City of New Bedford planning to replace 30 year old Radio system.

[KB1UAM]

The New Bedford City Council will be holding its monthly meeting tonight at City hall. One of the discussions is that the city Public Safety Departments wishes to replace the 30 year old Radio system. Here is a link to the written motion. https://newbedford.novusagenda.com/AgendaPublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=10608&MeetingID=425

 

[Analog-Surf-1963]

The city has been on T band since the early 1970s and with the upcoming law in the early 2020s forcing
agencies from 470 Mhz up to 500 Mhz to move they need to start planning now. 7.5 million is not going to buy much
for a trunking system and all the radio'd and seeing they own the water tower they will possibly go below 470 Mhz or up to 700 mHz linking the stations with Fiber instead of the current Microwave system.
As for the radio's A single point P25 or DMR system and most likely P25 to meet BAPERN requirements with the Region.
They went P25 around 2012 and the system is a mix of old and newer radios.

We will have to see what they come up with.

Pete N1EXA

 

[garys]

That's if the move actually happens. There have been bills in the last two Congresses to exempt Boston, New York City/New Jersey, and LA from the requirements.

I think the P25 move actually started earlier, but I'm not sure. From my experience when I worked in the area, NB cheaps out on EMS, Police, and Fire. In the early 2000s, NBPD was still using Kenwood mobiles and I think EMS still had HT500 portables.

 

[Analog-Surf-1963]

I didnt know about the exemption attempts - There are allot of town on T band with no place to go. Nor the money
to buy new equipment . All the federal money from the 2000 era dried up. The whole idea of making 470-510 mhz
Tv spectrum is out dated and pointless.
As for p25 in New Bedford
If it was not 2012 maybe it was 2010 they went full digital on the Police channels 1 and 2 but i still here them on analog on ch3 simplex which is a county Simplex . On some web site I saw 2 Talk group ID's for MA SPZone 3 for new bedford Police . The closest tower for SP Zone 3 is the one in Acushnet next to the fire tower still a good distance from the city for trunk activity - Never heard them on the Zone 3 system either.
Pete N1EXA

 

[garys]

The UHF T band frequencies are not going to be used for TV. The take back is part of the "D Block" plan which gives spectrum in the 700Mhz band exclusively to public safety. In exchange, the areas that use UHF T band frequencies must migrate to other frequencies.

Some cities and town are migrating to UHF frequencies made usable by the narrow banding that took place on 1/1/2013.

The date for migration is sometime in 2023, two years after the FCC completes the auction of the T band frequencies.

There is still grant money out there, but agencies need to apply for it. Boston area agencies have been getting money all along for radio upgrades and other equipment.

I don't know that MSP has capacity on Zone 3 to add more agencies. Coverage shouldn't be a problem as they cover the area for the MSP and other agencies.

I have no idea of what will happen with the T band frequencies, and I don't think anyone else does either.