Bullitt County Going Digital?

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Charlie1068

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Does anyone know the status of Bullitt county going over to metrosafe I saw an article that talked about it happening this year does anyone know if the county is making any progress?
 

ColonelMike

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Does anyone know the status of Bullitt county going over to metrosafe I saw an article that talked about it happening this year does anyone know if the county is making any progress?

If testing is not done by the end of August, they will have to wait until the spring. This is to make sure the foliage is on the trees to properly test. That gives them 2 months to install all the equipment and figure out for sure what they are doing in the South end of the County. They were having issues down that way with finding a good tower to use. I know the tower 1000 feet from me has been installed but nothing is up on the tower yet so I don’t foresee the switch until 2020 sometime. For the First Responders, I hope I am wrong. The current system is a danger to all users.
 

Charlie1068

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My thought is that it will happen between 2020 and 2023 because there FCC license expires then
 

ColonelMike

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From the Pioneer News today:

"A major piece of the new ring of towers was finalized just hours before the August meeting.
Bullitt Fiscal Court agreed to a lease agreement with Crown Castle to have space on the Lebanon Junction tower. This would be needed to provide the loop in radio transmission to supply coverage to all areas of the county.
This would allow for the Central Dispatch transmissions to reach emergency responders throughout the county.
The monthly lease payment would be $2,300 with a 3 percent adjustment increase annually.
With the fiscal court approval, Larry Coy said Motorola can now complete the engineering work needed. The dishes could be hung in September with testing later this year.
Under the current situation, the county will lease tower space on three sites. The monthly cost will be around $4,400.
Magistrate Joe Rayhill, who is part of the committee, inquired about the county building its own tower and then having space to lease to other companies.
EMA director Kenny Hardin said that might be something the county could consider in the future. But the current agreement is the quickest way to get the new system operational.
Coy said he expected testing to be done in November with the system up and running in January."

My note: I was told the towers could not be certified until there was foliage on the trees. Perhaps they will go ahead and go live and wait to 'certify' the towers in the summer of 2020. I really hope this is what they do because the First Responders need this system on yesterday!
 

ofd8001

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My note: I was told the towers could not be certified until there was foliage on the trees. Perhaps they will go ahead and go live and wait to 'certify' the towers in the summer of 2020. I really hope this is what they do because the First Responders need this system on yesterday!

Agree - hopefully they will have a "safety" in place so next spring so "good" areas don't go "bad" with leaves. With that said, anything will be an improvement and I'm sure they already have all kinds of bad locations. At least with the new system, if you are in a dead space, your radio tells you before you need it and you can be prepared.

Building their own tower isn't a bad idea for the future. Having some cellular providers to co-locate/lease space could balance the costs for leasing other towers.
 

Charlie1068

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Does anyone have any updates to Bullitt county someone updated the database to show that Bullitt is moving to MetroSafe this year
 

ColonelMike

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I requested they do that for anyone researching a scanner. It was done in Oldham before they switched. Currently all towers are up and talking to each other. The microwaves were given approval by the FCC two months ago. They had to file an amendment which was approved two days ago. Radios programming is in progress, as well as tuning all the sites. They will be using the Bernheim frequencies to run the system and it’s currently active just no testing yet with voice that I have heard. It’s about 18 months behind original schedule and is also dependent on the dispatch center being totally complete with their new CAD. That is about 98% done from my understanding.
 

ofd8001

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I requested they do that for anyone researching a scanner. It was done in Oldham before they switched. Currently all towers are up and talking to each other. The microwaves were given approval by the FCC two months ago. They had to file an amendment which was approved two days ago. Radios programming is in progress, as well as tuning all the sites. They will be using the Bernheim frequencies to run the system and it’s currently active just no testing yet with voice that I have heard. It’s about 18 months behind original schedule and is also dependent on the dispatch center being totally complete with their new CAD. That is about 98% done from my understanding.

I can be in Shepherdsville and receive the Bernheim site just fine. However from my home in the Gene Snyder/Preston Hwy area, with an exterior antenna, I cannot receive Bernheim. On the other hand, I hear Oldham's site fairly well. Do you know if the power is turned down for some reason or another?
 

Charlie1068

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I do know the main simulcast for Jefferson county broadcast Oldham county talkgoups on it as well. It might be the same for Bullitt as well.
 

ColonelMike

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Chief, I was told they need to fine tune the sites out here but it’s my understanding the microwaves are already talking to each other. They may not have the frequencies active yet other than the original Bernheim site. That stuff is way over my head. I do know from the original discussions that certain talk groups would be added to the MetroSafe main system for safety and necessity but not all of them. I would think PD main and EMS main at least would be added since they travel along 65 into Louisville. I’m sure that’s all been worked out but I don’t have any current knowledge on it.

I was also told the dispatch radio equipment is not fully functional on the radio side so that may have something to do with it all also.
 

ofd8001

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ColonelMike that's my understanding too. They are avoiding any date talk because when they do an unforeseen setback happens, so they aren't going tempt fate.
 

Charlie1068

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Does anyone have any word on changes I’ve been monitoring the PD channels and nothing is coming though but a new TG on metro safe popes up 1201 could it be Bullitt county?
 

ofd8001

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They continue to work on the system and other associated stuff. One day last week vendors were at a fire station installing portable radio chargers. I understand programming subscriber units is in progress.

VHF system continues to be active as you've noted.
 

ColonelMike

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I know the Bernheim tower, which has been active for years, is now not providing a signal in the last few days. I’m assuming this is so they can program all the towers before going back live. I have only noticed one new frequency app for Bullitt and although it’s 800, it’s not near the other frequencies from the existing Bernheim tower.
 
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