The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
Digital Radios
Who out there is using digital technology? Our county is going digital in the next year and i am looking for input on the brands you are using and if there is anywhere to buy these at a good(cheap) price? We have purchased our mobile radios but are looking for portables.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Chad Furr on
-
Good luck if you do find some cheap please let the rest of us know. thanks and TCSS
-
Permalink Reply by Jason Brooks on
-
I found this company on the web a little while back. They seem to have pretty good prices. They will not program them for you though. Since you are here in Ohio, go through the state bid prices. The have Kenwood and Icom as an alternative to Motorola if you need to go less expensive. Stay as far away from Vertex as possible.
-
Permalink Reply by Paul Acosta on
-
Motorolas. The portables are running us 2500.00 and the mobiles are 4,000. Not much we could do, because our dispatch center went digital and we had to purchase them. Had some help with regional grants but still paid a large chunk.
-
Permalink Reply by Mick Shelley on
-
Motorola, but you will pay big for it. Remember you get what you pay for.
-
Permalink Reply by Bill Mason on
-
Everybody will be required to use digital Radio or narrow band frequency by the FCC . The only reason some may have more time than others is you are required to use narrow band when your Communications Center renews its license with the FCC, for example in our County we have till 2013 to comply since that is when our County License renews with FCC. We Have been advised by our Communications Center most radios purchased since approx. 1997 are capable of simple reprogramming and do not need replacement however check with the manufacurter of your current radio to make sure. Pagers are apparently a different matter such as Motorloa Pagers have to be MInitor V or newer again I would check with your manufacturer to make sure. Our department currently uses Motorola HT 1250 Portables and these are capable of simple programing change to work corectly on narrow band. Hope this helps.
-
Permalink Reply by Jason McDonald on
-
Digital and cheap are not happening in the market today. If you looking for a great radio that is rugged and can take on heck of a beating, check out EF Johnson. The 5100 series portables are solid radios and they can be packed with P25 encryption and all sorts of trunking. You looking at about 1500 to 2500 per radio but you will not find something better in my opinion.
Icom has some nice portables and so does Motorola with the HT 1250 but if you were looking for the best option you may just want to get a radio that your communications officer recommends. I am sure your using a system right now and you can just get a radio that is the same brand as the communications system you currently have. The Department can order you a radio and you pay the department for it. This way you still avail of the govt. discount and you get a rockin radio.
Good luck and let me know as I am curious what departments are using. I know in Montana the Billings Fire Department is switching to EF Johnson Radios.
Just as a reminder, the radio you get needs to be NTIA compliant. The FCC governs non government communications and equipment such as amateur radio, WIFI, FRS, MURs, etc.. and NTIA governs all government communications and equipment. Yes the NTIA is more strict and serious but look for the NTIA red book for the rules and regulations. You still need the FCC license but remember you need to still follow NTIA compliance so they do not hassle you if ever they decide to inspect your station.
Take care and be safe,
Jason
-
Permalink Reply by jeff beall on
-
Which ever way it goes stay away from MA-Com, took them 18 months to get the system on line and the portable battries last almost 4hrs! It's been one long nightmare story, backed up with volumes of excuses why the system fails.
-
Permalink Reply by Trainer on
-
I’m no expert here but I don’t believe you are switching to true digital, although they are on the market have proven not work very well in the fire service. I’m sure someone will correct me if I am wrong but today’s radios that we use every day are a combination of digital and analog.
What I do know is switching to narrow banding is not switching to digital but merely a narrowing of the megahertz from 25 to 12.5 and is FCC mandated for EVERYONE by 2013. All radios purchased after 2000 should be capable but some will need to be plugged in to a laptop to identify. Pagers will have to be Minitor V or newer and I think there may only be a couple of others making one that is compliant. Your FCC license will also have to be changed to include narrow band emissions. FCC is also mandating a switch from 12.5 to 6, and there is a date but can’t remember it, the sad thing here is this will require true digital and the technology is not available yet. We are currently in the process of making the switch county wide at a cost in excess of $600,000. This is going to be a nightmare till everyone has done it.
