Digital system to expand...

[centralcoastscanman]

yes and there will be alot of government departments moving onto the GRN at the end of 2015 if not before, as thats the last date from what i've read the ACMA will let government users have licensed freq's in the non government allocation...

[Air490]

I'm guessing it will be everybody but Western Region will go UHF, then UHF P25. As to the west... the rumours have been around for a while but I doubt there will be P25 for a while. I can't imagine the risk-averse NSWPF going for the only VHF midband P25 system in the world!

[SKEYGEN]

P25 equipment availability for midband would be a huge problem. I'm sure Motorola would be more than happy to build equipment for that band, but they'd charge appropriately

If they went anywhere other than UHF it'd probably be high band.

[ivahri]

I'm guessing that list is missing Shoalhaven LAC? It would be funny if Lake Illawarra and Far South Coast LAC were digital and Shoalhaven (in-between the two) wasn't!

Personally I think the PF moving to the GRN is a long, long way off? Even if they only wanted to move inner city LACs across, there would need to be about three times the current number of GRN sites just to fill in blackspots so it would meet their standards?

Andrew

Andrew I've never been able to understand why people think it is going to be either GRN or conventional and not a mix of either one. Police WILL be going on to the GRN in Sydney- when the GRN coverage is increased to match what they have now. That will happen when the GRN goes to P25 Phase II- still a few years off. Outside of that who is to say whether there will even be GRN in the future? There are many of us who feel that the GRN should contract back to just being Sydney, Newcastle & Wollongong (plus ACT) but with 100% coverage (lots more sites) and allow agencies to run conventional P25 via a government bearer network. Trunking out west is a total waste of money- spectrum efficiency will never be an issue in Cobar or Moree. If agencies share infrastructure more efficiently the same cost benefits that trunking can achieve can be made without trunking. A Tait TB9100 base costs about $10K, implementing microwave bearers to link them into a network costs many times that... if they provide that & let the agencies connect their Tait, Motorola or RFT P25 bases to it you could see P25 across the state very quickly...

Cheers,

Richard

[Scotty]

Mid-north coast has officially switched to P25. Large areas in Richmond, Tweed/Byron and Coff/Clarence LACs switched to there new 'zone 3' digital channels earlier this week. Like the other country P25 channels there is no encryption. Analogue VHF and some UHF are still running as liaisons.

Seems zone 3 is programmed for country digital channels. From readings it appears to use a different NAC to city digital.

Of note, I've seen a couple of new Simoco SRM9022's coming into digital areas. I don't believe these are compatible with the GRN, so I can't see them switching to a trunked network any time soon.

The word is that the Shoalhaven area is next, which would make sense as it is surrounded by digital channels.

[matthewn1983]

they on NAC 526 up there as well, i know the Newcastle/Hunter Region were on 526

[Longreach]

dont bet on it Matt, Cooma is completely different

[Wonky]

P25 equipment availability for midband would be a huge problem. I'm sure Motorola would be more than happy to build equipment for that band, but they'd charge appropriately

If they went anywhere other than UHF it'd probably be high band.

Interestingly while looking at the P25 repeater from Spectra in WA, I noticed that the specs say it does VHF mid band P25, don't know of anyone who does the mobiles though...

http://www.spectraeng.com.au/pdfs/mx800 ... ochure.pdf

[col05_au]

I have been told the early Motorola Sabre's would do midband.

Never seen one. have found several references on the web to it however.

I don't play with Simoco much but does the P25 option in the SRM9000 apply to midband ?

Col

[BerryV]

I have been told the early Motorola Sabre's would do midband.

Never seen one. have found several references on the web to it however.

I don't play with Simoco much but does the P25 option in the SRM9000 apply to midband ?

Col

Ive got a couple of the newer SRM9000 midbands, they have the "p25 upgradable" tags on the housing and its listed as an option on the dealer pricelist. no idea if they would actually supply it though. I'm told that the P25 option board is only available to selected customers.