King County System?

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SCPD

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Well, I am from MN originally and just moved to Seattle... there are lots of P25 systems in MN.. with Seattle being such a large city, and the metro area using the same radio system... I can't believe they haven't went digital yet! Are there any plans in the making? I mean, I know towns that have 30,000 people that are already digital... I just assumed a large city like like Seattle... would be not so far behind in the times. It saddens me I won't get to hear digital audio anymore... :(
 

SCPD

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I think the consensus is that most of us are happy we DON'T have digital yet. The downside is that in the future they may not used P25 -- it could be something that's fully encrypted.

To answer your question why they haven't is easy -- money money money. You're not talking about just one city here. You're talking about the entire region from Pierce county to Snohomish county. That's not a simple or a cheap upgrade.

The latest rumor is that WSP will be moving to JIWN P25 soon. I would be surprised if this actually gets implemented but some say it's in motion already.

Tacoma PS does use a mix 800/P25 system.

Those smaller departments are much easier to upgrade/replace and I wouldn't be surprised if Motorola subsidized a lot of their equipment.
 

charlieone

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The digital transition is in the works. Seattle is working to replace a lot of their radios. Other agencies already have.

I've been told that it's still a couple years out. There are some expensive pieces of equipment that need to be replaced to make it work.

Once it's in place I wouldn't be totally surprised if the police talkgroups were encrypted, but I'd be surprised if the fire ones were.
 

cabletech

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As a newbe to this forum, BUT a 30+ yrs vet of radio to include working with local and state radio systems, I think you all have missed the point that King and Piearce county's are both working on 800 trunked P25 radio systems.

Yes, Pierce county does still have some VHF frequency's in use, mainly the sheriff, but the city's are on the 800 system.

King county has two systems, one owned, operated by the city and one by the county, both systems are intertied and can be accessed by any user on the other system.

Both systems are digital and always have been, with the exception of a few talk groups, they are not using encryption.

They are now in the change over to some new equipment for some users to allow for the realignment of frequency's under the rebanding plan.

This rebanding is removing some frequency's in the upper 800 band to the new 700 band, but when all is done no one will even notice the differance when scanning.
 

charlieone

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Both systems are digital and always have been

The voice is not digital on any of the area's systems. Analog radios are still being used in Snohomish and King counties.

If the systems were digital my work radio, an XTS, wouldn't be working without a flash upgrade.
 

superfreak

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As a newbe to this forum, BUT a 30+ yrs vet of radio to include working with local and state radio systems, I think you all have missed the point that King and Piearce county's are both working on 800 trunked P25 radio systems.

Yes, Pierce county does still have some VHF frequency's in use, mainly the sheriff, but the city's are on the 800 system.

King county has two systems, one owned, operated by the city and one by the county, both systems are intertied and can be accessed by any user on the other system.

Both systems are digital and always have been, with the exception of a few talk groups, they are not using encryption.

They are now in the change over to some new equipment for some users to allow for the realignment of frequency's under the rebanding plan.

This rebanding is removing some frequency's in the upper 800 band to the new 700 band, but when all is done no one will even notice the differance when scanning.
There multiple mistakes in your statements. Rebanding moves nothing to 700mhz, 99% of the talkgroups are analog, there are four system owners, king county, Seattle, valleycom and EPSCA.
 
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