Comal County Wide Radio System Project

[NC5267]

Looks like Comal County is going ahead with a P25 Vhf trunking system. The PDF is too large to attach. Google search Comal County Wide Radio System Project and it pops up. Covers everything in great detail about the system. From late 2018 and January 2019 but last I heard they approved it.

6 sites located throughout the county VHF P25 Phase I.

 

[Michael-SATX]

I'm surprised that Comal Co would not migrate to the existing LCRA 700/800 Mhz P25 trunking network like NB ?
So did Comal Co decide against joining the LCRA due to subscriber costs and or do we credit a slick salesman
It reminds me of how Guadalupe Co went off in left field and opted for their own GCSO VHF NXDN 5 site network
only to also eventually join the LCRA 700/800 Mhz P25 TRS. Would Guad Co do it all over again with S&P/NXDN ?
I wonder if Bearcom (bought S&P+A&B) has also inherited that previous S&P Communications contract as well ?
NC5267 did that PDF happen to mention which 2-way radio dealer won the contract to install this Comal Co TRS ?

 

[rattlerbb01]

Yeah large PDF. It says 6 site, 6 channel VHF simulcast P25 P1. Devils Hill (West), Fischer (North), Garden Ridge (South), Startzville (Central), Kerlick Ln New Braunfels and a tower on FM 306 in the Northeast county area. Interesting though, there is contract info for services with Houston Galveston Area Council for system 01A7 which is TxWARN. There is also mention from Moto on the system design section at the bottom about Ethernet connectivity with the DPS Core in Austin, which I assume is system 13E Greater Austin/Travis? I guess we will just have to wait and see. The Alamo Area COG recommended VHF Simulcast P25 for all the counties in the area a while back outside of SA city proper, so this looks like Comal is the first to implement the VHF trunking portion of it. Medina has a solid LSM VHF system now, but conventional only.

 

[blantonl]

My guess is the lease purchasing agreement is part of the Houston Galveston Area Council negotiated contract prices.

The TxWARN controller will probably be the P25 core controller. Especially since Blanco and Burnet County have done that.

The document is here: http://www.co.comal.tx.us/CCT_Agendas/2018/12-06-2018/9 Comal County Wide Radio System Project.pdf

 

[NC5267]

Equipment wise I know a lot of the deputies already have APX 7000 handhelds so they can get on the LCRA P25 system with NBPD. By the time this system rolls out it looks everyone will have all band 8000 units. Plus there is a permanent patch on SO 1 to the LCRA system. I would assume that the reason they didn't go with the LCRA system would be coverage maybe? Only two sites in Comal with some overlap from affiliated sites. Plus they can have complete control of the system. And, with Harris and Motorola having all band radios, if they are programmed right everyone will be able to get on surrounding systems in theory. Or at least common mutual aid channels.

 

[otter9309]

The Western counties (Blanco, Burnet, Llano) are not on TxWARN.

 

[Russell]

The Western counties (Blanco, Burnet, Llano) are not on TxWARN.

While the Western Counties are, indeed, on GATTRS, they were also likely negotiated using the Houston Galveston Area Council negotiated contract pricing as much of Moto Texas has. I've seen reference to the Houston/Galveston (TxWARN) agreement on DFW bids/contracts.

 

[motorola_otaku]

Above commenters are correct... the equipment was/will be purchased under HGAC contract pricing (standard for the region) through a 5-year lease plan (a common arrangement that allows system owners to spread costs out instead of having to fork over $million at once) including system support services beyond the standard 1-year "bumper to bumper" warranty. Connection to the master site at DPS Austin indicates it will be a 13E site.

 

[rattlerbb01]

Above commenters are correct... the equipment was/will be purchased under HGAC contract pricing (standard for the region) through a 5-year lease plan (a common arrangement that allows system owners to spread costs out instead of having to fork over $million at once) including system support services beyond the standard 1-year "bumper to bumper" warranty. Connection to the master site at DPS Austin indicates it will be a 13E site.

So from your knowledge, even though 1A7 and 13E are separate systems, with the linked interop talkgroups, is there a high level of cooperation and planning between the two? Are user equipment and airtime fees pretty similar?

 

[KG1ADP]

FYI Txwarn interop ony users are not charged monthly airtime fees.

 

[rattlerbb01]

FYI Txwarn interop ony users are not charged monthly airtime fees.

So there are users that are interop only? Are these like select surrounding county units, or TTF-1 type outfits?

 

[KG1ADP]

Yes agencys that dont primarly use the systen day to day...

 

[kcduncan]

Forgive me if I'm in the wrong spot, but while in Galveston a week back listening to TXWARN (DPS) on the Galveston Co Simulcast, I heard Houston Comm's put out a broadcast for DFW units who copied the transmission. One DPS unit responded he would notify Austin, at which time Austin advised they copied direct! I've listened to this type of transmission out of Williamson Co before, but never HOU/GALV. Is there a place to read more about this in these forums?

 

[blantonl]

The Western counties (Blanco, Burnet, Llano) are not on TxWARN.

Yes, I misspoke. I meant to say GATTRS. Thanks!