Somerset County 500 TRS Tropo TV19

[tvengr]

You've got it backwards. The TV broadcast stations have the protection in the 470-512 T-Band (aka TV-Band), not public safety.

The UHF T-Band frequencies (470-512 MHz) occupy UHF TV channels 14 thru 20, each being 6 MHz wide.

 

[GTR8000]

The UHF T-Band frequencies (470-512 MHz) occupy UHF TV channels 14 thru 20, each being 6 MHz wide.

I'm fully aware of that. What does it have to do with what I posted?

 

[tvengr]

I knew you were aware of that. That was for anyone else in the thread who lacked that knowledge. I was just backing up your statement. Sorry!

 

[policefreak]

Are there any plans to move the users of the 500mhz site over to the 700mhz site? Does it have the capacity to handle the additional traffic?

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

what a mess..

 

[lynchy135]

Are there any plans to move the users of the 500mhz site over to the 700mhz site? Does it have the capacity to handle the additional traffic?

There has been a couple threads on this, and I can't seem to find the one I have in my mind. I remember reading a post from @GTR8000 about it. I believe the county applied for some more frequencies to help the capacity, but most of the migration has been delayed due to covid. If I recall, at this point EMS and Fire are moving on their own schedule, department by department.

 

[rr60]

There has been a couple threads on this, and I can't seem to find the one I have in my mind. I remember reading a post from @GTR8000 about it. I believe the county applied for some more frequencies to help the capacity, but most of the migration has been delayed due to covid. If I recall, at this point EMS and Fire are moving on their own schedule, department by department.

Government moves real slow…..lazy slow, like lazy ICS 21. Anyway, the thread you are looking for is here. Somerset County has the capacity as far as 700 MHZ license resources. Beyond that my guess it will be sometime before improvements are made. I have always liked being a strong #2. Follow and copy Morris County for example. A Bond Ordinance would be a good starting point while money is still cheap. @RocketNJ 🤣

Somerset County 700 P25 Expansion and Changes

Let’s use this thread to keep track of changes to the 700 System. We know thanks to @GTR8000 the number of sites and frequencies have been expanded. Not seen yet are MW path applications. My guess is path studies are underway and then licensing. I do know that a move of equipment up at Zion is...

forums.radioreference.com

 

[rr60]

Soapbox briefly…forgive me. While hardware or infrastructure may be Mission Critical, it is only as good as the spectrum it operates on. The DTV UHF TV repack has done a number on some PS users, which are using spectrum on a secondary basis. Tropo BOLO.

https://www.motorolasolutions.com/content/dam/msi/docs/en-xw/static_files/Mission_Critical_Communications_Tougher_White_Paper.pdf

 

[rr60]

Overnight a tropo ducting event occurred 8/7/21. This brought UHF T-Band television from the Norfolk Va into the NY NJ Metro areas. RF 16 17 19 20 were all present at times from almost 300 miles away. After a slow summer, we are now heading into peak Tropo season once again.

The Somerset 500 MHZ TRS Site 3 was subsequently knocked off the air. The TV RF either distorts the trunking systems CC or captures receivers or a little of both.

Attached is a graph of TV19 (500-506 mhz )signal levels overnight.

Of course PS use of T Band is secondary to TV.

14 473 470-476

15 479 476-482

16 485 482-488

17 491 488-494

18 497 494-500

19 503 500-506

20 509 506-512

 

[edisonfire]

When we speak of 500 or 700 capacity, I recall the large fire in Bound Brook (which one you might wonder?) which involved unfinished/being constructed apartment building on Main St and I can recall conversations to minimize radio traffic as the system was being overwhelmed. It might have been just the 500 side being over-capacity. I do like hearing fireground radio traffic because it tells us so much more but there is something to be said getting fireground off the trucked/repeater. R60 is your firehouse on the hill closed? seems like a lot of building going on all around it

 

[rr60]

Tropo today again disabled Somerset County 500 MHZ TRS with signals from TV 19 near Norfolk Virginia, 283 miles away.

 

[rr60]

The Somerset 500 is taken out again for a second day. 8/27/21. Live link here valid only at time of this posting.

Signal graphs for WAVY-TV at Mount Bethel, NJ on tuner0

www.rabbitears.info

 

[chrismol1]

I'm curious, what does taken out mean? A Nordo situation? Do they switch to 470backups/700 or lots of swearing trying to get a single word across

 

[rr60]

To many variables and to many departments. Taken out, means system not usable at times for some or all. This can occur randomly, briefly for minutes or even hours at a time.

Sometimes weeks go by during Tropo season with no issues. In this case, two consecutive days with issues.

OpenMHZ has the Somerset TRS. Look at the graphs and play back the times indicated by spikes in signal if you want more information.

 

[chrismol1]

To many variables and to many departments. Taken out, means system not usable at times for some or all. This can occur randomly, briefly for minutes or even hours at a time.

Sometimes weeks go by during Tropo season with no issues. In this case, two consecutive days with issues.

OpenMHZ has the Somerset TRS. Look at the graphs and play back the times indicated by spikes in signal if you want more information.

ok thank you, excellent I did bring up openmhz. Oh yea their portable radios had some rough days fighting that TV output. not a great to time to not be heard on foot should a problem arise