Let's hope that the Harris proposal is not a 'low ball' effort to secure the contract award, and will provide the coverage needed by end users (and not merely to satisfy a bond issuance.) I'm always suspicious when bid offers are widely different in cost.
PRINCE GEORGE CO. NEW TRS CONTRACT AWARDED
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There are 5 sites, coverage on the west side is good, there are few known weak areas, but not much there but trees.
Only law enforcement is encrypted, Active TGs are 1003 Fire/EMS Dispatch, TAC 4 1013, Animal Control 1001, Schools 1027.----------------
FYI regarding the Sussex Co./VSP trs, although I now rarely monitor it. Although I have a good solid 5 bar signal strength level, none of my 536s on the same antenna display any talkgroups or "DAT" displays. I have not heard any voice comms in the past 5 months. I finally concluded all P2 signals now are encrypted. The county VFD/EMS had been unencrypted and still may be, but any activity is seldom and I wasn't monitoring at the same time.
John
W4UVV
My 996P2 has difficulty staying locked on the CC. It may work for hours, days, weeks, then lose the CC. for short periods of time. All frequencis are in, and I can verify the current CC with a portable. Even when it is working, it misses some transmissions , or misses the first few words of a transmission. The UID appears about 1/2 the time. The VHF paging is a bigger issue, lot of dead spots. As far as I know, VHF radios weren't removed, needed for Statewide EMS, and surrounding counties still on VHF.
Vern
W4UVV
Member
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"Hahahaha" ...... Another typical juvenile post but not from a juvenile....you've made 5,860 posts so far since 2008.
"So in other words, people that have no dog in the fight?" Do not attempt to relate your incorrect characterizations to me.
"Also most likely people that don’t have a foggy clue about networked trunk system design and don’t have any clue that budget determines coverage."
WRONG!! In the USA these aforementioned long term monitors, including myself, all are homeowners called "taxpayers" and most have resided in Prince George Co., VA for over 30 years We homeowners will pay through our annual real estate taxes for the next 20+ years the $21 million cost for the new radio system. It makes absolutely no difference who the successful bidder was. It still is a long term county debt.
Your gratuitous assertion implying that the concerned monitors I mentioned "Also most likely people that don't have a foggy clue don't have any clue that budget determines coverage" is WRONG again. Six in the group I referenced are active licensed ham radio operators and are quite knowledgeable of the various radio trs including P1, P2 and DMR systems which dominate the central VA area where we live.
Your juvenile incorrect assertions, among other reasons, amount to a waste of my time.
N.R.R.
John
W4UVV
W4UVV
Member
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I did not have a problem!. As I was composing a PM to Vern, suddenly "TG1109 Greensville Prison Guard" and UID popped up loud and clear unencrypted on my 536s..Now my talk groups are displaying with voice.. The 536s were scanning the signals fine. I also received a county VFD/EMS TG 1802 in the loud and clear.
Vern, regarding the paging problem, I monitored the techs when they were testing the pagers. They spent more time trying to get the pagers to work in Stony Creek than at the other locations. I suspect they stopped pager testing after two good paging transmissions were received. I don't think it is a new problem but a continuation of an original problem never fully resolved. FYI my location near Ft. Lee is 146 ft ASL.
Possibly could this trs be experiencing an intermittent system wide problem sourced to the final xmiter stage with one or more components not performing at the desired ERP? Something ain't right somewhere.
John
W4UVV .
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I also received a county VFD/EMS TG 1802 in the loud and clear.
Vern, regarding the paging problem, I monitored the techs when they were testing the pagers. They spent more time trying to get the pagers to work in Stony Creek than at the other locations. I suspect they stopped pager testing after two good paging transmissions were received. I don't think it is a new problem but a continuation of an original problem never fully resolved. FYI my location near Ft. Lee is 146 ft ASL.
Possibly could this trs be experiencing an intermittent system wide problem sourced to the final xmiter stage with one or more components not performing at the desired ERP? Something ain't right somewhere.
