P25 System Presentation at Local Hamfest Forum

[Ray-Joe]

Hey everyone!
I wanted to get everyone's thoughts on this. Truly looking for everyone's opinion. Figured I should post on RadioReference to get feedback from the Amateur Community.

About me, I am a system administrator of a large multi-county P25 radio system. (the names have been changed to protect the innocent.)
Our agency just completely upgraded the entire radio system. Completely replaced everything. I'm talking about repeaters, antennas on the towers, all the radios in the field, even the dispatch consoles. This was a major multi-year project, cost millions of dollars. Completely redesigned the agency fleetmap, licensed new frequencies, selected all the radio equipment, drive testing, etc... Planning started back many years ago. Implemented the entire new system without any disruption to radio comms to the field users.

Recently I was asked to speak at a local hamfest "forum" and provide a presentation with an overview of the new radio system and the implementation of the project, as well as delve into the technical stuff. (presentation timespan is about 1.5 ~ 2 hours)
I was also asked if I could relate it back to the ham community. (Open to suggestions on that.)

I am very much "on the fence" about giving a presentation. I'm not opposed to doing it, I'm also not scared to do it. I've given many "radio" presentations to department managers, fire chiefs, police chiefs, sheriffs, and county commissioners before. I'm a licensed ham operator myself, but I rarely dabble in the amateur stuff because I have a career where I get to play with radios all day.
I guess my hesitation is: Will this presentation even be well-received given the audience is ham radio operators?

I guess in short, Is there interest from the Amateur community to learn more about a professional P25 trunking system? (Planning, Design, Equipment Selection, Implementation, etc)
OR, am I just wasting my time because I will be heckled with the typical "Hams will provide comms when the P25 system fails" comment?

Again, I'm truly looking for everyone's opinion (from both sides).
I welcome honest feedback, and I will base my decision from what I receive.
Thanks for your time in responding!

 

[alcahuete]

If they didn't have any interest, I assume they wouldn't have asked you to speak. That said...yeah...not really sure what they plan to learn. IDK.

 

[W9WSS]

I believe it will be taken very well by the Amateur community. As moderator/co-director of CARMA (Chicago Area Radio Monitoring Association), we meet sporadically and have anywhere from 25-60 participants in a private dining room at a local restaurant. Although the scope and main interest in our organization are scanning, many of the members are Hams and enjoy hearing about the local public safety systems when presented by those in the know, especially yourself being the system administrator. Be prepared to answer lots of questions, especially frequencies, NAC codes, and the like. If you are encrypted, then NO ONE will be able to monitor your system, but I'm certain they will still be interested in the inner and outer workings of the system. Also being a Ham Extra Class, I belong to several Ham clubs, and we've had police and fire folks make presentations about their systems. Here in DuPage County, we have two central dispatch police/fire/ems agencies. Although most comms are in the clear, they are heading to full encryption of all law enforcement operations. Fire, ems, and non-law enforcement comms will remain in the clear, except for when they switch over to the police talk groups. Those entities will be encrypted while communicating with law enforcement, however, once they switch back to their home talk groups, they will be back in the clear.

I say "go for it," as I would love to hear what you have to say, but I doubt if you're in the DuPage County area of the western suburbs of Metro Chicago.

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[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Having been in the same business, I understand that these systems take a lot of planning and effort and are multidisciplinary. "Planning, Design, Equipment Selection, Implementation, etc" are topics the "ham community" don't get much exposure to. And the general public do not appreciate. I think a high level presentation of the project (Folks can do own research on nuts and bolts of P25 technology, fleetmap construction etc) The many hurdles of such a project would be informative. . Those topics are applicable to building any robust communications system. You might focus on the R56 aspects with photos of grounding versus bonding etc. , site selection, simulcast basics. I don't know what the attention span might be for your target audience, so the time frame should be tailored to that.

 

[n5ims]

Our local club had a presentation on our local P-25 Phase II trunking system and it was well received. They gave us their general overview and asked if we wanted more specifics on the system and as hams we said the more details the better. They told us about the repeaters and what it takes to run a simulcast multi-site trunking system and how parts of that might help fit in a wide-area ham repeater system (the presenter was also a ham). It was very interesting, enlightening, and during the Q&A portion he didn't even shy away from the questions on why the system had serious issues when they first brought it online (they even reverted to the old system for several months while they worked through the issues).

 

[mmckenna]

I think you'll find a bit of interest from them.

Not sure it's 1.5-2 hours worth, though, that would be a lot. Going into too much detail may lose a lot of them. While there are some similarities, most hams won't comprehend trunking or what it takes to run a system that large.

I have to do periodic training on our systems, and a few times guys that were hams were in the class. I've discovered two types:
1. Those that want to learn and will ask really good questions and pay attention to the answers.
2. Those that will want to start arguing with you and tell you everything that you did wrong and whats going to fail on your system and how their equipment is far superior.

Hopefully you get more that are interested in learning.

You may find that photos of tower sites and coverage plots are something they'll be interested in.
A quick overview of trunking should interest a few. Keep it high level and don't get off into the weeds unless they start asking questions.

One thing I'd cover would be to explain how the system isn't as fragile as some would want them to think. Some hams love to rip on public safety radio systems. Talking about redundancy and what resources you have as a fall back would be good. I think educating hams on public safety systems and their reliability would help them better find their place in disasters.

