Batboard

hi guys and gals i have a question about portable radios

my dept is going to a trunking system (8 or 10 frequencies) in the near future.
mt ques. is what portables can do both trunking and conventional.
like mts2000 ,mt2000, or what.
i'd like to get a portable to scan our frequencies but also have conventional channels aswell.
what portable do you all reccomend for a budget minded person say around 3-400 dollars used ofcourse.

any input is greatly appreciated

thank you
otto

also how many conventional channels are you going to want? you do realize the conventional channels have to be in the same range as the trunking channels.

not sure what type we are goin to i just know that it is the 400mhz range

atleast 16 conventional would be good

thanks
otto

i'd suggest a ht1250ls+ if your conventional channels are in the same bandsplit as the trunking system. if you want more than 18 i'd go up to an ht1550xls, it can do all 160 conventional. you just need to know if it's going to be above 470 or below 450 and what kind of trunking system it is.

what is LTR?
what is the diff between ltr and smartzone etc:..where can i learn more about each trunking system
i'll have to ask the radio guy at work what system we are going to

i saw a ct450ls on ebay has 10 conv ch and 10 zone/8 talkgroups...i'm not sure what a zone is tho.

thanks

otto

hiya i should have mentioned i just forgot i dont need to tx on the system i just want to listen .........if i got a radio lets say a mts2000 48 ch and put all 8 or 10 frequencies that our trunked system uses in it and scan these channels will that work?.....


thanks
otto

Be sure to check whether or not it's going to be a digital system too. If so that will change things considerably. $$$$$$$$$$$$$

bayfire300 wrote:hiya i should have mentioned i just forgot i dont need to tx on the system i just want to listen .........if i got a radio lets say a mts2000 48 ch and put all 8 or 10 frequencies that our trunked system uses in it and scan these channels will that work?.....

'your dept' is going to a trunked system and you won't be TX'ing on it? you just want to listen? Dude, just get a scanner. If you don't need to TX on it, why buy a TX capable radio deck...I can see a LOT of people getting mad at my reply, but if you will never be TX'ing on any system...why go and spend all the time/money/hassle of getting a radio for it?

bayfire300 wrote:what is LTR?

Logic Trunked Radio - invented by EF Johnson somewhere around the late 70s -early 80s. Another of the trunking protocols developed to get many simultaneous conversations on fewer frequencies, with higher utilization of resources.

bayfire300 wrote:what is the diff between ltr and smartzone etc

Smartzone is by motorola. There is a variety of differences between the two, but to the (less than super-feature-intense) user...not much difference than a name.

bayfire300 wrote::..where can i learn more about each trunking system

google. best way to learn this stuff.

bayfire300 wrote:i'll have to ask the radio guy at work what system we are going to

best bet. If you're getting one from work, and you will be using that one while on the job...i would just augment it with a scanner if you're not gonna be TX'ing on the system

bayfire300 wrote:i saw a ct450ls on ebay has 10 conv ch and 10 zone/8 talkgroups...i'm not sure what a zone is tho.

a zone is a collection or a "subset" of channels or talk groups in a radio...pretty much an interchangable term with "bank"

great thanks for all the info its greatly appreciated.
i thought of a scanner but i dont want to carry a radio and a scanner.i use a uhf portable for my gmrs repeater and wanted 1 radio for both so i figured i can just get 1 radio that i can use on my repeater and listen to my dept aswell.

i'm going to wait untill our system is in place and see what and how things are goin to work.
i got wind from a guy at work that every member of our dept is getting our own radios any way so then i wouldnt need to buy anything. but knowing my dept and how tight they are w/ money i seriously doubt it lol

thanks again everyone for all you help anf knowledge.

otto

bayfire300 wrote:what is the diff between ltr and smartzone etc

Smartzone is by motorola. There is a variety of differences between the two, but to the (less than super-feature-intense) user...not much difference than a name.

You are joking of course?

LTR is most definatly Not for use in Public Safety but commercial only.
If your home channel dies on LTR your history.
SZ can loose a channel or even a site without affecting the user (coverage issues excluded)

come to CT. we'll show you a dozen LTR PS systems . seriously.
and that is ALL i have to say about that.

but before you throw a clot...For the kind of question that he was asking, and for the amount of time that it takes to explain smartzone, failsoft features, multiple control channels, voting recievers, simulcasting, home channels, subnetting and fleet maps...he was asking for a simple breakdown of the differences. Ok so maybe i should have mentioned the 'glaring' short coming of LTR, but i was simply saving a lot of time by pointing out the obvious. If he googles "LTR Trunking" and then "Motorola Smartzone Trunking" he can get all the information he wishes.

Not to be overly pessimistic, but you should be aware that even though a radio (e.g., an MT2000 portable) can be programmed to mix trunked talkgroups and conventional channels in a given scan list, doing so isn't going to work very well.

The reason has to do with the difference in the way you "scan" trunked talkgroups and conventional channels. For the latter, the radio actually retunes to each of the discrete frequencies in the scan list and tests to see if it is receiving valid freq. If so, it tests for valid tone. If so, it pauses on this channel and opens audio until the signal goes away and the scan timer times out, at which point the radio goes to the next channel in the list and repeats this process.

With trunked talkgroups, however, the radio necessarily parks itself on the trunked system's data channels and watches for channel grant OSWs. If it sees one that matches the TGID of a TG in the scan list, it executes the channel grant command and switches to the voice channel to listen to the conversation.

When you mix conventional channels and trunked TGs in a given scan list, the radio acts like a trunked radio for a period of time (activity plus a timer) and then cycles through the conventionals one time, and then goes back to being a trunked radio. While it is acting as a trunked radio, it will not and cannot detect any activity on the conventional channels, even if the trunked system is traffic idle. Likewise, while it is scanning the conventional channels, it cannot hear any data on the trunked system and, therefore, will not latch onto any TG activity in the scan list.

For this reason, mixing conventionals and trunked TGs in a scan list is considered an operational no-no in a public safety radio.