TM-9900 multiband P25/DMR mobile

[mmckenna]

Always good to have more competition. Glad to see the multiprotocol options continue to grow.

Tait Communications announces new multiband P25 mobile radio with multiprotocol capability

TM9900 is Tait’s first new mobile RF design introduced to the market since 2012.

urgentcomm.com

 

[ATK3]

900mHz is still unique in this segment, that combined with Tait's usually-competitive pricing may make this interesting. With that said, I do wonder if they plan to address cross-protocol scanning any time soon.

 

[12dbsinad]

Motorola guys sitting at their booth at IWCE like....

"BuT DmR dOeSn'T bElOnG iN a PuBlIc SafeTeY rAdIo"

 

[ATK3]

Even beyond the interoperability arguments in the US, DMR is incredibly prevalent in public safety internationally, and will continue to gain traction with smaller departments in the US - conventional TDMA is something P25 can't do, and "double your traffic capacity at a lower cost" is a fairly effective sales pitch.

 

[wsp44]

and its not a massive RF deck either

 

[wsp44]

Also a new control head that was very nice

 

[mmckenna]

I always liked the Tait styling. Reasonable size radio. Should work well for those installs in smaller vehicles.

 

[12dbsinad]

I always liked the Tait styling. Reasonable size radio. Should work well for those installs in smaller vehicles.

It certainly beats the massive XL-200M!

 

[mmckenna]

It certainly beats the massive XL-200M!

Yeah, ain't that the truth.

 

[wsp44]

It certainly beats the massive XL-200M!

and the APX 8500, and VM8000

 

[ATK3]

The fact that this thing can drop into an install that's had an APX 4500 or XPR 4550/5550 dashmount is seriously impressive. I was already impressed with how small the TP9900 is, but if this is priced right, I think it'll do quite well.

 

[wsp44]

The fact that this thing can drop into an install that's had an APX 4500 or XPR 4550/5550 dashmount is seriously impressive. I was already impressed with how small the TP9900 is, but if this is priced right, I think it'll do quite well.

it is seriously impressive, while everybody else has gotten bigger, they maintained the same foot print, and didn’t compromise any power output.

 

[d119]

Motorola guys sitting at their booth at IWCE like....

"BuT DmR dOeSn'T bElOnG iN a PuBlIc SafeTeY rAdIo"

Motorola doesn't attend IWCE any more. I guess they figure they're too good for it now. Or they got shamed out of there. Same thing with L3Harris. Been that way for a few years now.

So, more like "Motorola guys sitting at their booth at APCO like..."

Motorola's lack of presence at IWCE makes it a bit more enjoyable, actually. IWCE is showing the world that there are alternatives, and it's interesting to see the major players that show up to IWCE that are clearly not hooked on Motorola's bull____.

I just bought $500k worth of EFWood stuff at work, and two VM8000's personally, you'd better believe there are better alternatives out there than Motorola.

I "upgraded" from an XL200m to the VM8000 in my car, and I don't think either RF unit are really "massive". They are both radios that are meant for remote installation. Clearly the Tait offering is meant for dash. You're comparing apples to oranges.

And yes, I know the VM and XL *can* be dash mounted...

 

[ve2hkw]

Even beyond the interoperability arguments in the US, DMR is incredibly prevalent in public safety internationally, and will continue to gain traction with smaller departments in the US - conventional TDMA is something P25 can't do, and "double your traffic capacity at a lower cost" is a fairly effective sales pitch.

Yeah, I've heard many people say to switch from DMR to p25 Conv. for our single frequency pair setup and I just don't see the logic... I wish the TDMA p25 could operate on a single frequency repeater..... You'd have people clamoring all over that I'd imagine.

 

[d119]

Yeah, I've heard many people say to switch from DMR to p25 Conv. for our single frequency pair setup and I just don't see the logic... I wish the TDMA p25 could operate on a single frequency repeater..... You'd have people clamoring all over that I'd imagine.

