Palmetto 800 is not the issue. I was on duty the day the ice storm hit us in February... I was out chasing downed power lines and downed trees, along with the other calls for service, for almost 22 hours continuously. I don't know of any radio system that doesn't have issues... some folks tend to believe that their radios are suppose to work 100%, 100% of the time. The law of averages, IMHO, won't allow that. The system has switched to site trunking two maybe three times in eight years that I'm aware of. Site trunking is a PITA but at least we can still communicate. We only affiliate with four towers, one in North Augusta, SC, and the remaining three on our side of the Savannah river. Which is more cost effective to obtain the same results? Adding additional towers or replacing the system and leaving Palmetto 800?
When we, the county, "rent" from Palmetto 800 it's much akin to the average Joe getting cell service. He buys the phone and then contracts with a cell carrier. The cell carrier takes care of all the infrastructure, updating equipment, software, cell sites, paying for repairs, etc. The same goes for being on the Pal 800 system, we buy the radios and rent everything else from them. They provide 24/7 tech service, equipment updates, etc. for $28.50 a month per radio ID. The county doesn't have to have radio techs on call 24/7, they don't have to pay for equipment updates, etc. There's pros and cons to being on the system and the one that really stands out is statewide interoperability. This came in handy during the chlorine spill in Graniteville, SC a few years back. Also, we have the capability to be "patched" with Columbia County if an incident occurs and interoperability is needed. BTW, in worse case scenario all of our county comms can be routed through Ft. Gordon, if needed, with no break in continuity. This was done in June 2012 when a huge electrical storm took out our 911 center and all county services didn't know any difference.
The whole State of South Carolina seems to operate efficiently on the system, AFAIK. Our deputies use portables, exclusively, and have remote mics with the antenna attached. When they're in a fringe area, inside a vehicle, it's sometimes difficult to affiliate with a tower. We have mobiles in our fire trucks so the radio problems aren't there but when on the fire ground affiliation can be difficult when inside a structure fire, your radio is in your turn out coat, pressed against your body attenuating the signal.
I don't know, or have, the answers but presently the county can't afford a new system. The county is losing trained, and qualified, deputies and firefighters at a rate that would make your head spin. 128 firefighters have left the department in the last five years and just over 200 deputies have left in that same time frame. These public servants are leaving because they haven't had a pay raise since gasoline was $1.85 a gallon. They're leaving for higher paying public safety jobs in other cities or just leaving public safety altogether. What kind of message does it send if they needlessly spend money for a new radio system vs. adding additional towers that would fix the problem?