[TheList] new Fire portable frequencies

Mon Jul 17 20:19:09 AEST 2017

Just a small basic explanation (there's more to it than this, but you'll 
get the idea) for everyone, talking into the mic is good practice for 
if/when they do go to digital channels.  The reason for talking IN to 
the mic and not AT it (and what a lot of people struggle with, with 
digital changeovers) is there are several microphones on an RSM.  The 
front and/or top of an RSM takes your voice, the other at the back 
and/or top will monitor ambient noise for the DSP to filter out the 
crap.  If you're talking at the mic, especially from a distance (IE 
holding the mic down by your lap and talking - often see it on Police 
10-7!) then the DSP struggles to determine your voice over the other 
microphones background noise, and when it filters it out it could filter 
out bits of your voice too.  Of interest, I went to a Motorola 
conference last year where they released a new RSM for the (I believe) 
APX8000 series, which had 5 microphones on the RSM.

This is nothing but poor radio habit, Digital isn't as forgiving as 
Analogue.  If you're holding a mic more than 4 or 5 inches away from 
your mouth, slap yourself and do it properly :)  Simple things like that 
help with Digital changeovers, and helps the poor buggers at the other 
end hear you over the background noise in Analogue, and hear you in the 
first place in Digital.

I'd assume that there is probably a second zone in these radios that 
have P25 (I still don't understand the benefit of P25 logistically vs 
Mototrbo but that's another conversation) channels in them, which mean 
the new radios could take the benefits of digital, but capable of 
flicking to the analogue channels when mixing with say Rural Fire who 
may not have been rolled out the new radios yet.  I would expect the 
idea is to use these radios in P25 mode as soon as possible, to take 
advantage of the APX features.  Analogue has little background noise 
reduction compared to Digital, and can't use digital features like GPS, 
DCDM (one simplex freq being used like two channels) which I assume P25 
radios can do like MotoTRBO, etc

Also to the OP, Kiwirail VHF frequencies changed a few years ago to a 
set nationwide, it's not a new change if that's what you thought.  They 
reuse repeaters, much like Ambulance (although Ambulance is a little 
different in that they use different tones for different areas)

Richard

On 17/07/17 20:51, Mark Foster wrote:
> I believe that the fireground channels (generally simplex) are 
> analogue.  At least i've not heard anything to suggest they're digital.
> I have used the new radios during training, they're very nice. The 
> noise cancelling technology in the microphones is really impressive, 
> but for someone who's been using radio for years it's 
> counter-intuitive to start with (you need to talk directly into the 
> mic, as opposed to 'across' it... if you talk across it, you won't be 
> heard).
>
> On Mon, Jul 17, 2017 at 1:01 PM, Radio Scanner <rs157950 at gmail.com 
> <mailto:rs157950 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     Bit of a shame Tait didn't get the contract, however you can
>     almost bet these will be DMR channels and afaik there's only a
>     couple of scanners and certain HT's capable of receiving these
>     channels otherwise you are stuck with a PC for decoding.
>
>
>     On 13/07/2017 11:43 p.m., Stephen wrote:
>>
>>     http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC1608/S00054/innovative-radio-technology-keeps-nz-firefighters-safe.htm
>>     <http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC1608/S00054/innovative-radio-technology-keeps-nz-firefighters-safe.htm>
>>
>>     *From:*TheList [mailto:thelist-bounces at radiowiki.org.nz
>>     <mailto:thelist-bounces at radiowiki.org.nz>] *On Behalf Of *Radio
>>     Scanner
>>     *Sent:* Thursday, 13 July 2017 6:51 PM
>>     *To:* thelist at radiowiki.org.nz <mailto:thelist at radiowiki.org.nz>
>>     *Subject:* Re: [TheList] new Fire portable frequencies
>>
>>     Has the Fire Service setup a new set of channels that are the
>>     same nationwide like Kiwirail have? (Im not sure on what they
>>     currently have as its not really an area of interest)
>>
>>     On 12/07/2017 9:55 p.m., Stephen wrote:
>>
>>         Thanks yes I had tried that and found that earlier.
>>
>>         *From:*TheList [mailto:thelist-bounces at radiowiki.org.nz
>>         <mailto:thelist-bounces at radiowiki.org.nz>] *On Behalf Of
>>         *Radio Scanner
>>         *Sent:* Wednesday, 12 July 2017 9:49 PM
>>         *To:* thelist at radiowiki.org.nz <mailto:thelist at radiowiki.org.nz>
>>         *Subject:* Re: [TheList] new Fire portable frequencies
>>
>>         You can try RSM once they have finished doing the usual
>>         Wednesday night upgrades..
>>
>>         On 12/07/2017 9:46 p.m., Stephen wrote:
>>
>>             I can’t seem to find these on the Wiki, are they
>>             somewhere please?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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