State going Digital

[SOUTH300]

Got word from a Trooper friend that Troop A Troopers are now carrying XTS5000 portables. From what I hear, the rest of the Troops will be switching also, as soon as the radios are purchased. Looks like at least the State Police portion of the State TRS is progressing forward to digital. It was a recent rumor that the State was thinking about digital, but I think this hardware change is a good indication.

 

[Landman]

Someone told me that the XTS-5000 will do both 800 and 700 MHz. Do you know if they will switch to 700? There are no TV stations in Louisiana or within 100 miles of Louisiana's borders that are still broadcasting in the 700 MHz band. This band is free to be used (at least in Louisiana) and I believe that the state is already securing licenses. Did the trooper give you a time frame for the switch? If you could find out the modulation scheme, C4FM or CQPSK, it would be appreciated.

 

[SOUTH300]

State TRS

I talked with the system manager for the St. Landry parish TRS and he advised me that the State will switch to 700MHZ when they go digital. No word on when tho. They are in the process of securing the 700MHZ frequencies now.

 

[Landman]

There is a meeting coming up at the State Police Data Center at 8001 Independence Blvd in Baton Rouge at 10:30 AM on Thurs March 18. This meeting will be for discussion and development of the first draft of the 700 MHz plan for Louisiana. The meeting is open to the public. I would looove to attend and ask a whole lotta questions if I can get off work that day. Check the FCC's website for the announcement of the meeting.

 

[Thunderbolt]

There is a meeting coming up at the State Police Data Center at 8001 Independence Blvd in Baton Rouge at 10:30 AM on Thurs March 18. This meeting will be for discussion and development of the first draft of the 700 MHz plan for Louisiana. The meeting is open to the public. I would looove to attend and ask a whole lotta questions if I can get off work that day. Check the FCC's website for the announcement of the meeting.

This would be the place to be to obtain the most accurate and up-to-date information available on future developments. Hopefully, someone that attends this meeting will share with us the results?

73's

Ron

 

[Landman]

If I am able to attend I will most definitly post the answers to the many questions that I plan to ask. The notice on the FCC's website said that the public is invited but it did not say if the public was allowed to ask questions.

 

[Landman]

Okay, I recant. I was basing my statement of no 700 MHz stations in LA on the Motorola report linked to below. The maps in the report show no 700 MHz stations in LA and the closest one being in the Houston area about 100 miles west of Louisiana

http://www.motorola.com/cgiss/docs/700mhz_whitepaper.pdf

After a member of another site brought up the fact that there were still active TV licenses in LA on 700 MHz, I decided to research it for myself on the FCC's database. I found four TV stations licensed in Louisiana in the public safety portion of the band. They are located in Shreveport, Bunkie, Alexandria, and Opelousas. All of these stations are, however, digital stations with an ERP of 9 watts or less.

 

[cellblock776]

Just a reminder of the meeting tommorrow morning. I'm going to try to be there. Hope to see some others from this forum there too.
Steve Raacke
moderator of the Yahoo Group
Scan Baton Rouge

 

[Landman]

Steve, I doubt that I will be able to make it. Ask some good questions for us now, ya hear!

 

[INDY72]

700

700 is being considered for the future, but is still a LONG way off for LA, they are talking about upgrading the existing system first and then go 700 eventually. The change to digital is still at least a year or two off, and will be at least 5 to 10 years before 700 can be put in full usage in LA.

 

[barcode770]

Digital

XTL and XTS 5000's do 700, 800 and 900 analog and astro 25 digital trunking..within 5 years Louisiana should be all digital as far as state police and services go..Already thr forestry service is pulling there "E" series smartzone spectras and replacing them with xtl5000's. Bossiere parish is already digital and Bossier city is about to convert as well. Caddo parish and Shreveport just got type 2 trunking and will convert with Bossier City within 4 - 5 years also..No more 800MHz either..Motorola bought ALL the 800MHz band for there Nextel srevices so Law enforcement. public services and businesses will be forced to move into the 700MHz band..EDACS and LTR systems will become obsolete and GE, Maxon and companies of the sort will take a major hit and Motorola will monopolize the trunking industry..

 

[SOUTH300]

LA TRS 700MHZ/Lafayette 800

I've been hesitant to post this information, until I could get more info, but here it goes anyway:

A few weeks ago, I was at a meeting in which the State TRS was discussed. Information has been recieved that the State expects to have it's current system upgraded to digital and 700MHZ in about 4 years. The state has also invited all public safety agencies in the State to join the system with no user fees. Lafayette was one of the first parishes to express interest in joining.

The Lafayette TRS is scheduled to be upgraded to a Type II system by the end of this year. A grant has been secured to purchase 233 XTS-5000 portables for all public safety agencies to split (by current usage of the system). Of course this is not nearly enough, but more will continue to be purchased.

After the State has implemented it's new 700MHZ system, Lafayette will have all of it's talkgroups on the State 700MHZ TRS. Lafayette will continue to operate it's current TRS, (PATCHED TO THE NEW STATE SYSTEM) until all 700MHZ radio equipment has been migrated over to the new system. This is expected by 2012. Then the Lafayette System will be taken off line, and all users will be primarily on the State System.

Even if the 700MHZ project takes longer than expected, it looks as though the state is planning to drop the user fee agreements. That would make it possible for Lafayette to join the system, even if 700MHZ is delayed.

I'm sure this project is in the very preliminary stages, but from what I hear, this seems like the route that is being taken at this time.

Ill post more as I hear it.

 

[blantonl]

Re: Digital

Bossiere parish is already digital .

What system are they operating on?

Do you have any further details on this?

 

[cellblock776]

While the timeline is sure to slip it will no doubt happen in the next decade. I wonder how long it will take for Uniden to come out with a Digitracker which will cover the 700MHz band.
Steve

 

[Landman]

South 300, do you know if the state will install any more repeater sites to give better coverage? There are none in Lafayette Parish for the state system. The tower at Ambassador Caffery at I-10 is a remote receiver only.

 

[SOUTH300]

There was no talk of putting any more repeater sites up, but of course I may have just not heard about it. Maybe Mr. Vincent will let the state put a repeater on top of the Courthouse in exchange for something??????? :idea:

Also I know the timeline is bound to shift, but they really were talking like the state will have their 700MHZ infrastructure in place by the Dec 2006 deadline for the TV stations to vacate, and the system coming alive by 2008. I guess we will have to see!

 

[MASTRTECH]

BARCODE770 where did you get your info about NEXTEL buying up all the 800Mhz channels. As for the state going to 700Mhz. The regional plan has not been set or accepted by the planning committee or, by the federal candy company yet. Maybe they should wait for the plan to be approved first.