Legacy QC tones in an APX analog environment
Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 5:36 am
So it appears the APX line is not capable of decoding quick call tones. The option appears in the CPS however it says future feature or something of the like. The APX4000 is a great compact P25 radio. Our volunteer EMS division issues portable radios to every member. While the idea is to quickly transition to a full P25 system after full conversion to APX4000, the current infrastructure and paging system must work until that point.
I have overcome part of these obstacles with the following configuration: (While annoying it does not thwart our efforts of moving to the APX platform)
- A "pre-alert" tone has been added to our Centracom Gold console. This is a MDC Selective Call transmitted before the routine QC tones and voice dispatch.
- APX 4000 setup with a "Pager" channel as our professional series has. Designed to open for the selective call tone and remain open 15 seconds after the last activity. Unable to scan or TX on this personality.
- Non intrusive - end users only hear a sound as if someone were keying up a radio prior to a call being dispatched when not in pager mode
A few issues:
- It's annoying for dispatch to have the extra step (they'll get over it)
- The APX software alert tone is faint and sometimes unnoticed resulting in the need to keep legacy tones in place to alert the end user
- Centracom Gold seems to auto prioritize the MDC tone to the lowest priority when grouped with QC tones. It would be much easier if the MDC pre-alert tone could come first in the TX sequence of the EMS Page group. Any thoughts on this?
I have overcome part of these obstacles with the following configuration: (While annoying it does not thwart our efforts of moving to the APX platform)
- A "pre-alert" tone has been added to our Centracom Gold console. This is a MDC Selective Call transmitted before the routine QC tones and voice dispatch.
- APX 4000 setup with a "Pager" channel as our professional series has. Designed to open for the selective call tone and remain open 15 seconds after the last activity. Unable to scan or TX on this personality.
- Non intrusive - end users only hear a sound as if someone were keying up a radio prior to a call being dispatched when not in pager mode
A few issues:
- It's annoying for dispatch to have the extra step (they'll get over it)
- The APX software alert tone is faint and sometimes unnoticed resulting in the need to keep legacy tones in place to alert the end user
- Centracom Gold seems to auto prioritize the MDC tone to the lowest priority when grouped with QC tones. It would be much easier if the MDC pre-alert tone could come first in the TX sequence of the EMS Page group. Any thoughts on this?