Jed,
The first thing you are going to need if you are going to attempt this personally is a very large liability insurance policy.??
Simulcast, particularly for public safety is not something that should be approached without having the appropriate knowledge base and engineering resources.? If this was for amateur radio it would be a different story - in public safety if you get it wrong people can die - so I highly recommend getting a vendor involved who has the necessary resources to successfully implement a solution.
Since you mention that you think the Quantar is old (which they are getting quite old - for public safety service - in most cases) and want something newer your best bet would probably be one or more Motorola GTR 8000s combined with a GRV 8000 Comparator.? This is the current equivalent solution to Quantar/AstroTac 3000 and uses Ethernet backhaul.? Both solutions (Quantar/AstroTac 3000 and GTR 8000/GRV 8000) support mixed-mode voting and simulcast - so you can use Analog today while having a path to P25.? These are far superior to the SNV-12 solution which is Analog-Only and has to be interfaced to whichever base radio you choose.
Analog voting and simulcast takes a LOT of testing and adjustment to get right and when you start mixing equipment that is not specifically designed to work together such as the SNV-12 and whatever base radio you choose - the results tend to suffer.? I have setup SNV-12s before and I always thought the audio quality was fairly poor even when properly aligned - and with repeaters that usually sounded good in stand-alone mode.? Not saying that it is not a good product - it just wouldn't be my first choice.
I would start by having a qualified company perform a full evaluation of the system including a coverage study to determine what needs to be done to achieve the desired coverage.? It could be as simple as an antenna change or as complicated as a multi-site voted simulcast.? It is even possible that the issue is the subscribers not the repeater - maybe everyone is using stubby antennas on their radios and switching to whips would resolve the issue.
Again - in a public safety system the safety of the public as well as the first responders is at risk if things are not done right - so it simply is not worth it to try to shortcut things the same way you might for amateur radio.? Do it right or don't do it at all.
Dan Woodie, CETsr
KC8ZUM
