Update on Wethersfield's New TRS

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PhillyPhoto

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Looks like there's a little sign of life. I checked the computer sitting on the control channel (857.06250) and had a few sites showing up. Looks like it's system 00A with WACN of 924CA.

System Info:
xHJGpgD.png

89XphVb.png

1ifhDab.png

N3gEe3m.png

0Bf5wpd.png


Site 009-001:
EFBHirm.png

5uHNGkQ.png

w7l7egs.png

X9053UT.png


I also created the Wethersfield (P25) Wiki page (but have the contents commented out for now).
 
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PhillyPhoto

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Looking at the radio IDs, I wanted to check out their town code, and it looks like that are using it as the beginning of their IDs (159) (DMV: List of Connecticut Tax Town Numbers and Names). That got me thinking about New Britain's which start with 89, and that's also their town code. I was wondering for a long time why they would have such long IDs, and it makes sense now. I'm wondering if this is for use in the future if they go on the CSERN system.
 

cg

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Didn't realize that they had settled the Motorola lawsuit.

The Town Council opted to ink the deal with Harris last year. Not included in the $3.6 million cost of the new communications system is a $2.9 million, 15-year maintenance warranty.
Rare Reminder - Wethersfield CT News - Town Settles Suit with Former Emergency Radio Provider

Not sure if the CC was shut down Saturday, but didn't hear anything from one of my usual monitoring locations near Bradley Airport. The analog system was loud and clear at the time.
 

PhillyPhoto

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Yeah they shut it off yesterday, but it was back up as of a little while ago. The site numbering is a little weird, and I would imagine it's just for testing the 3 simulcast sites.

I just don't understand why a town with 26,000 residents needs to spend $6.5m on a radio system like this. The current system isn't busy at all, and picking up some conventional channels would be far cheaper and just as reliable, if not more so.
 

wesct

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Yeah they shut it off yesterday, but it was back up as of a little while ago. The site numbering is a little weird, and I would imagine it's just for testing the 3 simulcast sites.

I just don't understand why a town with 26,000 residents needs to spend $6.5m on a radio system like this. The current system isn't busy at all, and picking up some conventional channels would be far cheaper and just as reliable, if not more so.

To get out of the bidding process, they called it "Lease to Own".

To say the least, Bruce was not very happy about that.

BTW, Good catch!
 

PhillyPhoto

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famartin

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I was the original Consulting RF Engineer for Wethersfield (1999 to 2008). ComNet/Ericsson and Motorola were the original bidders. ComNet was about $900K more and the project was awarded to Motorola. PD wanted to use the Hartford EDACS switch. We designed the system as three sites, but the town would only finance two. Also there was a separate digital Astro channel licensed/installed, but never used. We simulcasted the FD UHF system and linked the 800 SmartNet to the network. They were one the first to use Evan's consoles, but all the different vendors "crapped" it up - very disappointing. The new Harris system is part of a sweet heart deal with their assistant TM and her close sales friend at Harris. Moto was not the problem. This should have gone to bid. We are not P25 fans since we engineer TETRA overseas and that is like comparing a Corvette to a Ford Fusion. The P25 II voice quality is one the worst I have ever heard. The AMBE vocoders are some of worst.
 

w1haf

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Motorola always bids low but their yearly maintenance costs are higher. The frequently do not include several upgrades to the system that are usually included in other vendors bids.
Software upgrades are one of the things that they usually charge extra for along with remote control station monitoring. This has been my past experiences with them on Municipal radio systems. I have been involved with several bids and we always had a large list of exceptions from them. They appeared to bid low and up charge. I do not question the quality of their equipment or engineering but their marketing practices are not the best.
 

famartin

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I would not disagree on the cost of the maintenance. In fact, what you find is almost 30 percent or more is software related. You have to pay for all updates (even if it is a minor code correction with no effect on the operation of the system/network) along with any major updates. Most agencies use less than 20 percent of the cost of the extended maintenance contract. Unlike the old days, all terminals (mobiles/portables radios except infrastructure) go to a repair depot. Service shops are not allowed to open or work on the radios internally. In the case of Motorola, it goes to Texas and over the border where it is subcontracted out to another repair facility. Motorola, Harris, EFJ/Kenwood, Tait all have their advantages/disadvantages. It varies throughout the country (and world) based on their direct sales force and the quality of the service shops. I am vendor neutral and more technology bias.
 

