Hilliard, OH - police want upgrade to digital radio system

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tk000

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According to this article from August, the switch appears to have been in the works for months. And I believe the statement that Hilliard would be the first new member to join COIRS may be inaccurate. Norwich Township Fire has already made the switch from the Franklin County system to COIRS and is now operating on the recently renamed Dublin/Northwest talkgroups.
 

W8RMH

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This was a poorly written article. They will need digital radios either way as the Franklin County system they are on now is upgrading to digital MARCS-IP. There will be no more analog system.

The article also mentions "As Hilliard continues to expand, particularly to the west, Francis said, radio signals inside buildings deteriorate," and "it is believed, but is not a certainty, that Columbus will upgrade from analog to digital towers next year, but he does not anticipate Columbus constructing any towers closer to Hilliard."

Columbus (Franklin County) signed a contract with Motorola in August to upgrade to digital and began installing consoles last month. Columbus has annexed further west than Hilliard and the Sheriff's Dept will need coverage in that area, and further west as well, so I'm sure they will have coverage with the new system. Hilliard could easily remain with Columbus/Franklin County and use their new system and save $2 million by not joining COIRS. Grove City is joining Franklin County and they are placing a site on the Grove City water tower. Hilliard could lease tower space back to the county and maybe get a break on their fees.

Nothing against Dublin or COIRS, but this industry changes very quickly and many things have changed since a few years ago when they began talking about COIRS. I'm surprised that Hilliard's leaders have not kept up with the changes pertaining to the system (Franklin County) that the currently use.
 
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tk000

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I wonder who was more uninformed and/or didn't do all their research... the author of the article or the City of Hilliard...
 

BusterCMH

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I'm confused by some of the responses to this article.....

Hilliard is currently on the City of Columbus radio system. Columbus has made no announcements, publicly or to their customers, about going digital or upgrading. The assumption is that it is in the works, but it is not formal. Hilliard is not part of the Franklin County system, so unless they move to that system, the new towers won't help them.

I am pretty sure Hilliard would be the first new member to COIRS. My understanding is that COIRS has nothing to do with dispatching. It is a council of governments that owns the radio system. Dublin is the one doing the dispatching. Norwich and Hilliard are joining the dispatch group at Dublin, but the radio system is a separate deal.

Since Dublin is on COIRS, wouldn't it make sense for Hilliard to join COIRS? That way all are on the same core system? They would be a system owner instead of a renter and, from the details in the article, they would have a tower right in the middle of their jurisdiction to ensure coverage, especially in buildings.

I am not sure how these deals usually go, but it seemed to make sense to me.
 

wa8pyr

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Columbus (Franklin County) signed a contract with Motorola in August to upgrade to digital and began installing consoles last month. Columbus has annexed further west than Hilliard and the Sheriff's Dept will need coverage in that area, and further west as well, so I'm sure they will have coverage with the new system. Hilliard could easily remain with Columbus/Franklin County and use their new system and save $2 million by not joining COIRS. Grove City is joining Franklin County and they are placing a site on the Grove City water tower. Hilliard could lease tower space back to the county and maybe get a break on their fees.

Columbus hasn't signed anything with Motorola. It was Franklin County.
 

ibagli

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And I believe the statement that Hilliard would be the first new member to join COIRS may be inaccurate. Norwich Township Fire has already made the switch from the Franklin County system to COIRS and is now operating on the recently renamed Dublin/Northwest talkgroups.

Norwich Township is a user, but I don't think it's a member. Washington Township and Sharon Township aren't members either, even though they both have agencies using the system.
 
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W8RMH

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Franklin County Public Safety Trunking System, Columbus, Ohio - Scanner Frequencies

Quote from this page:

"This multi-site simulcast system is the Public Safety system for Franklin County. Owned by the City of Columbus and administered with oversight by the Central Ohio Communications Advisory Committee, it is used by most public safety agencies in Franklin County, including the City of Columbus and the Franklin County Sheriff."
 
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tk000

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Norwich Township is a user, but I don't think it's a member. Washington Township and Sharon Township aren't members either, even though they both have agencies using the system.

That could certainly be the case. Far be it for a government entity to make up its own definition for a common term.. :roll:
 

durango5550

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I'm not from the area so I really dont know. BUT I am from Ohio and an area that uses it. What about the MARCS system? I thought the idea was to get everyone on board with MARCS to have a truly inter-operable radio system in the state of Ohio.

We dont use the MARCS system per say here , But we do have radios that have MARCS talk groups in them. My department has 6 radios with MARCS talk groups. We do pay a fee but its minimal

Dan
 

BusterCMH

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That could certainly be the case. Far be it for a government entity to make up its own definition for a common term.. :roll:

In that case, it should be said "far be it for a scanner web site to make up it's own name for a "system" that really doesn't exist." There is the Franklin County Public Service radio system and the Columbus Public Safety radio system. Each independently owned and operated, using contracts to offer service to their users. They both elect to follow the advice of a unified advisory board, but retain their ownership and autonomy to operate their respective systems.
 

DualReverse

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Franklin County Public Safety Trunking System, Columbus, Ohio - Scanner Frequencies

Quote from this page:

"This multi-site simulcast system is the Public Safety system for Franklin County. Owned by the City of Columbus and administered with oversight by the Central Ohio Communications Advisory Committee, it is used by most public safety agencies in Franklin County, including the City of Columbus and the Franklin County Sheriff."

Yes, the sheriff's office is on the Columbus 800 system. Earlier in the post, you said:

W8RMH said:
It's my understanding that Columbus and Grove are going to use the Franklin System.

And I'm telling you the answer is no.
 

gtaman

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To my understanding all systems were going to be combined into one large system.

This includes, Franklin County Public Safety

Franklin County Public Service

Grove City
 

W8RMH

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Hilliard Police are on the COIRS system as of June 11, 2014.

20072 HIL PTL 1 - DISPATCH
20073 HIL PTL 2 - ALTERNATE DISPATCH
20074 HIL PTAC 1 - TACTICAL/CAR TO CAR

The above info has been submitted to the database. Other TGs are in use but have not yet been verified as to usage/labeling.
 
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