-
Permalink Reply by Chad Eason on
-
Every department, Law, Fire, and EMS, are all on 800mhz digital trunking and we use motorola. There is not a cheap way to go and still have a good radio. We have been using ours now for about 5 years and it is so much better than the old system that we had. I dont know what your county is planning on doing or how big it is, but we have a five tower system here. What we have done is put up one at each corner of the county and then one right in the middle. This has all but eliminated any areas in our county that are not covered. The towers also "talk" to each other. This allows for better coverage and in the event that one goes down we dont lose coverage. If you have any input in how your county goes to this, you might want to look into that. Some of the down sides to this type of system is that in large construction type buildings, mainly commercial, there is a possibility that your transmission will come in garbled due to the steel beams and other construction materials. There are ways around that depending on the type of radios that yall go with.
-
-
Well I did some rough figuring and come up with 250sq mi, and about 25 departments, with 1 tower. Your muliti-tower setup sounds like a repeater which we are considering however you’re limited to the channel that dispatch is on. The only way to boost your broadcast is to put a repeater or as sometimes called a linker in one of your rigs this however is frowned on by many as it boosts all communications from your portables including fire ground channels which are suppose to be limited to low power.
I’ll get back to your original question but will still say you are not going true digital so just about any new fire service radio today will work. This is a Chevy Ford thing with everyone having an opinion, one guy has good luck with one model the next guy says it’s junk. We’ve had great luck with Motorola and let’s face it they are the kings in this arena and will recommend the HT 1250, I think we have 9, it covers what you want. Everything produced by Motorola today pretty much has to be sent to them to be repaired and we have noticed that when they come back the serial number plate has been put on a new unit it’s also there policy that if it’s sent in more than twice they replace it. Last 1250 we got, about a week ago cost $800, not bad considering a pager is around $500.
-
Permalink Reply by Blake on
-
I think the digital radio system is a bunch of bull, first off I was under the impression that the reason all the TV and Radio and all other non emergency transmissions where going to digital was to free up the Analog waves up for FIRE EMS and POLICE and then we plan to turn right back around and go to digital? I don't know how digital works in your area but in County if the wind blows it knocks off all the digital TVs and I don't think I want that kinda of technology to be watching my back in an emergency
-
Permalink Reply by Oldman on
-
In theory, digital transmissions takes up less space than analog transmissions, allowing more users on a given frequency and band without interfering with each other. Music files can help illustrate the theory. You have a music file using the wma extension, of say 5.57mb. We'll call this analog. If you convert this this to an mp3 extension, then you have a file size of 3.70mb. Call this a digital signal. As you can see, the mp3 takes up less space, but the sound quality difference of the two files would hardly be noticed. Now, we want to burn a CD of songs. Each song represents a different agency. With the analog system, you might be able to 10 - 12 songs. With the digital, maybe 15 - 18. Now please realize, this is a simple explanation.
"Digital" communications has nothing to do with frequency or band. Whether it is VHF lo, VHF hi, UHF, or 700 & 800. Digital works for any of them. As has already been stated, if your radios are less than 10 years old, they are probably digital capable. Less than 5, and they are digital capable. Brands depend on preference. My department has used Kenwood for years. The entire fleet is dual band, single head vhf/uhf. Some neighboring departments use Motorola. The County 800 system will not allow anything but Motorola to be used.
I consider ICOM and RELM to be the "budget" radios, they work well but may not have all the features more pricey units.
Kenwood is probably the mid-range with an excellent list of features, accessories, and pricing options.
Motorola could be considered the "luxury" end of the spectrum. A little too pricey for my personal use, and pretty much proprietary when it comes to parts, programming and repairs. A lot of what you pay for in this instance is the name. (This is my opinion)
There are new brands coming on the market, but I have not had a chance to test them yet.
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