It should, hopefully, lead to some good conversations.

 

[jeepsandradios]

I did this for our RACES group after we went TLMR. While most of them were interested at the end of the presentation the president asked why they need hams anymore if the system is so redundant. To be honest I didn't have a great answer for him.

 

[N4DES]

You want to make sure that you have the sign-off of your boss, or boss's boss, on the material you plan to present.
Even though your the Administrator, some agencies are touchy about providing data on infrastructure to strangers...

 

[MTS2000des]

I just did a presentation for a radio club on our radio systems (both P25 and MotoTRBO). I echo what DES says, always get clearance in writing from your command staff before saying anything on your agencies' behalf. I kept it under an hour, and the audience was quite engaged. Our agency also hosts the home for the club repeaters, all done "the right way" with MOUs, liability insurance, and proper R-56 install and audit done.

 

[Twister_2]

Make sure you bring a few extra radio IDs to hand out to the yellow vest hero hams with xts5000s to use on the EMA/ARES/RACES talkgroups.

 

[MTS2000des]

Make sure you bring a few extra radio IDs to hand out to the yellow vest hero hams with xts5000s to use on the EMA/ARES/RACES talkgroups.

Better yet, encourage them to clone existing IDs because after all, they are authorized because they are super hero hams!

 

[AK9R]

Folks, let's stick to answering the OP's questions.

 

[AK9R]

Recently I was asked to speak at a local hamfest "forum" and provide a presentation with an overview of the new radio system and the implementation of the project, as well as delve into the technical stuff. (presentation timespan is about 1.5 ~ 2 hours)

Did they ask you to speak for 1.5 to 2 hours? That seems awfully long for a hamfest forum. I'd limit it to 1 hour.

 

[sloop]

Sounds like an interesting presentation. That being said remember that the average attention span of an interested person is about 20 minutes (more or less based on their back ground knowledge). You seem to have four basic area to talk on, 1 Planning, 2 Design,
3 Equipment Selection, 4 Implementation. I would suggest about 20 minutes for each topic with a 5 to 10 minute break or short question session at the end. At the end of the sessions a longer question answer session could be held for those with 'greater' interest. Good luck with your presentation.

 

[belvdr]

Sounds like an interesting presentation. That being said remember that the average attention span of an interested person is about 20 minutes (more or less based on their back ground knowledge). You seem to have four basic area to talk on, 1 Planning, 2 Design,
3 Equipment Selection, 4 Implementation. I would suggest about 20 minutes for each topic with a 5 to 10 minute break or short question session at the end. At the end of the sessions a longer question answer session could be held for those with 'greater' interest. Good luck with your presentation.

Agreed, especially given the attendees will likely have a vast differential of knowledge. You may focus on things a ham can apply at home (grounding, coax, etc) that let's them walk away with something to work on.

 

[RKG]

Agreed, especially given the attendees will likely have a vast differential of knowledge. You may focus on things a ham can apply at home (grounding, coax, etc) that let's them walk away with something to work on.

My only suggestion is to be prepared for questions like "Why encryption?" and "Why no RXO talkgroups for media and buffs?" And be sure your answers have been cleared with the brass.

 

[MTS2000des]

My only suggestion is to be prepared for questions like "Why encryption?" and "Why no RXO talkgroups for media and buffs?" And be sure your answers have been cleared with the brass.

I headed this off by stating that some talk groups are encrypted by direction of agencies, some are not. I deferred to Radio Reference Database for any specific talk group questions. I did not release any "proprietary" information.

 

[ladn]

I wanted to get everyone's thoughts on this. Truly looking for everyone's opinion. Figured I should post on RadioReference to get feedback from the Amateur Community....I was asked to speak at a local hamfest "forum" and provide a presentation with an overview of the new radio system and the implementation of the project, as well as delve into the technical stuff. ...

I think this has the potential to be an interesting presentation. You would do well to research your audience first. What is the core demographic of the group? Are they primarily new hams with very little technical experience, or are they mainly experienced hams with broad based knowledge and experience?

Their background will determine how you present the information.

Don't forget to explain (and be prepared to defend) how the taxpayers' money was spent and what value was received for all that money. What will this new system do that the existing system didn't? Remember, in addition to being hams, these folks are also taxpayers who funded all of this and are entitled to know how their money is being spent and what kind of a return they are getting for their investment.

Visual aids will be important. Bring some of the hardware for show and tell. Maybe show how OTAR works and how the system can "bridge" different agencies. Maybe a command vehicle?

Have a top notch visual presentation that includes site photos, people installing and using the equipment. A few well-designed charts and graphs will be beneficial, but please avoid "death by PowerPoint" type slides. If your agency has graphic designers or an AV department, put their skills to use. Consider providing a basic handout or a link where more information can be downloaded.

Do some research about existing ham systems in your area. Maybe draw some parallels and differences between your system and DMR.

 

[k6cpo]

As a communications volunteer with a local fire department, I'd be interested in attending a presentation such as that. I should look into something like that for my club as we're always looking for interesting presentations for our meetings.

 

[GlobalNorth]

Never, ever, represent your agency or even mention their name. That way, you can't get in trouble for things you said or might imply.

Speak to generic P-25 issues and systems and you have 1st Amendment protections. Also, record your presentation for your own protection.