TRENTON — They’re not on the same wavelength.

[CaptDan]

The county 500 megahertz simulcast system is long in the tooth. The only police departments to ever hook up of course were Lawrence and Hopewell. Others stayed on their systems but went p25 conventional encrypted. I remember when Ewing went encrypted like 20 years ago LOL.

Yes I think they will pay their bills or negotiate the bill down. As far as good planning for a new system, I wouldn't hold my breath. Remember, besides the politicians being very corrupt these are incredibly stupid people.

Trenton was originally going to a 500 MHZ radio system in early 1990's there was even a first ever hand held unit that was engineered specifically to meet the needs of Trenton that would have allowed communication with all of the other Police Departments in Mercer County that were in the 450 frequency range and the proposed 500 mhz that Trenton was going to go to.

The system was all ready to go, then there was a change in Police Administration and the new administration, along with some people assigned to the city's communication bureau, insisted the City switch to a 800 mhz radio system, which they wound up doing, and surprise surprise the 8 - 500 mhz frequencies were given up and a local university took them over and some of the communications bureau experts that insisted those were the wrong frequencies to switch to, suddenly got jobs with the university's communications sections.

Never stops amazing me how some people think, a Deputy Chief insisted that 800 mhz had to be better than 500mhz, because it's 800 and 800 is bigger and better than 500. Always reminded me of the Wendy's burger issue. They tried to compete with Mc D by selling a 1/3 pound burger at same price of MCD's 1/4 pound burger. People said why get a 1/3 pound burger when ya can get a 1/4 pound for the same price. Why go to 500 mhz when ya go to 800 mhz.


Police Departments should all have a business administrator, good cops don't necessarily = good business managers just as a good business manger does not necessarily = a good cop. Completely different jobs !

 

[RFI-EMI-GUY]

Trenton was originally going to a 500 MHZ radio system in early 1990's there was even a first ever hand held unit that was engineered specifically to meet the needs of Trenton that would have allowed communication with all of the other Police Departments in Mercer County that were in the 450 frequency range and the proposed 500 mhz that Trenton was going to go to.

The system was all ready to go, then there was a change in Police Administration and the new administration, along with some people assigned to the city's communication bureau, insisted the City switch to a 800 mhz radio system, which they wound up doing, and surprise surprise the 8 - 500 mhz frequencies were given up and a local university took them over and some of the communications bureau experts that insisted those were the wrong frequencies to switch to, suddenly got jobs with the university's communications sections.

Never stops amazing me how some people think, a Deputy Chief insisted that 800 mhz had to be better than 500mhz, because it's 800 and 800 is bigger and better than 500. Always reminded me of the Wendy's burger issue. They tried to compete with Mc D by selling a 1/3 pound burger at same price of MCD's 1/4 pound burger. People said why get a 1/3 pound burger when ya can get a 1/4 pound for the same price. Why go to 500 mhz when ya go to 800 mhz.


Police Departments should all have a business administrator, good cops don't necessarily = good business managers just as a good business manger does not necessarily = a good cop. Completely different jobs !

Can Trenton even obtain any of their own spectrum today?

 

[ai8o]

The county 500 megahertz simulcast system is long in the tooth.
<SNIP>

</SNIP> As far as good planning for a new system, I wouldn't hold my breath. Remember, besides the politicians being very corrupt these are incredibly stupid people.

This is the result of having people that don't have any technical knowledge/understanding making long term decisions about complicated systems.
ALL they see is how much they are going to spend right NOW!

It goes like this:
OMG!!!! We can't raise any taxes now!
Howard Jarvis and his buddies might get upset and vote against me!

Their horizons are limited to the time before the next election.
What happens in 10 years is of no concern to them, even if it might be better in the long run.
They don't even have any idea of what the best course of action is or even how to determine that.

Getting thru the next election is all that counts!

Besides; some politicians think like this:
(A paraphrased quote that I heard from a county commisioner in the 1990s)
"hey that guy Terry from the police radio station looks and talks like a geek,
I don't think he even drinks BEER, Bill from RCS sounds better "

Gawd!
I don't know how many times I ran into this mindset in my 33 years as a LEO in four different departmants

 

[trentbob]

Hahaha, I started with the Trentonian in 1985 as a Stringer. I remember all of this. Mercer County turned out to be quite a charlie foxtrot when it came to Communications, didn't have to happen that way but... $$$$$. Money Talks, BS walks.

 

[kd2pm]

Politics aside for a moment....just looking at the FCC license you can see that a 2 site system is NOT going to provide proper portable coverage in the city, especially when both sites are north of the city and not downtown or south of the city. So you need more than 2 sites for proper portable coverage. The UHF band that they are using is not all that bad...at least its not T-Band which has its own set of interference issues from digital TV stations. So right now, MPS has no incentive to support more towers considering they are not getting whats due them (yet). Perhaps getting the bills paid and budgeting for expansion to give the boots on the ground portable access in most nooks and crannies of the city would be the 1st thought that should come to everyones mind...ok....now you can insert the rest of the political jargon....

