Volusia County,FL Daytona Beach EDACS going to Harris P25IP Trunking

[jbirdedacs]

Thanks to Harris Corp. For writing the Info.

Volusia County, Florida, Migrates to Harris Corporation's P25 Digital Communications System to Improve Response Time and Save Money

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BOSTON, MA/DAYTONA BEACH, FL, March 10, 2010 — Volusia County, Florida, is migrating its legacy analog communications system to the new, industry-standard digital P25 (Project 25) wide-area network from Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) to improve communications among first responders — especially during hurricanes, other emergencies and major public events. County officials believe the new system also will lead to further efficiencies and future cost savings.

"As a popular destination for a number of events, including the Daytona 500, Bike Week and Biketober Fest, we welcome millions of visitors to Volusia County each year," said Frank Bruno, Volusia County Chair. "It's imperative we have a dependable, modern communications system so our first responders can communicate clearly and quickly. By migrating over time to the new P25 technology, we will have minimal disruption to users during the transition, while maximizing our current radio resources."

Volusia's new Harris P25IP (P25 to the power of Internet Protocol) system will improve communications interoperability with other first responders, while expanding mobile and portable radio coverage at 800MHz and 700MHz for the county's 9,000 users from more than 40 agencies. The Harris P25IP 800 MHz system will consist of 12 sites that will provide increased regional interoperability as surrounding counties upgrade their systems.

"Moving to P25 technology puts Volusia County in a more competitive position when pursuing federal grant opportunities," said Volusia County Sheriff Ben F. Johnson, whose agency is one of the system's largest users. "To address the next generation of digital radio networks, interoperability issues, and to better coordinate our use of the limited radio spectrum, we chose Harris and our network solution partner, Communications International Inc. (CII), to help the county migrate to a digital system."

Craig Moore, vice president, North America sales, Harris Public Safety and Professional Communications, said: "Volusia County has been a customer since 1993, and we're continuing our strong and successful relationship with this migration from the County's EDACS® system to the P25IP system."

 

[blantonl]

Just a quick clarification on this release. Volusia County is NOT going "P25 ProVoice" (there is no such thing) - this press release indicates that they are going to Project 25 Trunking.

It is a complete migration of their network from EDACS to Project 25 Trunking.

jbirdedcas, thanks for the news release post - this is big news.

BTW: I edited the subject description to match that. Thanks.

 

[rivermersey]

Monitorable ???

Would this system be monitorable ?? Or is it like Harris Open Sky ??

 

[james32746]

It's just like any other P25 (except for the Motorola X2) system on the market, it would be monitorable.

 

[bradpradio7420]

Would this system be monitorable ?? Or is it like Harris Open Sky ??

a HARRIS P25 system can be monitored with a digital scanner as long as the agency using the system dosent decide to use encryption.

 

[jbirdedacs]

Re Edacs P25 Volusia County, FL

Ok, Thanks when I first saw this I was somewhat upset. I'm A volunteer firefighter and have hade my own personal ,MRK and Orion set up as a scanner only. But now I Guess I need a P7100 or a M7100 With P25.
I'm good at programming EDACS but never a P25 System.

I also quess that programmer Ver18 will not program a P7100 for P25 only a EDACS Analog System??

Any help would be great Thanks Also Would you still need Opt-29 provice to work a P25 Edacs Radio?

 

[shadcall]

Does anyone know the time frame for the switch to digital?
I live in Volusia Co. and trying to figure out if I should upgrade my scanner now or just wait. I wonder if any of the talkgroups will be encrypted?

Shadcall
Pro 163 Pro 164 Pro 62 Pro 2027
DX-390

 

[jbirdedacs]

Hey There, Shadcall
I Know that the police cheif for Daytona Beach Wants to encrypt. All the Daytona PD Channels.
I Hope That does not go down. That means no scanner would pick them up.

I have heard digital tones and signal on the current system I think they are just testing the system but nobody will give out a date when the change is going down.

But the county council meeting on public safety back in Nov 15, 2010 Sound's Like Jan or Feb of 2011
For the whole county even public works depts and water ect.

 

[shadcall]

Thanks for the info jbirdedacs. I agree with you, I hope Daytona or other cities do not encrypt. I have been hearing a lot of radio testing since yesterday, but it is all analog.

I think I will wait on getting a new scanner until the encryption issue is clearer. I purchased a new Pro 163 on black Friday when they were $99.

Oh well, if they encrypt, there's always airplanes, businesses etc to monitor.

Shadcall

Pro 163 Pro 164 Pro 62 Pro 2027
DX-390

 

[jbirdedacs]

Volusia Edacs

Some of the older scanners can be played with like there is a mod for my pro 92 scanner but it's not for some one who does not know about radios. You have to open the scanner and add some components.

