Julian1
Member
I have been thinking about the way trooper radios are set up. Growing up in Alabama and seeing the same radio configuration, I think I have figured out the reasoning for this set-up.
1. Base to Car, which is same as the Car to Car channel - GSP 154.680 Mhz
2. Car to Base channel - GSP 154.800 Mhz
Why this odd arrangement ???
By the way, Georgia's "State Band" has the same configuration. I've heard MCCD to the weigh stations in this set up.
154.905 Mhz - Base to car & Car to Car / 154.935 Mhz - Car to Base and Base-to-Base
Think back to the days before 2-way radios had scan features. And most important...what does the Post Dispatcher need to hear the most???
If 2-way comms took place on the same channel, the trooper on the road would not be heard by the dispatcher. Reason - Post dispatchers from other areas x-mitting @ 100-150 watts from 200 foot antennas would drown out the car radio traffic. Not good.
Answer - Have cars call in on their own frequency. Granted, local post troopers would be competing with units from other posts calling their dispatchers but most often would be stong enough to overide those competing signals farther away. At times they don't and that's when you hear a GSP radio operator tell a trooper, "another unit covered you up, try again".
Why have Car to Car radio traffic on Base to Car channel?? Now we get to the old days when 2-way radios did not have scan features. Scanning features on 2-ways began in mid-70's. The only way to hear traffic on another channel was to manually switch over. Having car-to-car traffic on the base-to-car channel enabled that conversation without the losing the ability of hearing the dispatcher. Switching over to car-to-base would have kept a trooper from hearing base-to-car traffic. It could also interfere with another car calling the post dispatcher.
Using today's scanning 2-way radios, troopers can hear other cars calling in since they scan car-to-base. If a nearby car is in a low spot or "dead spot" a car might hear a fellow trooper when the Post cannot. Chalk up another advantage to the scanning capability of modern 2-way radios.
While listening to their mobile extenders, I've heard non-GSP traffic "over-ridden" by GSP car-to-base traffic. This indicates to me that GSP Car-to-Base is their second priority channel.
Most in not all two way radios with scanning have two priority levels. Primary for GSP would be base-to-car and the second, car-to-base.
On a few occaisions I've heard GSP units talk to each other without switching to car-to-car because they listened to each other via the scanning radio picking up car-to-base traffic. 99.9% of the time they use car-to-car method. But when situations are "hot" this ability enables car-to-car without using hands needed for driving, being used for switching channels.
Just my take on trooper radio set ups. Thanks for taking a few mintues with me. Hope this sheds some light on the topic.
1. Base to Car, which is same as the Car to Car channel - GSP 154.680 Mhz
2. Car to Base channel - GSP 154.800 Mhz
Why this odd arrangement ???
By the way, Georgia's "State Band" has the same configuration. I've heard MCCD to the weigh stations in this set up.
154.905 Mhz - Base to car & Car to Car / 154.935 Mhz - Car to Base and Base-to-Base
Think back to the days before 2-way radios had scan features. And most important...what does the Post Dispatcher need to hear the most???
If 2-way comms took place on the same channel, the trooper on the road would not be heard by the dispatcher. Reason - Post dispatchers from other areas x-mitting @ 100-150 watts from 200 foot antennas would drown out the car radio traffic. Not good.
Answer - Have cars call in on their own frequency. Granted, local post troopers would be competing with units from other posts calling their dispatchers but most often would be stong enough to overide those competing signals farther away. At times they don't and that's when you hear a GSP radio operator tell a trooper, "another unit covered you up, try again".
Why have Car to Car radio traffic on Base to Car channel?? Now we get to the old days when 2-way radios did not have scan features. Scanning features on 2-ways began in mid-70's. The only way to hear traffic on another channel was to manually switch over. Having car-to-car traffic on the base-to-car channel enabled that conversation without the losing the ability of hearing the dispatcher. Switching over to car-to-base would have kept a trooper from hearing base-to-car traffic. It could also interfere with another car calling the post dispatcher.
Using today's scanning 2-way radios, troopers can hear other cars calling in since they scan car-to-base. If a nearby car is in a low spot or "dead spot" a car might hear a fellow trooper when the Post cannot. Chalk up another advantage to the scanning capability of modern 2-way radios.
While listening to their mobile extenders, I've heard non-GSP traffic "over-ridden" by GSP car-to-base traffic. This indicates to me that GSP Car-to-Base is their second priority channel.
Most in not all two way radios with scanning have two priority levels. Primary for GSP would be base-to-car and the second, car-to-base.
On a few occaisions I've heard GSP units talk to each other without switching to car-to-car because they listened to each other via the scanning radio picking up car-to-base traffic. 99.9% of the time they use car-to-car method. But when situations are "hot" this ability enables car-to-car without using hands needed for driving, being used for switching channels.
Just my take on trooper radio set ups. Thanks for taking a few mintues with me. Hope this sheds some light on the topic.
