For those of you who peruse these pages alot you will know that neither I nor the outstanding team members who make up VIPER rarely post responses to posts that we read on Radio Reference. It is as a rule better to remain neutral about things rather than fuel controversy on either side of an argument. With that said, I would like to entertain a few comments that I think everyone needs to ponder, be it about VIPER or any other modern communications system. Indeed these are my comments and mine alone;
In 1980 when I became a Wake County volunteer fireman, we had a single site, two frequency simplex VHF system and for the most part, two channel, 25w mobiles and 5w portables. We could not talk across the county, nor could we talk to anyone other than, on occasion, the rescue squads or Raleigh Fire Department. There was a primary transmitter and receiver base station tied to the communications center and a backup (alias for "the old one that we replaced with the new one). If either failed, they failed and a repairman was dispatched to restore service. The world did not end, it just meant that we had to overcome the "outage"...which we did...mind you we also had NO cellular phones to simply call 911 on if our radio did not work...
I say this simply to point out that in the "good ole days", the radio system wasnt perfect, yet we made do. The same is true for the Highway Patrol, we have had low band radios dating back to the late 1940's and had some semblance of a statewide system by the 1950's. I heard an individual remark the other day that the Patrol needed to maintain our low band system in the event that a tower were to be destroyed, or the microwave system that ties VIPER together were to go away. On the surface, the comment had merit however when one factors in that the same towers and microwave support not only VIPER but state and local legacy systems in many cases, removing a "brick" from the foundation, could lead to a collapse regardless of what system it is.
VIPER and other "trunked" radio systems have brought to the table a vast number of features and capabilities that were only dreamed about in 1979 but with that one has to consider that the more complex the systems become, the more points of failure that have been introduced. The problems, when they do occur, are always accentuated in many cases because virtually all the emergency responders are affected when an outage happens. There is a trade off for everything and like a "free lunch", there is no such thing as a 100% system. Just ask the President of White Star Lines, the day after the Titanic sunk, "is there an unsinkable ship?"
Specifically for those who have opted to use VIPER as a means of expanding their capabilites or replacing their legacy systems, yet found it lacking once they made the move, I think everyone needs to take a deep breath and consider some facts. When agencies, counties, cities, etc. are invited to consider VIPER, the system is typically operating to some extent in their respective jurisdictions. This affords them the ability to "test drive" the system prior to buying the first radio (each county received 20 at not cost to use for evaluations, in part). No one from VIPER has to my knowledge, ever forced an agency,et al: to join based upon the premise that "you have to take what coverage there is". If the coverage was determined by an agency to meet their need, then radios were purchased and activated. Unfortunately, reality is, just that...reality...and often once agencies are on line, the coverage really did not address all the areas that it was needed. In every instance VIPER has worked with its user community and partners to solve those issues, after the fact. I am thankful that only once have we had to relocate a tower after the system was operational and as one might expect, somethings changed when that move occured..they ALWAYS will.
VIPER is many things, an inter-operability solution for many, a primary communications system for others, or simply a "tool in the toolbox" for some. It is maintained by a committed team of professionals who work tirelessly to make it the best system that it can be and as is the case with virtually everything in life, it is as close to 100% as all of VIPER and our partners can make it but in my mind, there is no absolute 100% in anything....
M