna
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The fact is I hear them (Verona) every day say "go again with that" or "repeat that".
I'm just stating what I hear. Maybe it's a topology and or geographical issue specific to Verona in regards to this system.
I'm just stating what I hear. Maybe it's a topology and or geographical issue specific to Verona in regards to this system.
That makes no sense. Analog or digital has no impact on the propagation of radio waves. Maybe the digital radios they used were more sensitive than the analog radios.
NJICS Municipal Migration Discussion - North Jersey
Yes radio waves are radio waves, but what he said makes perfect sense, digital gives you readability at further range. In addition to analog encryption having reduced range in analog even more.
Yes radio waves are radio waves, but what he said makes perfect sense, digital gives you readability at further range. In addition to analog encryption having reduced range in analog even more.
Same old story. County wants everyone dispatched by 2400 either operating on or fully patched to the NJICS by early 2018. Springfield (FD & VFAS) are supposed to start testing (if they haven't already), and there's been no further rumblings on Roselle Park or Rahway Fire.
Union is never going anywhere with their EDACS investments. Don't expect Clark, Cranford, New Prov, or Summit to change their opinions. And Garwood just plain doesn't have a penny to spare, and never seems to get around to apply for grants.
I think it's more of what was said previously...they are going from an analog EDACS system to a digital TDMA system. It is very different on the ears and does get some getting used to.
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Yes radio waves are radio waves, but what he said makes perfect sense, digital gives you readability at further range. In addition to analog encryption having reduced range in analog even more.
I don't want to get off topic but I can tell you that I had an XTS5000 with another agency back in the day and our Quantar was dual analog/digital. Same subscriber, same repeater, same antenna, etc. Digital outperformed analog as far as deciphering the audio at greater distances AND talk in improved. In other words I could key up the repeater from further out.
I will also tell you that coverage decreased using DES-XL encryption...significantly to the point that we didn't even use it. DES-OFB had no change in coverage.
This is all real world. Enough said.
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