Tait TP9800 multiband

[mmckenna]

Tait has the TP9800 multiband portable here on display at APCO.

$6000~
Plans to support DMR in the near future. Right now it's only P25/Analog.
2,000 channels.
300 scan groups with up to 10 members each.
136-174MHz
378-520MHz
757-870MHz

As you can see in the images, the decal looked like it was printed up quickly, so these may be engineering models...

The tall knobs were something they were trying out and gauging feedback on.

 

[mmckenna]

Color display.
Nice and light/small.

No, this isn't an APX8000, but it's not intended to be. It appears to be aimed at public safety users that don't have millions to spend on radios. At $6000, anything that results in competition is a good thing.

 

[mmckenna]

And Bendix/King is nowhere to be found….


The Viking VP8000 is a nice radio. Specifically designed to NOT be an APX-Next. People like radios that feel like radios, especially in public safety.

Tait also has their Axiom line of products. They've had an Axiom speaker mic for a while that has built in LTE/WiFi, so radio traffic can fall back on that when LMR isn't available. Doesn't need the radio to do it, it's all in the speaker mic.

They also have an Axiom Mobile that goes between the RF Deck and the Control Head/HHCH that gives TM9300 and TM9400 LTE/WiFi capability. Kind of a neat product.

 

[BMDaug]

Tait has the TP9800 multiband portable here on display at APCO.

$6000~
Plans to support DMR in the near future. Right now it's only P25/Analog.
2,000 channels.
300 scan groups with up to 10 members each.
136-174MHz
378-520MHz
757-870MHz

As you can see in the images, the decal looked like it was printed up quickly, so these may be engineering models...

The tall knobs were something they were trying out and gauging feedback on.

Did they say if it would support DMR and P25 along with analog, or is it either/or?? Would love to see all three modes in a radio this size!

-B

 

[mmckenna]

Didn't say, but I specifically asked about a use case where law enforcement might want to fall back on a DMR system, or interop with DMR systems, and the answer was yes.

DMR is NOT included yet, but it's on the roadmap.

 

[mmckenna]

Did they say if it would support DMR and P25 along with analog, or is it either/or?? Would love to see all three modes in a radio this size!

-B

If you are thinking of the limitation on the Kenwood NX-5000 line, my understanding from Kenwood was that it's a memory issue. It isn't that the radio won't do it, just not enough memory. Why they did that, I don't know, seems short sighted. Memory, after all, is relatively cheap.

Hopefully Tait and EFJK learned and won't make that same mistake.

 

[BMDaug]

If you are thinking of the limitation on the Kenwood NX-5000 line, my understanding from Kenwood was that it's a memory issue. It isn't that the radio won't do it, just not enough memory. Why they did that, I don't know, seems short sighted. Memory, after all, is relatively cheap.

Hopefully Tait and EFJK learned and won't make that same mistake.

Ya… They still have to weigh the increased component cost against the number of customers that will actually need that memory for multiple modes. The penny pinchers can be obsessive…

-B

 

[tweiss3]

If you are thinking of the limitation on the Kenwood NX-5000 line, my understanding from Kenwood was that it's a memory issue. It isn't that the radio won't do it, just not enough memory. Why they did that, I don't know, seems short sighted. Memory, after all, is relatively cheap.

Hopefully Tait and EFJK learned and won't make that same mistake.

This argument doesn't make sense to me, because they will happily sell you an entitlement to go from 1000 channels to 4000 channels. If it is operational memory (RAM), the radio will still only be encoding/decoding one mode at a time, still doesn't hold water.

 

[mmckenna]

This argument doesn't make sense to me, because they will happily sell you an entitlement to go from 1000 channels to 4000 channels. If it is operational memory (RAM), the radio will still only be encoding/decoding one mode at a time, still doesn't hold water.

I concur. I've never had access to Kenwood engineering. The only people I get to talk to are sales, manufacturer reps, and the occasional tech support/training people.

I think "memory" might be a generic term here. I think the decoders for different modes need to be running in the background and ready to have audio routed to them as soon as it figures out what mode it is. Maybe having P25, NXDN and DMR all running in the background is a bit resource intensive.

 

[BMDaug]

It all depends on the architecture… just because there is enough flash storage to put in 4K channels doesn’t mean there is enough ram to load all necessary code into memory aybe it’s just so close that an overrun condition could occur under certain circumstances, which would obviously be a bad thing when your life depends on the ability to communicate.

Without knowing how the platform is really engineered, it’s impossible to know all of the answers. It’s just like how Harris says that voice annunciation requires 128MB flash and any radio that doesn’t have that amount doesn’t support voice annunciation, even if you only want to load 1MB worth of audio files…🤷🏼‍♂️

-B

 

[prcguy]

I would ask the Tait guys if I could drop the radio from waist height onto the tall knob. If they let you do that they will see why they need to retract the idea of tall knobs.

Tait has the TP9800 multiband portable here on display at APCO.

$6000~
Plans to support DMR in the near future. Right now it's only P25/Analog.
2,000 channels.
300 scan groups with up to 10 members each.
136-174MHz
378-520MHz
757-870MHz

As you can see in the images, the decal looked like it was printed up quickly, so these may be engineering models...

The tall knobs were something they were trying out and gauging feedback on.

 

[mmckenna]

I would ask the Tait guys if I could drop the radio from waist height onto the tall knob. If they let you do that they will see why they need to retract the idea of tall knobs.

Drop test was specifically mentioned as one of the tests it would go under.

Not sure it'll survive, seems like it'll put a lot of leverage on the pot/encoder.

Not to mention those more portly users that have guts that will press on it (along with the antenna….).

 

[prcguy]

The Thales MBITR originally had a tall volume knob on one side like the Tait and on-off volume controls were getting destroyed so they went to a low profile knob. You can lay the radio on a table and see if the knob will easily touch or if the antenna is long and stiff enough to keep the knob away from danger. The MBITR has a thick 13" long and stiff antenna and it didn't protect the knob very well.

Drop test was specifically mentioned as one of the tests it would go under.

Not sure it'll survive, seems like it'll put a lot of leverage on the pot/encoder.

Not to mention those more portly users that have guts that will press on it (along with the antenna….).

 

[12dbsinad]

I guess when they said "It'll look similar to the TP9600" they were not kidding!

 

[crazyboy]

A new radio that looks and feels like a radio, imagine that! Tall knobs have to go, but other than that sign me up!

 

[mmckenna]

Conspicuously absent this year (again….):



This is a photo from 2019. By the time they release this thing, it's going to be old enough to vote.

 

[INDaviation]

And Bendix/King is nowhere to be found….

They weren't at FDIC this year either, which I thought was strange.

 

[mmckenna]

They weren't at FDIC this year either, which I thought was strange.

Starting to wonder about them. Not sure I'd invest in any BK radios at this point.

 

[CopperWhopper67]

Starting to wonder about them. Not sure I'd invest in any BK radios at this point.

I spoke to a radio shop that deals BK in Billings, MT while on vacation and the owner told me that BK keeps releasing buggy firmware for the BKR series. He noted that they are already halfway through the alphabet.

 

[speedway_navigator]

Conspicuously absent this year (again….):

I spent about 30 min in their booth at FDIC last year, had a few questions and ideas about that new line. I got the impression then it was coming soon.

Are they descendants of Regency radios from the mid 80s? The Indy car officials used their radios back then, I remember stopping in at the factory after a Florida race in 1985.