RFS The Hills district going GRN

RFS, SES, SLSA, VRA, SJA
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Bigfella237
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Re: RFS The Hills district going GRN

Post by Bigfella237 » Tue Aug 14, 2018 10:20 pm

tsunami_australia wrote: ~ including links like Marie->Yarrowitch not even on the map ~
Ah thanks, they must've slipped that one in later, but it's on the map now.

I've been meaning to go back through all the sites and see if that happened elsewhere but I never seem to find the time (I figure I'll pick up any stragglers when the bases start getting licenced anyway).

If anyone spots any others missing please let me know!

Andrew

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Re: RFS The Hills district going GRN

Post by tsunami_australia » Fri Aug 17, 2018 8:37 am

Hmmm media write up ... no mention of the lack of versatility or that it would allow emergency services to be left in the dark and have to rely on UHFCB like Hunter floods.

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nsw-kick ... newsletter

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Re: RFS The Hills district going GRN

Post by citabria » Fri Aug 17, 2018 11:43 am

tsunami_australia wrote:It was a T2 analogue system during the Olympics even (XTS3000 mass purchases for the GRN). It was only upgraded perhaps 05 upward.
The Sydney Olympics used a totally separate network called the SORN - Sydney Olympic Radio Network. It wasn't connected to the GRN and had to be totally separate.

As for the NSWGRN, there were two major upgrades, the first was ion 2002, this the upgrade of the core from SmartZone Omnilink 3.5 to 4.1, which also included the addition of one or two mixed mode analog/ASTRO capable bases to certain selected GRN sites.

The next major upgrade was really a completely new network again, This time an upgrade to ASTRO System 7.xx. This was the upgrade to full P25 trunking and it occurred a bit later on that 2005 - it was closer to 2009-2010.

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Re: RFS The Hills district going GRN

Post by tsunami_australia » Fri Aug 17, 2018 1:52 pm

citabria sounds about right. Though SORN would have been re-purposed to the GRN afterward else it would be a waste. I know we've still got some XTS3000's ex Olympic in the comms room here I'm sitting in right now (3 of I think in the 6bay).

Unfortunately due to government oversight and wastage rather than at least program them for fireground channels and still give them something to do they just left them with the prehistoric pre-P25 programming and thus they are no longer used. But that's another beef for another day.

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Re: RFS The Hills district going GRN

Post by citabria » Fri Aug 17, 2018 2:13 pm

tsunami_australia wrote:Though SORN would have been re-purposed to the GRN afterward else it would be a waste.
Yes the subscribers were, however the infrastructure was another story (suffice to say Motorola rogered the tax-payer yet again on that one)
tsunami_australia wrote:at least program them for fireground channels and still give them something to do
I thought fireground channels were all VHF though? The SORN XTS3000s were R split (403-470MHz)

Having said that though, it looks like RFS is pushing out P25 PMR channels in the 420MHz band as well, perhaps they could have been used for that too?

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Re: RFS The Hills district going GRN

Post by tsunami_australia » Fri Aug 17, 2018 6:19 pm

The 420meg stuff is vote groups (PMR) and has been out for a long time in most areas :). There are 2 fireground sets. The pump2hose is certainy VHF (161?) but field ops/eslo etc is 411ish meg. The FOPS channels are the same 4 frequencies repeated 4 times. First 8 entries are analogue split by tone (so 1 and 5 are same frequency different tone) and the next 8 are P25 split by NAC (so 9 & 13 which is the same as 1 & 5 are the same frequency but different NACs).

The 420meg PMR stuff the 3ks don't have enough channel count to cover the entire BUT could have certainly been programmed "per area" and the ESLO/FOPS they could have well and truly covered. There is NO reason at all for example our local radios couldn't have had our 4 districts/2channels, the neighbours and FOPS/ESLO programmed. It would have at least made use of what is now unnecessarily wasted technology. That said I hear they are now replacing the fleet with APX gear ( YET MORE wasted money when the XTL/XTS is fine for what's needed) so it will be interesting to see how long all the XTS gear lays around for. I'm not a 3k fan but I hate seeing wasted tech.

I remember hearing some pissed of peeps about the SORN infrastructure and Moto screwin the pooch now you mention :(.

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RFS The Hills district going GRN

Post by Scotty » Fri Aug 17, 2018 7:57 pm

The later XTL/XTS radios (as with the APX) are likely under a lease arrangement, and get replaced well within their useful lifespan. No different to fleet vehicles getting replaced after ‘x’ years, even though they are perfectly functional.

The 3k’s though are likely well past their useful life. I’m surprised the RFS still use them, and would have thought they would have been replaced years ago, considering they have been unsupported by Moto for what, 5 years, and would likely be nearly 20 years old.

And speaking of SORN, who remembers all the Moto radios have the ‘Samsung’ sticker placed on them over the Moto labels. Was to do with event sponsorship and official partners - of which Moto was neither.

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Re: RFS The Hills district going GRN

Post by citabria » Fri Aug 17, 2018 8:25 pm

Scotty wrote:The 3k’s .... have been unsupported by Moto for what, 5 years, and would likely be nearly 20 years old.
Yep, 20 years old, and support ended more like 10 years ago now!

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Re: RFS The Hills district going GRN

Post by Bigfella237 » Fri Aug 17, 2018 8:45 pm

All the SORN 3k's around here were PURCHASED by the individual brigades, which is why they're still in service.

I have heard of a few brigades getting them replaced with current radios but only once they've suffered irreparable damage "in the line of duty" ;)

Andrew

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Re: RFS The Hills district going GRN

Post by tsunami_australia » Fri Aug 17, 2018 10:08 pm

Scotty wrote: The 3k’s though are likely well past their useful life. I’m surprised the RFS still use them, and would have thought they would have been replaced years ago, considering they have been unsupported by Moto for what, 5 years, and would likely be nearly 20 years old.
I beg to differ there. WHY couldn't an XTS3k that's still operational still do a few dozen analogue and P25 conventional channels? They use the same batteries as the XTS5000 which is still current so batteries are fine. If they aren't flashed for P25 that makes it harder but they could still work on a few of the older analogue FOPS channels just to give them some work. They are likely WELL out of support but if they already have the programming gear it wouldn't hurt to make them at least usable again.

It makes me wonder the RFS are all about 100% tracing their gear right down to the mic hanger bracket then just leave a heap of radios lying around that aren't used and could be.

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