-=> Quoting Blair Thompson to Bud Jamison <=-
 -> PD had 12, and that's NOT counting inputs.  Now, the TOTAL is 17
 -> freqs, with one always the data channel and one the 'overflow' and
 -> phone patch channel, leaving only 15 channels for PD, Fire, buses,
 -> lifeguards, City Shops (ALL of them from streets to communications),
 -> and more.
 BT> Dear Bud:
 BT> OK, what is this phone patch stuff? I hear that on my non-trunk
 BT> tracking PRO-67. Why is it necessary to route phone calls through
 BT> public-service frequencies? Why don't they use cell phones or a a real
 BT> telephone? Perplexed, Blair.
Part of it is due to some systems having been put into place long before
the advent of cellular telephone. Then too, it  used to be cheaper to
place patching equipment on the system than have cellphones. It still
is cheaper in some respects to have patches instead of cellphones, if
you figure out the cost for purchase and upkeep of phone patch
equipment versus purchase and charges for cellphones and cellphone calls.
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
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