Tetra Hire

humaxf1

http://www.tetraireland.ie/news/article/irish-cross-dun-laoghaire-rathdown-unit-solely-use-tetra-at-longitude-2016

Pataman

They obviously have deep pockets to use tetra.

zg3409

So does this network use the same system mounted to Garda masts?
I know the intention was for all emergency services to go on to tetra but I thought many emergency users thought the cost was too high? I am guessing they used a non Marley park mast, relying on existing coverage.

From what I read before the luas uses tetra, but they have their own masts, e.g. on the top of dundrum bridge, and presumably their own frequency, and presumably a separate network. I also heard intel had an internal tetra network.

So is this network the exact same as the Garda network?

I think it makes sense for event organisers and other users to start using more advanced systems, particularly for on site/off site vehicles. I know many volunteer groups, have coverage problems, but many struggle to buy crappy 446Mhz radios, without any hint of repeaters or real coverage.

Pataman

Yes they were using the Tetra network, obviously on a different talk group to Gardai etc. Its a very expensive system, especially for voluntary groups

Luas have the tetra system but are limited(I could be wrong with the distance) to 1 mile approx either side of the tracks.
There are other systems available on the 3G network. Most will hunt to get the strongest signal
The trend is moving away from tetra type ssytems to 3G as they have the best coverage countrywide.

zg3409

Pataman wrote: »

Luas have the tetra system but are limited(I could be wrong with the distance) to 1 mile approx either side of the tracks.

From what I understand they have a massive signal from the top of the bridge in Dundrum (possibly directional) and they have a low antenna on a pole in tallaght beside one of the stops near the hospital area, presumably a black spot. They also have a city centre based mast. I think they use it for data along with voice. I saw a tender for live, in motion, CCTV presumable due to the problems with trouble on board. This would need large bandwidth to work, or it could be an on-demand system.

Pataman wrote: »

There are other systems available on the 3G network. Most will hunt to get the strongest signal The trend is moving away from tetra type sytems to 3G as they have the best coverage countrywide.

Yes I have seen these. They are a glorified app on a phone with a roaming SIM so it can jump to any network. I am surprised they have better coverage than Gardai tetra, especially as they rely on data services and so need 3G/4G data signal, rather than the 2G phone signal which did have best coverage. I see they use special phones dedicated to the role with push to talk buttons which trigger the app. The good thing is you could use an ordinary phone at a push, especially with a earphone/button press combination. I would like to see a comparison of voice quality between the two in real world, in motion, operation. I would have thought tetra would give better real world quality compared to a skype like voice call. Data on 3G/4G seems to be dody, as the network is overloaded in many areas during peak times. I struggled to get any data at 7pm in parts of Dublin city.

humaxf1

UK police are said to be moving away from tetra, or AirWave as they call it. 4G PTT seems to be the next big thing.

As for 3G SIM based, I picked up a few of these http://goo.gl/tg8zUo Works quite well with Zello and Team-Speak. Beauty is you can have the screen locked and assign the PTT button on the side.

Delta Communications are offering <GSM> handsets looking more like commercial walkie-talkies such as these http://goo.gl/AH1Bij Pop in a SIM and you have your own private network.


LUAS were well ahead of everyone else including the Gardai and had tetra from the start. There's an impressive aerial tower at the Sandyford depot so I'd imagine this serves the stretch of track towards Cherrywood?

Emergency services tend to use 380-385 MHz/390-395 MHz and commercial allocated to 385-390 MHz/395–400 MHz so I'd imagine Red Cross were using a very small chunk of either portion.

humaxf1

http://www.tetraireland.ie/news/article/the-red-cross-choose-tetra-for-ep