As a P25 system manager, I can ASSURE you that the Monroe County system will deliver at or BETTER than what the county spec'd in the RFQ..
Testing will tell once the system is up and running.
Harris has come a LONG way in the P25 arena and has a very reliable product,, The MASTR 5 base station is a Tank.. It has all of the usual bugs / hiccups worked out and will be alive for many years to come.. It's the new Mastr II or Micor (if ur a bat fan)..
With the Master V being so new, and still working out the bugs, I wouldn't deem ANYTHING a "tank" just yet. No more different than me calling the GTR8000 a "tank." Neither have proven themselves overwhelmingly, yet.
As for your radio model question... It will most likely be the P7300 or Unity portable.. M7300 or Unity mobile..
Actually, XG-25 for services, XG75 for Pub Safety for portables. M7300 / Unity for mobiles.
As for the " Encryption Board" no being installed.. Their are no add on boards, it's a software flash in the radio that enables the feature.. To physically look at a radio, they all look the same, inside and out
As for comparing a P25 system to Opensky, Thats a comparison like a XTS5000 compared to a P10 portable.. TWO DIFFERENT WORLDS, built in two different factories by two different groups of engineers..
That's for sure...
Harris engineers use a tool that is becoming the industry standard for system coverage, its called Raptor.. It takes into account the terrain, foliage, obstacles and all the other system parameters involved.. Raptor can predict coverage like no other program.. It is very reliable.. I have personally seen the actual coverage MATCH the Raptor plot to a T... York County, PA and Richardson, Ky systems
This is not becoming the "industry standard" although it does USE industry standard specifications. This is a prediction tool no different than Hyrda or ComSoft coverage tools.
If you want proof of success, Look at York County in Pennsylvania.. Over 250 repeaters, 24 sites , 45 frequencies, configured into 4 systems (3 simulcast, 1 VDOC), all set up for county wide coverage and over 4000 radios all working seamlessly through mountains, foothills, river valleys and open plains..
York County and Monroe County aren't really comparable. They are 2 different areas, each with their own unique challenges. Size, population, average building densities, terrain, etc
As for your comment to the NFPA tests, NFPA didn't perform the tests, NIST did. NFPA advocates not using the trunk system during interior firefighting operations. (That's a good thing.) They also advocate not using digital for those operations even simplex, but I agree with you that technology has come a long ways. The problem is, there is no official test or report from a third party (such as NIST) demonstrating it being ok now. The only written document says "evil." Therefore, when covering your *** from a development aspect, you must lean towards what you'll be on the hook for.
And regarding "asking around"... I am constantly looking and talking to people as I work on systems. Regardless of manufacturer, it depends on the infrastructure and expectations. If you build a 95% street level system, it is impracticable to EXPECT it to have coverage in every building. Thus, if the system was built for a certain coverage, the users should learn to adapt to that coverage, for better or worse.
tpg