wesct

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I was the original Consulting RF Engineer for Wethersfield (1999 to 2008). ComNet/Ericsson and Motorola were the original bidders. ComNet was about $900K more and the project was awarded to Motorola. PD wanted to use the Hartford EDACS switch. We designed the system as three sites, but the town would only finance two. Also there was a separate digital Astro channel licensed/installed, but never used. We simulcasted the FD UHF system and linked the 800 SmartNet to the network. They were one the first to use Evan's consoles, but all the different vendors "crapped" it up - very disappointing. The new Harris system is part of a sweet heart deal with their assistant TM and her close sales friend at Harris. Moto was not the problem. This should have gone to bid. We are not P25 fans since we engineer TETRA overseas and that is like comparing a Corvette to a Ford Fusion. The P25 II voice quality is one the worst I have ever heard. The AMBE vocoders are some of worst.

Site 3 is going to be the noisest site out of all of them, being that close to the power lines.

I would also think that Harris is going to install 100 watt repeaters, unlike Motorola putting up 10 watt repeaters.
 

Firebuff66

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We designed the system as three sites, but the town would only finance two. Also there was a separate digital Astro channel licensed/installed, but never used. We simulcasted the FD UHF system and linked the 800 SmartNet to the network. They were one the first to use Evan's consoles, but all the different vendors "crapped" it up - very disappointing. The new Harris system is part of a sweet heart deal with their assistant TM and her close sales friend at Harris. Moto was not the problem. This should have gone to bid. QUOTE]

At least someone knows what the real issue was with the system was. Wethersfield loves to bash Motorola when it looks like it was Wethersfields fault it didn't work (See Above) and10 watt repeaters? you really want people to believe that?

I'm sure the Harris system will work fine, it sounds like Harris is being aloud to build the system correctly.
 

wesct

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We designed the system as three sites, but the town would only finance two. Also there was a separate digital Astro channel licensed/installed, but never used. We simulcasted the FD UHF system and linked the 800 SmartNet to the network. They were one the first to use Evan's consoles, but all the different vendors "crapped" it up - very disappointing. The new Harris system is part of a sweet heart deal with their assistant TM and her close sales friend at Harris. Moto was not the problem. This should have gone to bid. QUOTE]

At least someone knows what the real issue was with the system was. Wethersfield loves to bash Motorola when it looks like it was Wethersfields fault it didn't work (See Above) and10 watt repeaters? you really want people to believe that?

I'm sure the Harris system will work fine, it sounds like Harris is being aloud to build the system correctly.

Believe what you want. That is what I understood was one of the issues with that system.

The new system is "Lease to own". That is how the town got out of the bidding process.

Bottom line is: MONEY.
 

APX7500X2

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Believe what you want. That is what I understood was one of the issues with that system.

The new system is "Lease to own". That is how the town got out of the bidding process.

Bottom line is: MONEY.

Can't be money. Motorola's lease to own offer was less and they would have gotten more from it.
From what I was told they were also going to get the 7500 console and go on the State of Ct switch saving another 50k and it included 3 years of updates for the system.

Public safety & Politics never mix well. Lives are lost that way
 

wesct

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Can't be money. Motorola's lease to own offer was less and they would have gotten more from it.
From what I was told they were also going to get the 7500 console and go on the State of Ct switch saving another 50k and it included 3 years of updates for the system.

Public safety & Politics never mix well. Lives are lost that way

From what I read, Motorola didn't even know that a bid was put out.

Don't forget, The town was suing Motorola for a so called "Cadillac" system

that could not be fixed due to a lack of parts and poor coverage. The new Harris "Lease to

Own" has a clause to guarantee parts to be available for 15 years and it must perform to the towns

satisfaction.
 

PhillyPhoto

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I'm picking up the system on 853.7875 now in case anyone else is trying to monitor it but not picking it up on 853.0625 (which is now controlling the old system incidentally enough). It's still showing as site 009-001.
 

PhillyPhoto

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I also noticed they added 863.2875 on the Moto system, and it seems to be handling most of the voice traffic. They're doing some voice testing now too on the P25 system, but only was able to catch the end of it tonight. Talkgroup 102 was announced as PD Tac-2 so I updated that talkgroup, and split the rest in to groups.
 
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