It is possible that they are having problems with the system again. When it first came online it was getting interference from other VHF systems in the area. This cause a ton of coverage issues and issues of not being able to transmit. The system eventually crashed due the the interference. Bearcom had to instal filters on the receive side to correct the issue, but the system did not come back online for several months.
I checked the fcc web site. The license shows the following frequencies assigned to the system.
154.3550
155.0550
159.1500
159.2475
Due to the City of Woodway having issues with their VHF P25 TRS, they may be working on both systems and re assigning frequencies.]
They should have just joined they 800Mhz TxWarn System. I had told one of the Higher Ups that we should go to the 800'S but, he is one of those know it all's and thinks that we wouldn't have had any kind of rang on the system. With the VHF you have poor in building coverage especially in the heavy buildings on the TSTC Campus and Connally ISD. If Some agencies are getting by with one 800mhz tower and some counties like Williamson County are only using 4 towers for a county larger than McLennan County, I believe LLPD&FD, TSTC PD, Woodway Public Safety, and Hewitt PD&FD could Have went to a 800 system and been just fine.
I would like to have seen them do like the city of Richardson Texas. They went with a 4 site, 8 channel Cassidian Communications 800Mhz TRS. They have 95% coverage on portable radios at the hip inside all buildings in their city. They also saved so much money by going with Cassidian Communications that they were able to purchase all Motorola APX Radios for their system users and still came in well under budget. Here is a link to how they did it.
http://www.cassidiancommunications.com/pdf/RichardsonProcurementArticle_ApprovedReprint_072512.pdf ..... All Agencies in McLennan County could have gotten together and done the same thing as the city of Richardson.