Following is a link to an article on the staus of a new Motorola P25 radio system in Oswego County, NY. This system is part of the Central NY Interoperable Communications Consortium (CNYICC).
Oswego County E-911 Radio Tower Project Continues | Oswego County Today
Final acceptance is expected in September, 2012.
There is that statement again.
"A federal mandate required users to vacate current channels and leave the system due to cost-prohibitive sustainability. "
Some fast moving sales force feeding our public safety agency managers a line and the managers just eat it up. Your tax money is being spent without the first question even being asked to a radio engineer outside the vendors control.
Did this upgrade really need to be done? Maybe.
Did it have to be done on this scale? I don't know. Not enough details were provided to even begin to draw a conclusion.
Was more money spent than really needed to be? If Motorola designed the upgrade, then the only answer is yes.
Public safety agency managers just don't bring in outside help to guide them in a project like this. They have no idea what condition their system is in except what the radio vendor is telling them. They have no idea what condition their radios are in except what the radio vendor is telling them. They have no idea if their existing radios can be used on the new system. If the vendor says anything, it will be that you need to replace everything.
Glad I am not a tax payer in this district. The public safety managers are probably glad I don't, otherwise I would be asking some very embarressing questions on why, how, when and why they didn't ask an outside, non interested engineer if they were going in the right direction. Listening to the information a vendor sales team is presenting as to your solution is the last place you want to go.