John
W4UVV .
Sussex talkgroups end at 1047, I don't see anything over 1200, but my list is dated. There was a problem initially with paging, we stayed on the old VHF hardware for a while. I'm wondering if it is an antenna orientation issue. Most systems now aim all the RF into the jurisdiction. not much escapes the borders, I lose PG county below, west of Stony Creek. As far as the last question, I have no idea.
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I did not have a problem!. As I was composing a PM to Vern, suddenly "TG1109 Greensville Prison Guard" and UID popped up loud and clear unencrypted on my 536s..Now my talk groups are displaying with voice..
John
W4UVV .
TG 1080 is very active, maybe a typo?
One thing I forgot to mention, when the CC is lost, I tune directly to the frequency that is the current CC. At that point talkgroup IDs, start popping up as well as UIDs. There is no audio however.
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W4UVV
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TG1080 was a typo. I was trying to write talkgroups as they displayed. One new talkgroup, which I previously had not logged was "1802". All other talkgroups which displayed had ids which I originally logged and edited..
John
W4UVV
K4APR
Member
Isle of Wight has four sites.
clbsquared
Member
I’m including the one shared with Suffolk on Pruden Blvd and the one going in Rushmore. Although I’m not sure how far along that one is at the moment.
I think a lot of it is the fault of government entities. Out here a Harris P25 system is being built. Harris told them for 95% M/P coverage it would require 11 sites and the cost I believe was 14 million.
Well the county didn't want to pay that so they opted for a 7 site system for 11 million. The 7 site system will have 60% coverage. Oh and they also wanted a simulcast system.
Now guess what's going to happen when the system goes operational.
Lots of coverage issues and guess who is going to be blamed?
Hint not the county whose idiocy is responsible for it.
Once again it will be the radio company for building a crappy system that doesn't work right and doesn't let the service members talk.
Add in encryption on most if not all and its not going to be fun for service members. But like the county did before when they did a half a$$ed implementation of Nexedge that didn't work they'll yell and scream at the radio company rather than themselves for being cheap a$$ MFs.
Oh and Rockbridge's Harris P2 system works very well from all I've heard directly and indirectly. So does the Bedford regional system.
Well the county didn't want to pay that so they opted for a 7 site system for 11 million. The 7 site system will have 60% coverage. Oh and they also wanted a simulcast system.
Now guess what's going to happen when the system goes operational.
Lots of coverage issues and guess who is going to be blamed?
Hint not the county whose idiocy is responsible for it.
Once again it will be the radio company for building a crappy system that doesn't work right and doesn't let the service members talk.
Add in encryption on most if not all and its not going to be fun for service members. But like the county did before when they did a half a$$ed implementation of Nexedge that didn't work they'll yell and scream at the radio company rather than themselves for being cheap a$$ MFs.
Oh and Rockbridge's Harris P2 system works very well from all I've heard directly and indirectly. So does the Bedford regional system.
kayn1n32008
ØÆSØ
Exactly. Everyone hates on the vendor when the coverage is not what they EXPECT. Usually it’s because the bean counter like to cut corners and ‘save’ money.
W4UVV
Member
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Ghstwolf62,
I have lived in Prince George Co. for 40 years now at the same home/property. ASAP I had a tower with ham and scanner antennas from 80-10 meters. Chesterfield Co. was the first county to get a Motorla trs. Hanover Co. wanted to have the area's first trunked radio system. Hanover Co. selected EDACS and lived regret it. The county soon discovered there were "transmission /reception issues" in certain parts of the county. Too late now, learn to live with it, which Hanover Co. did for a number of years even after EDACS could not replace certain components. "No pay no play". That's how it works with all manufacturers/installers.
