So far nothing is etched in stone. Chances are they are going to pressure some of the local agencies who have vacated their VHF high band frequencies to relinquish their licenses and switch to VHF high if they can get enough free channels that won't interfere with neighboring counties. This is what they would LIKE to do, ideally (this comes from my FD chief, who is also an Ulster Cty. dispatcher). Whether this is more than a pipe dream remains to be seen. And of course, just about every small fire company is screaming bloody murder about the cost of replacing their radio equipment (I've already told my chief about licensing low band frequencies we're already using for the handhelds and just putting cross-band repeaters in the trucks, thus preventing us from having to buy all new handhelds as well as the radios in the trucks and the chief's car, and saving us a ton of money... Why more departments don't think of that, I don't know).
