VHF conventional to VHF trunking...can it be done?

[Pj]

We were kicking around ideals the other day...

Our town has approx 7-8 VHF freq's (including the inputs). To bring everyone up to current equipment and coverage, it was brought up...can we use these channels in a single site smartnet system on VHF? Right now the PD has all astro equipment, and the rest of the town is mixed vendor. The PD will have CCGE, couple of Quantars etc.

Before we get too wild, can we get licensed on VHF for this, and can we get non-Astro equipement that will operate on VHF with a TRS?

[motisking]

Yes.

A) But you need to determine what BENIFITS all users will gain from make such an investment.

B) How many repeater PAIRS do you have?
C) Do you share the freqs with other users?
D) With the soon to be canceled MTS portable, your cost effective portable that will do Smartnet is $3000.00 each (XTS5000 analog only operation)
E) Remember you loose one channel with Smartnet for control.

You might be better off leaving the PD in Astro and spend your money improving everyone else’s conventional infrastructure (New repeater, add satellite receivers upgrade consoles. Even add a disaster frequency for use during major events/incidents)

If you can get everyone interested in going with trunking, take a look at LTR. Portables and mobile are all less than $1000.00 and a well-designed LTR system can work quite nicely.

[ExKa|iBuR]

Unless the specs for LTR have changed, you can't use it for Public Safety, as it has no provision for any emergency features, umong other things.

-Mike

[Cam]

Unless the specs for LTR have changed, you can't use it for Public Safety, as it has no provision for any emergency features, umong other things.

-Mike

Really? I don't think you need to have any "emergency features" to be used for public safety or any other use.

Anyway, I was thinking that you can have an emergency button on a LTR radio if you would like.

Motisking, what about the 2500?

[motisking]

Motisking, what about the 2500?

Not currently available in VHF.

[ExKa|iBuR]

I'm not sure of the specifics, but I read somewhere that a trunking system must be emergency capable for it to be used in Public Safety applications...it could be an APCO thing or one of the national associations out there. LTR does not have the required emergency options (such as emergency declare, priority override, etc...)

I could be wrong, but this does stick out in my head.

-Mike

[Pj]

I believe the "passport" and the like LTR are the public safety grade of LTR with the emergency extra's.

[JohnWayne]

For what it's worth, the City of San Angelo [Texas] uses a LTR Multi-Net system for their public safety departments Multi-Net is different from plain old LTR. One of the big differences is that it uses a control channel. This control channel allows stuff like emergency declarations and priority levels on the system, which I believe are an APCO requirement. You may want to contact EF Johnson to get some info on the system if you are serious about it. I am pretty sure that it would be heaps cheaper than a Motorola offering.

You may want to look in to Smatrunk II by SmarTrunk Systems. It is a pretty slick system. One of the major advantages of it is that you can use most of the radios and base stations/repeaters that you have now. You put a SmarTrunk board in the subscriber units and connect the base stations/repeaters to controller. I suggest you read their little PowerPoint and the other docs at http://www.smartrunk.com/SmarTrunk_II/smartrunk_II.htm. I am not sure if it APCO approved or not, but it has priority levels and emergency functions.

Hope that helps.

Jeff

[motisking]

Motisking, what about the 2500?

Not currently available in VHF.

CORRECTION

The XTS2500 started shipping in May 2004...

VHF MODEL I XTS2500 PORTABLE H46KDC9PW5 N
VHF MODEL II XTS2500 PORTABLE H46KDF9PW6 N
VHF MODEL III XTS2500 PORTABLE H46KDH9PW7 N

UHF range 1 and 2 should be availabe before the end of the year.

Sorry for any confusion.

[KB2ZTX]

For what it is worth...

HT1250 LS - VHF - LTR - 4 Different model numbers depending on how many channels you want.


I have played with one and they do work pretty good.

JAS

[thebigphish]

I believe the "passport" and the like LTR are the public safety grade of LTR with the emergency extra's.

come hang out in newington and ask us all about our Passport system that we have and how much we love it.