PSP Cruiser Antennas

[stano0098]

Everytime I see a PA State Police cruiser they have a different assortment of antennas being on their trunk and/or roof. Why is this?

[Solidjake]

frequencies and range

[stano0098]

frequencies and range

Figured but for example the one I seen today had what looked to be two cb antennas and two small roof antennas. Then the one I seen about a week ago just had a small roof antenna and one cb antenna.

[Motor On]

One guy may have an extra set of radios to work with local departments if his beat covers an area he may interact with other agencies. Also may be due to need to coordinate with different levels of command and other PSP districts. Some officers also go out and buy personal scanners or CBs and have them installed in their vehicles to monitor area activity.

[stano0098]

One guy may have an extra set of radios to work with local departments if his beat covers an area he may interact with other agencies. Also may be due to need to coordinate with different levels of command and other PSP districts. Some officers also go out and buy personal scanners or CBs and have them installed in their vehicles to monitor area activity.

Thanks. It's been something I was wondering for the longest time. I know they have to be fitted with radios fixed for local agencies.

I just like the fact that one psp cruiser could have two little antennas and the next cruiser could have 3 62inch antennas along with 3 small roof antennas and a rotating dish satellite lol.

[Solidjake]

Like I said, frequencies and their types such as trunked signals, encrypted, etc.

Hwy patrol here and other unmarked units have the short stub antennas, long lone footers, the short round ones, big round ones, etc.

[Rocketman59]

Like I said, frequencies and their types such as trunked signals, encrypted, etc.

Hwy patrol here and other unmarked units have the short stub antennas, long lone footers, the short round ones, big round ones, etc.

I see GPS (Garmin), Wi-Fi for LEO's Lap Top Computer, 900Mhz Trunking System, 430Mhz UHF Local Radio, and maybe 45-50mhz Low Band for rural country usage. Some are probably encrypted UHF radios for surveillance. Also you may see 4 to 8 antennas in a circle. These are direction finding antennas for Low Jack.

[gyrate]

The last partial photo has 1 antenna. the 2 stubs are nmo caps that just cover an existing mount. PASP only uses VHF officially. Anything else is not for their frequency


2905 unit above has 1 400mhz 1 800/900 1 gps 1 2+ghz (smallest stub)

2938 has the same as 2905 but without the gps one. but they look different don't they same freq though

[Motor On]

Like I said, frequencies and their types such as trunked signals, encrypted, etc.

Antenna has nothing to do with being trunked or encrypted; the antenna has to do with the frequency of the signal, and the correlation between frequency and wavelength of the radio signal.

[krypton2]

Well, I'll try to give the specifics for PSP as everyone else already covered the general antenna info

PASP only uses VHF officially. Anything else is not for their frequency

You're 5 percent right...or 95 percent wrong, whichever way you see it.

In 1996, Pennsylvania state legislature approved funding for a new, statewide radio system that would be called PA-STARnet. The goal was to put almost all statewide agencies into one secure radio system that would allow each agency to communicate with one another. The project never shot off, at least for PSP, until the mid-2000's, I'd say around 2004, when the new software was finalized and ready to be put into action. Up until that point, PSP used high-band VHF for their radio communications.

STARnet is a digital radio system that operates on the 800MHz band. However, unlike most digital 800 band frequencies, STARnet can't be monitored by a scanner or even a properly programmed radio. (that isn't set up by the state) When a person transmits on STARnet, it goes from the radio, into a computer where it is digitized and encrypted, before being able to be received by the approved, programmed radios. That means that it has its own unique antenna that no one else would have...

STARnet currently covers 95 percent of the state. When there are issues with transmitting/receiving on STARnet, which occurs more often than it should, PSP switches back to VHF. That means that almost all PSP vehicles have at least two antennas...one for the old, back-up VHF system and one for the primary 800MHz band STARnet system.

That being said, most PSP vehicles that I've seen have three antennas. The third antenna depends on where the vehicle is being used. Turnpike units probably have the third antenna as a CB antenna so they know where the issues are on the Turnpike, according to truckers. It could also be another VHF antenna, which is more likely in an urban area.

Also, there are statewide as well as countywide frequencies that are used for multi-agency operations. Most of these are VHF channels, although it depends on the county. I know that PSP jumps on those a lot for pursuit operations as well as when the helicopter is called out, so that PSP can communicate with local agencies they are assisting. That could be what an additional radio and antenna would be for.

PSP uses pool cars...the patrol troopers don't get a take-home/assigned car, although there's always the possibility that they use the same vehicle each time they work. That being said, it's unlikely that individual troopers decide what radios they want in their car, it is likely standard across the entire troop. That I'm not certain of though.