One of the things I brought up to the P25 steering committee members at IWCE last month was the need for Phase II P25 conventional. Essentially what I was told is that if there is a legitimate demand/business case and enough people speak up about it, they'll address it.

Since DMR is now an option for public safety agencies (as much as the manufacturers don't like it), and trunking is an expense that smaller agencies without regional systems can't bear, "they" would be wise to start working on P25 Phase II conventional lest people (conventional users) just say screw it and start moving away from P25 (or analog) in favor of DMR.

If they want the protocol to survive in the non-trunking environment, that's the only way to go. Otherwise, if you can't afford trunking, well, DMR is where everyone's going. It sells itself.

Now that has to be public safety/commercial/etc. that speaks up - amateurs and hobbyists have absolutely no voice with these people whatsoever.

My interest was for work. I was one of two folks who spoke up about this.

 

[12dbsinad]

Motorola doesn't attend IWCE any more. I guess they figure they're too good for it now. Or they got shamed out of there. Same thing with L3Harris. Been that way for a few years now.

So, more like "Motorola guys sitting at their booth at APCO like..."

Motorola's lack of presence at IWCE makes it a bit more enjoyable, actually. IWCE is showing the world that there are alternatives, and it's interesting to see the major players that show up to IWCE that are clearly not hooked on Motorola's bull____.

I just bought $500k worth of EFWood stuff at work, and two VM8000's personally, you'd better believe there are better alternatives out there than Motorola.

I "upgraded" from an XL200m to the VM8000 in my car, and I don't think either RF unit are really "massive". They are both radios that are meant for remote installation. Clearly the Tait offering is meant for dash. You're comparing apples to oranges.

And yes, I know the VM and XL *can* be dash mounted...

Not really comparing apples to oranges here. The Tait is not meant for just dash mount as most newer vehicles don't even have a dash to mount anything anymore, unless it's mounted in a aftermarket console box. The control head on a XL-200M is massive compared to the Tait, which is what I was getting at.

 

[kayn1n32008]

Yeah, I've heard many people say to switch from DMR to p25 Conv. for our single frequency pair setup and I just don't see the logic... I wish the TDMA p25 could operate on a single frequency repeater..... You'd have people clamoring all over that I'd imagine.

The logic is voice quality, active noise canceling amd audio processing. P25 is light-years ahead of DMR. P25 phase 2 is going to sound similar to DMR, because they both use the same half rate vocoder.

With P25 phase 1, you get the full rate AMBE+ vocoder.

 

[ATK3]

The logic is voice quality, active noise canceling amd audio processing. P25 is light-years ahead of DMR. P25 phase 2 is going to sound similar to DMR, because they both use the same half rate vocoder.

With P25 phase 1, you get the full rate AMBE+ vocoder.

Motorola's DMR implementation absolutely has major audio quality marks against it, especially compared to how good the APX offering is, however, when you start looking beyond Motorola for subscribers, the field really evens out. Tait's subscribers (even older models like the TP9300) sound excellent, and the VP8000 is far and away the best sounding DMR radio I've ever used. In my honest opinion, its indistinguishable from P25 conv in real environments, and its twice as spectrally efficient. You get all the same noise reduction and cancellation bells and whistles you do in P25 mode, and its running on the same DSPs.

DMR gets an incredibly poor reputation in the US thanks to Motorola's implementation of it. MotoTRBO is intentionally held back in so many respects, both with subscribers and infrastructure. Its clearly done to sell ASTRO systems and subscribers to small departments and largers businesses who may otherwise view DMR as a potential cheaper alternative to P25. As vendors other than Motorola gain traction, and DMR continues to be taken seriously, I can absolutely see it gaining a stronger foothold here in the US. DMR already is common in public safety use outside of the US, and as vendors bring those products here, its going to become a very real alternative to P25 in the right environment.