Henderson County going P25

[cliffattheranch]

The Athens Daily Review reports that Henderson County is buying a P25 system from Harris for 4.5 million dollars plus annual maintenance cost.

It will be finished by winter of 2021 (presumably that means January, not December).

It's digital so it must be better.

 

[hiegtx]

The Athens Daily Review reports that Henderson County is buying a P25 system from Harris for 4.5 million dollars plus annual maintenance cost.

It will be finished by winter of 2021 (presumably that means January, not December).

It's digital so it must be better.

Digital can be better, or it can also be worse. The key is the design and construction of the system. Optimum placement of sites, antenna locations and orientation, as well as training for the users, all affect how successful the system will be. The Metrocrest system that Harris installed for several suburbs in Dallas County had serious troubles and missed it's original startup date. Problems were so serious that the cities were about ready to terminate the contract due to unacceptable performance issues, including dead spots and loosing contact while in the middle of a conversation. Harris finally brought in troubleshooters to figure what was wrong, and got it fixed. I have not head of any recent problems.

I'm mildly surprised that Henderson did not simply move to TxWARN P25. There's already a site in Athens, as well as neighboring counties. Either the cost for the Harris system came in less than TxWARN would be for user radio usage rates, or Henderson wanted to control their own system, without having to deal with administrators on TxWARN.

 

[motorola_otaku]

Either the cost for the Harris system came in less than TxWARN would be for user radio usage rates, or Henderson wanted to control their own system, without having to deal with administrators on TxWARN.

Don't forget LCRA is a player in the region now, having recently brought Nacogdoches online.

 

[tunnelmot]

These mega-systems are starting to sound like common carriers now with overlapping coverage.

Otaku...are these systems "competing" for customers (agencies)? I find the system access fees/airtime fairly reasonable according to documents publicly available especially taking the site costs and associated support. That seems understandable considering these are assumed to be publicly funded systems as opposed to a commercial system trying to attract users to turn a profit.

Does the final decision come down to simply coverage/support/interoperability or are there other lesser known factors at play?

I find this more at play at the more rural edges of these systems but sometimes you see a municipality well within the footprint of a particular regional system that totally bucks the trend.

 

[E5911]

What is a"two-core system" as is referred in the article describing the system?
Would that be 2 central controllers for redundancy?

Henderson County, Texas, Chooses Two-Core Radio Network

 

[Russell]

Harris contract approved. News story is comical, as usual.

County approves communications package

 

[jason51]

Interesting! What a waste of taxpayer money. There is already a P25 system in place in that county. I’m sure would have been much less.
They think they have static now, just wait until the new 4.5 million dollar radio system is in place, that won’t hear much then either. Apparently the commissioners did not do any research and ask other Harris P25 users how their systems worked. They will not be happy with it.

 

[red8]

I Lived in Athens back in 81, and the radio system antiquated then. It's good they are coming around. I worked at the Sheriff's Office in Baton Rouge from 82-05. You will be having the growing pains, at first. Don't be scared of it.