Tetra Digital & Analogue Trunking Radio Systems

The new all digital civil Tetra (Trans European Trunked Radio) system operates in the band ;
Dolphin had been bought out of administration by
Inquam on the 12th June 2002

Dolphin once again went into administration as Inquam could not operate the system profitably 

and the network was closed down on 30th July 2004 and subsequently the assets were sold off.

Dolphin Coverage Map Autumn 2000 Motorola d700 Dolphin Handset
  • Motorola d700 Tetra Dolphin Handset





Analogue Trunking

Being interested in analogue trunked radio systems since they began back in the mid 80's here is some information that I hope may interest you;
Many people are confused by the name 'trunked' and what it means. It can be easily explained as that every radio on the system 'listens' on a control channel, that is a data transmission giving the radios all their instructions.
When a call is received, or made, the controlling data transmission tells the radios who wish to speak to each other which channel they need to switch to. When speaking on their voice channel a normal 'talktrough' repeater is used to allow the sets to talk to each. Most sites have about a 10 to 12 repeaters on them and the control channel allocates each call as it is made.
What is the use of all this computer technology you say! well a system of 12 repeaters and controller could support several hundred if not a thousand or more customers. These would normally have to be allocated individual frequencies and their own system each! basically its a very economical/efficient radio communications system.
National Band 3 the original operator of analogue trunk in the UK gave notice that their service would be closing at the end of April 2002.

Kenwood TK715 Mobile



In the UK there are;

Equipment is available from many manufacturers as MPT 1343/1352 is a open standard
In the UK the Name Band 3 comes from the old Band III television service which closed down
nearly two decades ago and now the trunking systems operate there.
The analogue trunking system band is spilt into two parts;



Typical analogue equipment available ;
Tait 2040 Trunking Radio Tait Portable

Trunking related links ;

Truksniffer Pro Software

Trunkview Software





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