 

[trentbob]

No need to be political after that. Politicians didn't care about officer safety. Not on the agenda.

The local ill-equipped vendor who sold the city on this charlie foxtrot system actually made changes at great cost to improve system that will never... Work. I'm sure that is where the extra costs are coming from. What came first, the chicken or the egg?

 

[w2xq]

Ah, Trenton politics. I love it.

 

[chrismol1]

Sounds like a good case for FirstNet. So they don't seem interested in having their own system or paying a contractor to maintain what they don't own. Ha

 

[trentbob]

Ah, Trenton politics. I love it.

You bet Tom oh, you were there at the same time I was and you know exactly what I'm talking about.

 

[rr60]

460.600 103.5 active now w 1000hz service tone. Wonder if plans are being made.

 

[trentbob]

460.600 103.5 active now w 1000hz service tone. Wonder if plans are being made.

Hahaha oh, I told you so LOL. They're just getting ready. They use quite a number of talk groups on the nxdn system for administrative, Street crime, surveillance, data, conversation, they even have a supervisors conversation talk group, homicide CIB, even meter maids... Using one UHF frequency should be very interesting. Let's see what happens, they should just pay their bills.

They made their bed now they have to sleep in it.

 

[N2ICV]

Why don't they just go over to the New Jersey Interoperability Communication System (NJ ICS) ?

 

[RadioDitch]

Why don't they just go over to the New Jersey Interoperability Communication System (NJ ICS) ?

Because nobody in Trenton city government would profit from that...

 

[kd2pm]

I dont get it...This article pretty much shows how inept people can really be.

Trenton Radio System...Oh Boy!

 

[w2xq]

Ed, interesting news story. The Trenton pols will still have to pay the past due bill on the current radio system. Should be interesting on Oct 31. If payments to the current vendor are challenged in court, lawyers will have the last laugh with their fat fees. Even if there is a new vendor ready to go, the duality of bills of old and new vendors should really make the taxpayers' heads spin as property taxes go up.

Lessee... will the NJSP take over policing the city?

😇

 

[kd2pm]

Ed, interesting news story. The Trenton pols will still have to pay the past due bill on the current radio system. Should be interesting on Oct 31. If payments to the current vendor are challenged in court, lawyers will have the last laugh with their fat fees. Even if there is a new vendor ready to go, the duality of bills of old and new vendors should really make the taxpayers' heads spin as property taxes go up.

Lessee... will the NJSP take over policing the city?

😇

A bill is a bill is a bill. People are obligated to pay their bills and not think they can use that balance to hold it over a vendors head in order to get something else (if thats the motive these folks are plotting). MPS may be able to get their money...the lawyers will take their piece of the pie and the city will probably just chalk it up as a bad business relationship and move on. Just seems with potential other options of using the county P25 or NJICS P25, why would anyone create their own mess? Going 3rd party has its risks as we all know...you dont have control of your own destiny but that would mean MPS was totally negligent...seems here its the other way around...the city is totally negligent. Hey....since NXDN didnt work for them...there is always DMR...or if they cant afford it...let them use GMRS or FRS..(tongue in cheek).

Maybe I will catch you on Tri-State....been busy but I do listen....

 

[rr60]

I dont get it...This article pretty much shows how inept people can really be.

Trenton Radio System...Oh Boy!

The thought that 4.0 million dollars in that article can replace a radio system is a non-starter.

I suspect what was meant, was to purchase new subscriber radios.

Which leads a few questions.

NJICS or Mercer County 500 MHZ P25. It appears as if Mercer TRS may be the choice. I am sure extensive testing has occurred right? Harvard sentences in building right? Sure. The system was likely built and accepted for in street coverage.

I do not see any frequency diversity on Mercer’s TRS system. It sits entirely on DTV RF Channel 19.

This is the same range that shuts down Somerset County’s 500 TRS when tropo opens up the band with a million TV watts from 1000’ comes rolling in, from 285 miles away. In fact this happened on the overnight today.

The County tower sits right on the Delaware River which is a pipeline path for tropo over water to the South. This may be RX only, btw.

I wonder if the Mercer system is immune to this RF interference. Unlikely.

Copy That Trenton?

 

[markrsmith83]

Any idea what they are doing? Trenton F1 is surprisingly quiet today, and the State Street system appears to be off the air. Hoffman Ave appears to be operating.

 

[markrsmith83]

Scratch part of that - I'm hearing Fire dispatch on F1

 

[kd2pm]

So it does appear that they are contemplating going to the county system. Best bet for now is to pay up whats due to MPS and then get new radios and move to the county system. Better than what they have thats for sure.

"Keeping the MPS system running is only a temporary fix. The Gusciora Administration has proposed a resolution allocating $4 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds to replace the police radio equipment and 911 dispatch center so they are compatible with the Mercer County radio system, which Trenton can use at no additional cost."

Trenton Mayor and First Responders Ask City Council to Advance Proposals to Keep Trenton’s Emergency Communications Online – MidJersey.News