Edmond to join state SmartZone

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robynsjw

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From today's Daily Oklahoman:

http://newsok.com/article/1907185/ (not sure how long the link will work, and registration is required but is free)

Grant to update emergency communications
By Tim Henley
The Oklahoman
EDMOND - Police officers, firefighters and other city workers will see improvements to Edmond's emergency radio communication system because of a large homeland security grant.
The upgrades also will improve communications with emergency departments across the state, Mike Magee, the city's emergency management director, said.
In April, the city council approved a memorandum of understanding with the state Homeland Security Department for $2.5 million to be used for the upgrades.
The city will work in a partnership with the state Public Safety Department and the state Homeland Security Department to expand the system into a Smartzone system.
Smartzone is a network that links Smartnet radio communication systems together making it easier for Edmond emergency workers to communicate with emergency workers from other cities.
Magee said city departments, including the police, fire and public works departments currently have a Smartnet 800 megahertz radio system.
Magee said if emergency workers from outside the city need assistance from Edmond, it will be easier to communicate with one another using the improved radio system prompting a faster response time.
He said Edmond emergency workers can currently communicate with workers from other cities, but it is more complicated and takes longer.
Magee said he didn't know when the city will receive the grant or when the communication system upgrades will begin.
 

2112

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robynsjw said:
Smartzone is a network that links Smartnet radio communication systems together making it easier for Edmond emergency workers to communicate with emergency workers from other cities.

I kinda figured it was only a matter of time before we heard from the Edmond peeps about jumping on-board with the state system... what with all we've heard from Norman and Moore lately.
 

freqscout

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From what I heard is that DPS is having trouble getting new frequency licenses in the OKC metro because there are so many 800 Mhz licenses floating around already. They need to assimilate some of these other systems so that they can add more frequencies to the system. I have heard from a very reliable source the Chief at OHP is very disgruntled because it is an everyday occurance for him or others to get busy tones since there is so much activity on their system here in the metro area during the day. With the addition of EMSA and anyone else they will have to provide more usage and coverage so they have to expand the system.
I can see this being a frightful issue of logistics up front with big payoffs for all involved in the long run. The City of Edmond will be able to travel more freely and so will all of the others on the DPS system giving them more coverage and more frequencies for increased capacity. I bet it fills in some of the gaps for coverage here in the metro as well. DPS OKC needs to do some serious work if they want to provide the coverage and capacity of their northeastern sister.

Now they need to get Norman on board.
I also heard that the City of Mustang may be switching off of 800Mhz because they have not been so pleased with their system (one site, conventional) and going back to VHF or UHF possibly. If that happens then there will be more open real estate frequency wise as I believe they will be giving up two pairs.
 

2112

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Wow... if getting 800MHz pairs is a problem around here, I can only imagine the nightmare that they're having in more congested states.

I agree, though, that investing in taking care of the nightmare now is super-important considering where this'll go in the future.

It's pretty much impossible to get anything in 150 right now, unless you have friends somewhere or can put up with some co-channel/adjacent-channel interference. Even on the 7.5 Mc narrowband channels.

As far as Mustang FD goes... I'll hedge my bets now that the 154.280 MHz channel that they use for EMA/Fire pagers will figure strongly into where they go.
 

n5bew1

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The new OHP chief Jerry Cason is a ham (n5ith) and has been for quite a few years. As far as Norman they are planning on upgrading to mesh with DPS and it doesn't surprise me that busy signals happen.
 
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