On Sun, 27 Jul 2003 03:44:10 GMT, R. David Steele
wrote:

On Sun, 27 Jul 2003 09:55:17 -0500, Bob Miller
wrote:

|On Sat, 26 Jul 2003 17:20:18 -0500, N9NWO wrote:
|
|I am interested in converting the 440 repeater
|band to trunking. It would allow more folks,
|not that we are seeing that much use as it is,
|on the bands plus allow us to have talk groups
|that would be either linked or local. In many
|cases, instead of a number of repeater sites in
|a county, it would be only one with multiple
|repeaters on a single tower. Unlike cell phones,
|there is little need for low power thus multiple
|tower sites. Having to maintain a single site
|in each county would reduce cost (if we can get
|hams to work together, sometimes hams are too
|"libertarian" thus it is even hard to organize
|them for pizza and beer).
|
|European police trunking radio is in the 400 to
|500 Mhz region which is far better than the 800
|Mhz trunking that is being down here in the US.
|
|I'm familiar with amateur radio, repeaters, etcetera, but what is a
|"trunked network"? Heard the expression, just don't have the vaguest
|idea what it is.
|
|Bob
|k5qwg

This is a good start http://www.trunkedradio.net/

Basically a trunked network has at each tower site,
several repeaters (about 5 but up to 12). Using a digital code, a
user group (ie talk group) be assigned a repeater for each push
of a mike. Thus the repeaters are constantly shifting but to the
users it sounds like they have a private channel. Some trunk systems
have over a thousand talk groups (Seattle). It is also possible to
like tower sites into a state wide system. For any user, it would
sound like he was on his home system. Normally there is only one
tower site in a county.



I use a Motora Maxxtrak in my business, and we talk on two private
channels -- I've been using trunking all this time, and didn't even
know it :-)

Bob
k5qwg