The "equal/smeakful" trifecta came later of which Chesterfield Co. was and still is the default "equal" user. Many system controller assignments seem first to select Chesterfield Co. frequencies. I wondered why so many Richmond City comms and to a lesser degree Henrico Co. comms were on Chesterfield Co. assigned frequencies. Motorola back then was the "big dog" with little or no competition and "won" the trs contract. After the first year of operation Chesterfield county realized that the southwestern part of the county had signal "dropouts", dead spots, etc. Motorola responded immediately and offered the solution. For approximately $2 million more Motorola could fix that poor coverage area by installing another tower. What did the county BOS say? You know the answer. How soon can you have the new "gap filler" tower installed and working?" Sound familiar? Although that begged the obvious question which the BOS should have asked Motorola was "Your technicians did a county zone grid matrix detailed comm check with a test vehicle. Why did'nt that section of the county's T/R base/model grid test fail"? The question never was asked because there was no one on the BOS who had any technical knowledge of a trs radio system. Either way Motorola was the only solution for Chesterfield Co. for that situation. It did fix the county's signal reception problem.
Back in the 80s/early 90s Harris probably still was making HF SW transmitters as that industry was dying. Satellite distribution of analog video and various versions of data transmissions changed the radio/tv industry never returned to their old ways. Harris was looking for an opportunity to "buy in" ASAP an existing industry "player" in an evolving industry, hence MACOM, etc.
Regarding Prince George Co., the only thing that has changed about its' crappy radio system is the date/time. Since the $21 million BOS check to Harris, which includes the 20 year $11 million separate maintenance contract, has cleared, now it wait and see. The Prince George BOS and the new radio system evaluation team members, as best I could determine from my county sources, did not have any basic technical knowledge of a trs. Although there were a significant number of county residents technically competent were available to assist, none I know of were ever solicited. Some previously were involved with installing the 444.2750 mhz. repeater on the county water tower which serves as a default repeater for emergency comms, etc.
You can't fault the evaluation team. Absent any in depth technical knowledge, their default criteria then was based on the RFP responses which may have included who responded how and answers to the various questions, attitudes, etc. They also had to depend upon the county's $75,000? consultant fee for advice and help..
Harris did a field survey and concluded that three additional towers will be required in addition to the existing 8 county towers. All I will say in that regard is there are hundreds of thousands of mature pine trees in the county. The average height is approximately 85-90 ft. Whenever I go to the county courthouse and see a large area of mature pines at the 105-110ft. level growing less than 100 ft. away, I try and figure what the signal ERP attenuation is those trees sucking up from the tower. You must understand past BOS and the PD decider for then the "new" radio system were satisfied and did not know differently and not changed the outcome. Approximately less than 20 years ago, there was an excellent 199 ft. tower installed next to the Courthouse Building back in the 50s. It had been maintained in very good condition. If it were 200ft. high, the county would have had to coordinate with the FAA. I really miss that tower. It was the main reason I and anyone else monitoring the P.G.county repeaters loved its' wide area coverage. I could monitor all of the P.G. Co. repeaters when on I95 to about 10-15 miles inside NC. I also monitored the P.G. county repeaters when I was visiting a cousin who lived near Andrews AFB, MD.
But the BOS deemed that the tower had to go. No, it did not have to go. A relatively small cut-across could have been made on the street with maintenance access basically for power and coax cable connecteions to the new comm center Within 75 ft. of the new comm center the 85-90ft. the "new" tower was built. That resulted in coverage of the repeaters down to about 15 miles. Because the previous PD chief decided to use conventional analog repeaters simulcasting all towers proved not to be a good idea. I and some other monitors will attest, it was bad then and still is bad today. A trs was an option not chosen. Dinwiddie Co. was smart. All P.G. county vhf frequencies were cancelled with Dinwiddie Co. staying on vhf and acquiring 3 or 4 former P.G. county's vhf frequencies.
Time will tell one way or the other what happens.
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FYI recently I read somewhere that Alleghany Co. was experencing some problem(s) regarding acquiring a new radio system. I don't how Covington, an independent city, fits into the plans.
John
W4UVV
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