Oakland County Open Sky

[Jimmy252]

This is the reply from an email i sent to the sheriff a while back.


"When Oakland County began its search for a new communications system for our entire public safety community, talks were held with the State Police who were running the MPSCS at the time. At that time there was no movement from the state on the $250 per radio per year user fee (we will have 6,000 radios on our system). There was also no consideration given to channels that we would bring to the state system, etc.



Oakland County then chose to put an RFP out for competitive bids. We selected our current vendor by unanimous decision by the Radio Oversight Committee of the CLEMIS Advisory Committee which consists of Oakland County Police and Fire Chefs and that was supported by a unanimous vote from the County Board of Commissioners.



Our new system, when completed will provide us with outstanding in-building coverage, which was a benchmark of our RFP, and something that the MPSCS system would not provide to us. The MPSCS system was built to provide mobile coverage and not portable coverage. The new radio system is also based on the most cutting edge technology that takes us into the future.



The decision that was made was well thought out, well planned and is currently being implemented to serve the best interests of the public safety users in Oakland County and does represent the best value for its taxpayers.



Thank you again for contacting us with your thoughts."

 

[bigbluemsp]

The decision that was made was well thought out, well planned and is currently being implemented to serve the best interests of the public safety users in Oakland County and does represent the best value for its taxpayers.

I'm laughing so hard at that statement that I'm about to piss myself.

Value my white hillbilly rear end. 10 years and a few millions of dollars is a value. If thats a value then I need to get in on the action with crap like that.

All I can say about the MPSCS is at least it's up and running.

 

[Alpha432]

Open Sky Update 3/11/2007

Well I cannot beieve it is happening but there is some progress in the Open Sky System for Oakland County. My department is in the process of having a "pre-install" of the new sysem in our trucks and our stations. Radio company is installing all the antennas and wires that will eventually be connected to the new radios. The actual radios will not be installed untill they are all pre wired and our dispatch has consoles for them. At this time from what I am told there are no dispatch terminals for this new system. Whatever that means.

 

[bigbluemsp]

Well I cannot beieve it is happening but there is some progress in the Open Sky System for Oakland County. My department is in the process of having a "pre-install" of the new sysem in our trucks and our stations. Radio company is installing all the antennas and wires that will eventually be connected to the new radios. The actual radios will not be installed untill they are all pre wired and our dispatch has consoles for them. At this time from what I am told there are no dispatch terminals for this new system. Whatever that means.

The problem with the Open Sky system now is the dispatch counsoles. The preps and mobiles work but not the counsoles.

 

[MetroMike]

My department is in the process of having a "pre-install" of the new sysem in our trucks and our stations. Radio company is installing all the antennas and wires that will eventually be connected to the new radios.

With the track record of Oakland County's system, you guys may get new trucks before the "pre-install" antennas are actually connected to the radios!

 

[N8CBG]

Well so much for the lessons learned after 9-11 and the Homeland security mandate for public safety communications interoperability, I'll tell you that Oakland County crew will have hell to pay if there is a terrorist event and that Open Sky system doesn't work perfectly with the State's network, and by the way there is no county wide dispatch with this system, each of those consoles works only with it's associated tower.

 

[bigbluemsp]

There is a patch to the MPSCS for the Open Sky system its in the DB

 

[iMONITOR]

There is a patch to the MPSCS for the Open Sky system its in the DB

Patch? Kludge is more appropriate!


Kludge - Pronounced “klooj.” With computers, a term used to describe a piece of hardware or software that basically operates properly but whose construction or design is severely lacking in elegance or logical efficiency. With hardware, a kludge is generally a short-term or makeshift solution to a problem, often characterized by the use of various types of adhesive tape, inventive electrical connections, and unstylish housing. With software, a kludge is a program that suffers from a lack of design or forethought; usually, a kludged piece of software is one written in a hurry to satisfy an immediate need. Such software is extremely difficult for anyone other than its creator to maintain, and it has a tendency to blossom into spaghetti code.

 

[bigbluemsp]

Bill you are geekier then I though


HA HA

 

[Universaldecoder]

Is silence really golden...

Will this system include cities like Madison Heights, Hazel Park, Royal Oak, Birmingham....etc.....???

 

[bigbluemsp]

I doubt that Madison Heights, Hazel Park, Ferndale and the few others that didn't join the other system will join this one. I don't think they are that stupid to fall for it now.
They were smart for not joining the old system. Those departments don't have a good working relationships Oakland County nor the Sheriff's Office.

 

[wjf]

I doubt that Madison Heights, Hazel Park, Ferndale and the few others that didn't join the other system will join this one. I don't think they are that stupid to fall for it now.
They were smart for not joining the old system. Those departments don't have a good working relationships Oakland County nor the Sheriff's Office.

Bigblue - you're blocking. Tell us what you really think....

 

[bigbluemsp]

Bigblue - you're blocking. Tell us what you really think....

No blocking lol. One of my towns newer hires worked for 4 years in that area for one of the PD's I listed and he said the reason why they never joined the 800 Analog system with Oakland county is because they can't stand the county commissioners, Sheriff, and the system as a whole there. He said that the people that ran the city where he worked said they considered themselfs part of Wayne County and not Oakland.

I know from when I was in Ferndale at the last Emergency Vehicle show some of the guys there said they hope the city doesn't have a thing to do with the Open Sky project because of the wasted costs and because of the people that will be opperating and running the system once its up and going.

 

[RadioRon]

There is a patch to the MPSCS for the Open Sky system its in the DB

That's great for when an MPSCS radio is in Oakland County, but what happens when an Oakland County radio goes to Monroe county. Do individual radios have the ability to switch to MPSCS or, if they can "see" and OpenSky tower are they going to be bricks outside of Oakland County?

 

[bigbluemsp]

That's great for when an MPSCS radio is in Oakland County, but what happens when an Oakland County radio goes to Monroe county. Do individual radios have the ability to switch to MPSCS or, if they can "see" and OpenSky tower are they going to be bricks outside of Oakland County?

They will be bricks for the most part but I'll double check on that.

 

[mikey60]

Will this system include cities like Madison Heights, Hazel Park, Royal Oak, Birmingham....etc.....???

They are all scheduled to join this system, unfortunately. The only agency that I know of that has opted not to join the system is Southfield.

Mike

 

[Jimmy252]

Does anyone know if anything is said on that Open Sky patch. Maybe farmington Police.(The only department to be up and running on opensky)

 

[fnnm400]

I heard recently that Southfield had some thoughts of joining, but due to costs involved probably will not go.
In talking to my contacts through out the county, everyone else is going to Open Sky.. As we've been told in the past, Southfield is the only one no on board. I spoke to a friend today that experienced testing with the system yesterday. He claims it sounds great.

 

[ffemtjg]

It is my understanding that the City of Southfield opted out because they currently have a system that works for them and that they also have their own radio shop with city employees. They saw no advantage to switching, only costs and possibly the loss of jobs within the radio shop. If someone has heard different please tell.

 

[Universaldecoder]

Will there be some other method of monitoring Open Sky besides opening my bedroom windows at night?