 

[puzzleriddle]

mod to do what???.

 

[shadcall]

Way back I had a Pro 2005 or maybe it was a 2006 that I modified for cell phone listening, scan speed and maybe something else, but I can't remember. There are some books out there regarding modifications. Bill Cheek's books come to mind. I know I learned how to do my modifications from Popular Communications magaizine.

I'm not sure what you can do with the newer scanners like the Pro 163/164. They certainly cannot be modified to pickup digital and of course no scanner can pick up encrypted channels.

I miss the days when all you had to do to listen to a particular frequency was to get a crystal for that frequency and plug it into your scanner. And of course there were the portable tuneable radios you can hear things on. I know, I'm dating myself.

Shadcall
Pro 163 Pro 164 Pro 62 Pro 2027
DX-390

 

[ElroyJetson]

My guess is that Motorola will act to try to get a foot in the door and try to offer a competitive system, since the upgrade from what Volusia has now to a P25 system will involve considerable upgrades and
equipment replacements. The amount of money involved is great enough that it would be reasonable
to allow Motorola to competitively bid on the contract.

When you migrate away from a closed standard (edacs) to an open standard (P25) then you can bet
that this will be how it's usually done...always with competition and if the competition isn't allowed to
play, they'll sue for a chance.


I've seen first hand what kind of money it costs to buy a brand new Motorola APX6000 with SmartZone OmniLink and P25 9600 baud trunking. I have the quote here on my desk. It's less than you might imagine, and WAY less than what Harris wants for their radios.

And that quote is straight list price, not a negotiated contract price which will usually involve substantial discounts.

Believe me, Motorola can put in a VERY competitive bid if they're allowed to submit it.





Elroy

 

[shadcall]

I'm not sure Motorola wll be able to do much. The County Council signed a contract for 7.1 million back in November 2009 for upgrading the radio system. You can read a copy of the contract at the agenda for 11/5/2009, item 18. Or at least I'm assuming this is the contract for the upgrade from analog to digital. The Harris press release makes it seem like it's a done deal.

To find out if there was a bid by Motorola, you would probably need to check previous meeting minutes from the County Council and/or the appropriate committee.

Shadcall

Pro 106 Pro 163 Pro 164 Pro 62 Pro 2027
DX-390

 

[Citywide173]

I'm really surprised that it took this long....since APCO was the lead at developing the P25 standards, you would have figured that the county/municipality (Volusia/Daytona Beach) where the main office is located would have switched over years ago.

 

[902]

A few points - There may be a VIDA interoperability component, so as far as the infrastructure is concerned, a sole-source procurement may have been justified - especially if there was an implementation plan to do this in phased increments. Brevard and Flagler are also EDACS, so it makes sense to have some degree of interoperability up and down I-95. "P25" has allowed proprietary "enhancements" which, while adhering to P25, offer "nice to have" features. Most of these enhancements work to the exclusion of another manufacturer's equipment. I can think of one manufacturer's $8 encryption and "wide pulse" waveform exclusions as examples. There are many more.

CII has had this on their website in the news area for several months. read it here

I was wondering when it would happen. Hope the A system gets its coverage back when they're done. System B has way too many simulcast overlaps here to get anything but distortion.

 

[puzzleriddle]

Ok, Thanks when I first saw this I was somewhat upset. I'm A volunteer firefighter and have hade my own personal ,MRK and Orion set up as a scanner only. But now I Guess I need a P7100 or a M7100 With P25.
I'm good at programming EDACS but never a P25 System.

I also quess that programmer Ver18 will not program a P7100 for P25 only a EDACS Analog System??

Any help would be great Thanks Also Would you still need Opt-29 provice to work a P25 Edacs Radio?

it will P25 , no such thing as EDACS P25. EDACS will be replaced in 2013 or sooner for some?

 

[328Bravo]

Is this the reason why the live feed and my scanner on system A sounds like crap? B isnt much improvement.

on TG 1939 I have been hearing automated test from central maybe its closer then we think?

 

[swstow]

if i remenber right daytona beach has approved the money earlier this year for new radios and i would not be surprised if chief Chitwood encripted every thing / that was a selling point to the city he used / depending on what VCSO does, the events channels may stay open with the difference agencys working together during race and bike week

 

[shadcall]

The radio shop talk groups are doing a lot of testing with automated messages, but it is on the current analog system. I have programmed my Pro 106 with the Counties 3 systems and have it set to P25, but have not heard any testing on digital. I have no idea why they are sending out these automated messages all day and night.

Shadcall

Pro 106 Pro 163 Pro 164 Pro 62 Pro 2027
DX-390