Tait over a scanner?

[Blake]

G'day blokes,

In regard to the CFA,
I've noticed recently, that some people are using Tait radios instead of a scanner.
That is, they use them as a scanner (no Tx possible, I assume ).
I hope you can understand what i'm talking about

Why is this?
Better performance? Better operation? Clarity? Compatibility?

Seems like a strange option, but maybe that's just me?

I assume you can't just buy one ready to go.
Don't they have to re reprogrammed/reflashed and have special access keys and software and things?
It just seems like a hell of a lot more trouble to go to, for-- what gain?
Surely it can't be such a better option than a scanner?


Anyone care to enlighten me?
Cheers blokes.

[tanger32au]

Generally commercial radios designed for a limited range of frequencies preform better. I know in the USA this is a common thing to run a commercial radio due to the performance benefits (and also the whacker factor) http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=whacker

[Blake]

LOL, 'wacker'.


Surely they can't perform that much better?
Or do they?

[tanger32au]

I had a 800MHz radio and it worked MUCH better than a scanner.

[Blake]

Ok, cheers for that tanger.
Sorry for all the questions, but in what respect are they better?
Better reception? Or better at picking up weaker signals?
Or better at tracking/ following conversations?
Cheers for your help.


So, I suppose it might be worth considering then.
What generally needs doing to the Taits?
Reprogramming? With special software? Need to buy a special key?
I suppose they aren't that more expensive than a scanner.

[tanger32au]

Ok, cheers for that tanger.
Sorry for all the questions, but in what respect are they better?
Better reception? Or better at picking up weaker signals?
Or better at tracking/ following conversations?
Cheers for your help.

Generally much better sensitivity (they pick up more / weaker signals) and selectivity (Selectivity is a measure of the performance of a radio receiver to respond only to the radio signal it is tuned to (such as a radio station) and reject other signals nearby in frequency, such as another broadcast on an adjacent channel.)

In the case where I had one I could hear more EDACS control channels and in fringe areas it held on to signals longer / better.

[Blake]

Allright, here's another one.

Again in respect to the RMR.
Do they actually receive properly?
I've head that some people have to have them programmed with the voice frequencies of a site.
That is, you can't just program in the control channel,
and hence can't properly track/trunktrack conversations?

It would be fine for a stationary base unit, but not a 'travelling' portable unit.

Is this BS, or do they work like a scanner, or better?



Just tying to suss out the specifics before I consider looking at one.
Cheers.

[Bass Junkie]

I had an XTS2500 set up for monitoring the GRN - I believe it's a bit easier in the XTS5000 (don't know about the Taits) so take this with a grain of salt. I had to set mine up to scan the voice channels but you could still filter based on talkgroup. So I had one "channel" set up that didn't restrict on talkgroup, then I had other "channels" that were made up of the same scan group but with talkgroup selectivity on various talkgroups. I generally had this radio sitting on the FRNSW main Sydney talkgroup, and it was amazing.

Commercial radios just seem to consistently have better quality audio - better speakers, better P25 decoding, better reception, just all around better. The downside is, as you say, you have to program individual sites in. I know that others have had more luck with different configurations, but that was all I could do with the XTS2500.

There's a few forums around with info on setting up commercial radios for non-affiliate scanning, but they seem to disappear quick. A lot of the scanner-oriented forums like this one and RadioReference quickly shut down any threads discussing the use of commercial radios as "scanners".

[Pumper_50]

The best forums for this type of chat hands down was the now defunct P25.ca Communications Support forums. Those guys knew their stuff!

Blake, it can be done and has been done. Is it recommended? Well that depends on who you have this conversation with.

You can definitely just set a scan list of the voice frequencies and monitor that way although there are limitations of doing it this way.

You can also, with a lot more work, set certain radio types for non affiliate monitoring with TG selection and such.

But is it really needed? Scanners give you a lot more flexibility albeit with diminished performance in sensitivity usually, but that's because it's trying to cover a lot more segments.

You'll kick yourself if you only rely on a commercial radio for monitoring because at some point something will happen, you'll want to try and listen immediately to something that you can't as you're stuck with only a commercial radio, even if it has FPP.



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[scannerman]

Dont Waste your money get a scanner. you can not trunk with a tait radio unless you have a trunking key to be on the network and unless you have of least a foundation ham license they are illegal to own. you can only set them up to vote voice frequencys and in the near future when ambos and police move across to RMR your not gonna be able to set the ch's apart and you will hear garbled encrypted voice along with mixed agencys all on the one ch you set up in the software.

for those people thinking of cloning a cfa radio dont bother they will see the new radio id on the network and stun them both.

[Blake]

Well, cheers for that definitive and insightful response scannerman, that's very helpful.
Scanners don't do too badly.

Thanks

[ashb_26]

Dont Waste your money get a scanner. you can not trunk with a tait radio unless you have a trunking key to be on the network and unless you have of least a foundation ham license they are illegal to own. you can only set them up to vote voice frequencys and in the near future when ambos and police move across to RMR your not gonna be able to set the ch's apart and you will hear garbled encrypted voice along with mixed agencys all on the one ch you set up in the software.

for those people thinking of cloning a cfa radio dont bother they will see the new radio id on the network and stun them both.

Just on that! Yes you can only set it up to vote the voice frequencies, but you can also set them up to only receive a select talkgroup. So you won't hear all agencies and encrypted traffic, you'll only hear traffic on the talkgroup you've selected.


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[Blake]

Just on that! Yes you can only set it up to vote the voice frequencies, but you can also set them up to only receive a select talkgroup. So you won't hear all agencies and encrypted traffic, you'll only hear traffic on the talkgroup you've selected.

Yeah, very true.
But you can do the exact same thing with a scanner.
Or you can choose to receive the state with a scanner.
Plus you don't have to program loads of voice frequencies, only CCs.


Sorry, just playing Devil's Advocate
Prove me wrong

[ashb_26]

Just on that! Yes you can only set it up to vote the voice frequencies, but you can also set them up to only receive a select talkgroup. So you won't hear all agencies and encrypted traffic, you'll only hear traffic on the talkgroup you've selected.

Yeah, very true.
But you can do the exact same thing with a scanner.
Or you can choose to receive the state with a scanner.
Plus you don't have to program loads of voice frequencies, only CCs.


Sorry, just playing Devil's Advocate
Prove me wrong

Oh Blake, no doubt about it, scanners are much easier to program and trunk/receive much easier and better but the receive sensitivity and audio is that much better on a tait/Motorola


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[rothackerben8]

Could the people with the tait radios be brigade captains or DGOs? as they automatically have their own radios

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