Germantown, TN budgeting for digital

[wizardb]

Read in the paper yesterday that Gernantown, TN (Memphis area) is putting a "want" in their budget to change over to digital radios for police, fire, etc. I think the dollar amount was 2.5million but not sure on that. Apparently they have a pretty old system -- they said they received a letter from Motorola that their system is at the end of life, which means parts are no longer available. Since my scanner is analog--psr 700--and it will be sometime before I can afford digital, I'm hoping this doesn't encourage the other communities to speed up their change overs. I live in Collierville and listen to their broadcasts as well as Fayette County, and Bartlet, TN. Also listen to several counties in North, MS.

 

[RadioCopFFFR]

They are on UHF Conventional. They have a hodge podge of radios to include GE, Motorola, and Kenwood. They probably are wanting to join the Memphis & Shelby County System. There has been some talk of it for a while. Collierville may be a possiblity also. Bartlett is already digital capable. They have a couple of digitial talkgroups but mostly are using analog.

 

[dsbyrd]

I saw this article too. Germantown weighing new radio system » The Commercial Appeal

I wonder why they would not join the the Memphis/Shelby County system?

 

[Gatorman]

Germantown Digital

My guess is they don't want to put up with the politics, etc. that come with associating with Shelby County and the City of Memphis. I'm not sure if it would be cheaper or not. It would be cleaner to run their own system if they could afford it. They could still have interoperability as long as it was was a P25 system. I think.

 

[RadioCopFFFR]

I had the opprotunity to speak with a rep from Germantown Public Safety today. They informed me they are going with a P25 800 MHz conventional solution. Approximately five conventional frequencies and two tac channels.

 

[tspainiv]

And on a side note, Collierville has a consultant now for a new radio system. Leaning towards MOTOTRBO...but no decisions yet, and it will be in the far off future.