the poor planning was Jackson county using the UHF band, regardless of the air interface. Everyone around them is 700/800 and mostly VHF (analog and DMR).
The lack of multi-band radios that support UHF, and DMR, is the big downer for interoperability.
The idea of patching radio systems together is half *** and doesn't work in the real world. It requires resources, usually an operator to intervene and manage a connection, and it is also dependent on infrastructure (VOIP, VPN, microwave, etc) to work- of course during a disaster these can be compromised.
Having radios that are compatible with common mutual aid frequencies aren't a luxury John, they are a necessity in this business. Unfortunately, Jackson county now is isolated and unless they kept their VHF radios around, this was a poor decision on their part.
I don't see a reason why they could not have gone TRBO on VHF do you?
Would have made more sense. Until Motorola starts making dual band DMR subs, they are stuck. Or they decide to release a HOST for the APX line that supports DMR.