Setting Up a Command Center

[amsimonsjs]

Howdy Everyone,

We're setting up a command center/base station for our office, and i'd like to learn how to integrate VHF marine radio, police, fire, coast guard, etc with everything else.

I'm fairly new to radio other than its use, but I'd like to learn a bit more about it. I'm unfamiliar with what type of equipment I need to have or where to get it.

First, we'd like to set up a powerful highsight on top of our building. I've read about amplifiers and large antennas but I'm not sure on what's what.
I'm assuming I need seperate antennas for each type of radio system we're running.

Second, we'd like to integrate the radio system with our computer system, and possibly forward the radio link to a blackberry or similar phone that has the PTT feature.

I know once I get the radio to hook up to the computer, I can play with it from there.

I'd like to know what type of equipment I should buy and hopefully you guys can suggest good setups for my application.

I'd like a high quality desktop marine radio that can handle high power applications and has as many features as possible. And can integrate with our computer system. (I'd be willing to spend in the thousands if the radio is good enough. Having a good radio is a necessity for our company.)

I'm not too familiar with antennas other than the ones in my local marine store. I'm sure you guys can direct me to places where I can get high quality antennas.

I understand that there are operating licenses that we would need to have for such a power setup, but I'm sure you guys can point me in the right direction on that.

We need to have the most powerful setup we can have. We need to be able to listen to boats far offshore, as well as them being able to hear us. We're a towboat company.

Any help would be appreciated, I'm itchin to get my system all set up.

Thanks!

-Alex

 

[W5LZ]

I would suggest contacting a reputable company which produces/sells such communications equipment and asking their advice. Or, a communications consultant.
What does your company do?
- 'Doc

 

[mackmobile43]

I would suggest contacting a reputable company which produces/sells such communications equipment and asking their advice. Or, a communications consultant.
What does your company do?
- 'Doc

a
Most likely sells WIDGETS, I mean a tow boat company.

 

[amsimonsjs]

Hey guys,

We're a towboat company. We're just starting off and we'd like to be able to invest our money in high quality equipment that will last us several years.

I'm trying to learn everything on my own, and I suspect that If I hire someone, they'll set everything up and I will have no knowledge of the equipment, setup, etc.

If you guys could point me in the right direction It would be a great help. We're trying to get this thing up and running as soon as possible.

Thanks!

-Alex

 

[packrat]

First thing, you are not going to be able to combine these services with one radio or one license. Contact the FCC with your questions regarding legalities. Second, any good VHF Marine radio will do what you want. They are limited by law at 25 watts. Antenna heights are also controlled by laws, so again, check with the FCC regarding the limits, but higher is better. VHF is largely line of sight. You will need to get a license to operate a land based op legally. Police and fire etc, are a seperate issue, and you wont likely be able to comm with them unless they are operating on the marine band, which they will most likely be in the event of a situation at sea requiring their participation, but a scanner will let you monitor them at all other times. In the long run, a cell phone system will be the easiest way to comm long distance, and will be your friend, so advertise it well. What kind of towing are you wanting to do? It is a cutthroat business, especially commercial salvage and towing.

 

[Moleculo]

Integrating the radio with a handheld PTT device like a blackberry is going to require some fairly specific / special radio equipment. I'm not even sure how you would do the integration to PTT services. The rest of the requirements are fairly straight forward. A good antenna array composed of quality, folded dipoles with gain should do the trick for making sure you can communicate with other boats at a good distance. You'll need to find out more about the types of radio systems that the local police & fire use before purchasing a scanner to listen in. Do they use a trunked system? Have they converted to a digital system, or are they just using regular radio frequencies?

You really do need to contact a good Land/Mobile Radio company to help you with this. Make sure you tell them that you want to understand how the system works and want to learn about it and they should be willing to educate you as they work through the process. If they're unwilling to teach you, move on to a different company.

 

[packrat]

Mole,

Dipole would have to be vertical, as all mobile marine is also vertically polarized. All of the towers I work with, as well as all the marinas use as long a bigstick type of vertical as they can buy. The ones used on the BIG ships, and an extension, too. That is what I use, too.

 

[Moleculo]

Mole,

Dipole would have to be vertical, as all mobile marine is also vertically polarized. All of the towers I work with, as well as all the marinas use as long a bigstick type of vertical as they can buy. The ones used on the BIG ships, and an extension, too. That is what I use, too.

Yep. I was thinking of something like this:

http://www.rfiantennas.com/usDataSheets/DipoleArrayAntennas.pdf

I recently helped someone with a vhf marine location where they put up a vertical antenna that was comprised of 3 vertical stacked 5/8 wave elements. It works great at distance (location is high on a hill over the water), but it works terrible with boats that are in close. I was thinking that something like the vertical folded dipole array might work better for the OP's application?