Patched Interference
Helena PD's VHF system was patched to their AFRN Talkgroup throughout the transition. The agency that was maintaining the patch has an entire antenna farm and the Alabaster Fire antenna was close enough to the Helena PD antenna that it was experiencing significant bleed over at times. As of Thursday afternoon, the patch has been taken offline and Helena started using the AFRN exclusively.
As there has been a reference of Pelham, I should state Pelham and Hoover are both independent system owners (they built their own towers) and are capable of making any decision independent of the rest of Shelby County.
Concerning the Shelby County System:
There is absolutely zero talk of encrypting Dispatch Channels. As JF911 stated Dispatch will remain clear, TAC and Speciality Channels will be encrypted at the agency's request. The Radio Reference Database is accurate on the currently encrypted talkgroups.
As for switching over to Phase II, Shelby County does not have any plans to switch from Phase I. There are multiple ways when administering the system to prevent an agency from using certain towers or prefer their own towers down to even a specific talkgroup or radio ID. So forcing the entire system to upgrade is a drastic solution compared to using the tools that are already available.