Thanks for the info. Is there going to be a standard for all public saftey agencies will switch to a digital system. Or will they be forced to.
While they are not being forced to switch to a digital system, they are being forced to use narrow band equipment, whether it is analog or digital. There is a standard, and it is the title of your post. However, Public Safety agencies are not required to follow it. Two pitfalls of the purchasing process for PS radio systems are:
1) A lack of knowledge required to make intelligent decisions
2) A lack of oversight or input by people who are knowledgeable
This is a bad combination that makes people in decision making positions vulnerable to the aggressive sales tactics mentioned by another poster. An example of this is the widespread untruth that purchasing an expensive digital system will provide for interoperability. The big equipment manufacturers have all demonstrated that they are willing to say things like this to sell systems that make them a sole-source provider (wouldn't everyone like this?). So it is up to the purchaser to avoid making irresponsible decisions with tax money. Imagine buying a piece of fire apparatus that required special water only available from special hydrants that happened to be supplied by the same company! Sure, if everyone in the area purchased the special fire apparatus and rights to use the special water, it would all be compatible.
APCO 25 is an attempt to avoid these pitfalls by writing a technical standard and by making it an open standard. The theory is that if an equipment supplier meets APCO 25, much of the technical work has already been done and the purchase of equipment can be done on a competitive basis. It is still no substitute for doing your homework.
