Comment Re:So much for long distance Listening (Score 2) 293
It's not an outside vs inside issue. It's a design issue. The sensitivity of modern digital radios are far superior to those of the analogue radios from 15 years ago people are used to. All else being equal, digital handhelds replacing analogue ones have better coverage.
Now taking that into account I have seen:
- People skimping on diversity because some modelling software said it'll be fine (this is a pretty big issue for coverage around obstacles)
- People skimping on power because some modelling software said it'll will be fine.
- Why the fuck can't I get an 800MHz TETRA radio from Motorola with a gain of higher than 1? All our old radios were provided with options.
- People installing new gear on old gear not understanding the different requirements (highly sensitive receive electronics are more sensitive to intermodulation and noise induced by poor earthing).
- People in general installing gear without appreciating the specifics (one antenna I saw measured quite well across a broad frequency spectrum but the ignorant person signing off the job didn't realise that spike of poor performance was right in the middle of the transmit frequency for that equipment).
If a firefighter can't hear or has a coverage issue it has nothing to do with new digital vs old analogue and the fault lies squarely on the designer and installer of the equipment.
Now on the other hand people complaining about sound not being as clear (new equipment has lower bandwidth / higher compression), sound being delayed (compression, transmission, software defined radio, and decompression delays), or longer call setup times (with all the additional features call setup times have increased), then I would buy the argument.