Chief Puckett said that since Chief Walker would be out for some time, he is filling in for
him on the P25 radio project.
Chief Puckett said they are nearing implementation, and he has asked for this item to
remain on the agenda until this project is actually implemented because he thinks there
is at least the potential for monthly updates and actions that the FEMS Board will need
to be aware of.
Chief Puckett said first and foremost, Mr. Gabe Elias with the ECC, who has been the
project lead from the ECC’s standpoint, has taken another position with the state, and
so he is no longer with ECC. He said Ms. Lily Gregg is handling the project
implementation from Fire Rescue’s side, and this is already in place.
Chief Puckett said there were a couple of upcoming items. He said in a few weeks, they
will be switching the Buck’s Elbow UHF antennae and moving to a new one. He said as
a few of the chiefs were already aware, due to the quiet zone out there, there were
some issues when they went for their relicensing. He said they were running more
amperage out of that tower site that they were allowed by their license, and it may even
have been a bit taller than it was supposed to be. He said this had to be brought into
compliance with the new project and new license.
Chief Puckett said they do not believe there will be significant loss in signal in the
western part of the County, but they did reach out and talk to the stations that will most
likely be impacted on that side. He said there were no huge concerns, but before the
switch to the new antennae is made, there will be some pre-switchover testing sites and
specific areas selected to see if the pagers alert. He said this way, they can replicate
that after the changeover to see if there has been any degradation in those areas. He
said if so, they can figure out what their options are going forward, but much of this is
limited by the FCC.
Chief Puckett said system acceptance actually begins as early as June. He said much
of this is on the infrastructure and being able to pass signals from site to site, and
nothing will be up and running yet. He said then, likely starting in the summer, coverage
testing will begin. He recalled from the last radio project that it involved many people
going to check sites. He said he believes it is far more sophisticated now than it used to
be, as there is now a third-party company that does this, and there are special vehicles
set up with radios and antennae, tracking the test.
Chief Puckett said the plan is to go live sometime in the fall. He noted that the big
impact for any users at the moment is that over this period, before go-live, they will have
to touch the radios at least two to three times. He said they are now working with Clear
Communications to purchase the enhancements the radios need. He said with their
age, some of the radios do not have everything needed to be able to work on the new
system, while some perhaps do. He said some of the radios are near their end of life,
and it is more cost effective to replace them than they are to upgrade, at this point.
Chief Puckett said then, the programming enhancements must be added to the radios,
and the new code plugs will have to be added to the new system. He said likely after
cutover, they will have to take the old code plugs and information back out. He said they
may be able to combine the first two touches, but it is unclear at this time. He said a
schedule will be provided, and all the radios will need to be at the station as Clear
Communications comes through and touches them all in order to stay on track.
Chief Hahn asked if the new subscriber units were getting close to that seven-year
period.
Chief Puckett replied that some were getting close to the seven-year period, and those
are the ones where currently, they are looking at simply replacing them rather than
paying for all the upgrades on a radio that is, for instance, due to be replaced next year.
He said he believed the current plan was that anything from 2015 or older would be
replaced. He said they are working on purchasing and procurement with Clear
Communications
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