Lancaster County - P25 System (Was OpenSky System Dumped)

[TomJH]

As a resident tax payer of Lancaster county, I would like to know if WGAL and/or Lancaster Newspaper published anything about this. Why do we continue to waste money on yet another system if it is only temporary? Why are we not looking ahead? I've lived here all my life and have always said this county is at least 20 years behind the times!
At this point, I would think they could still pull the plug on this and go back to the drawing board.

 

[Tommahawk]

Well it seems that Lancaster County has done the smart thing!!

Vote due on radio provider for local police and firefighters - News

 

[RFEngineering101]

Well it seems that Lancaster County has done the smart thing!!

Vote due on radio provider for local police and firefighters - News

It will be interesting to see this one take shape. Lancaster obviously gets the true meaning of P25 and will put in a system that will let its users pick and choose what product they want to use. Good for them.

 

[daneg]

So when should we find out what will be encrypted?

 

[TomJH]

No surprise here. AIRINC put an office in in Manheim on Doe Run Road this past summer/fall. I joked to my son, I'll bet they get county radio! Voilà! This county is so transparent, vote or no vote. Money talks!

 

[iamhere300]

I am glad to see it will be Tait equipment in the end. Good equipment, and Airinc will do a great job integrating it.

And look there. By March 1. Was that not mentioned somewhere else in these forums?

 

[Ravenboy2003]

No surprise here. AIRINC put an office in in Manheim on Doe Run Road this past summer/fall. I joked to my son, I'll bet they get county radio! Voilà! This county is so transparent, vote or no vote. Money talks!

You should probably do a little research and look at how many states and countries where ARINC has satellite offices. They are all over the place.

 

[TomJH]

That may be, and I am sure things will work out. I just find it odd that ARINC puts an office within a mile of county radio in the time period of the bidding and voting process and then is awarded the contract. I am very skeptical of our county/state/federal government. I keep thinking of the already spent 14 million and bill-of-goods we were sold. Then I read what RFE101 posted, and have to just wonder if we don't take one final look before we make the next 25 million dollar leap.
I want what is best for our first responders that is cost effective and not in need of replacing 10 years from now. One has to admit, as bad as this radio system may be, it has served us many, many years beyond anyones expectations. I only hope the same will be said of any new system.

 

[iamhere300]

You should probably do a little research and look at how many states and countries where ARINC has satellite offices. They are all over the place.

Remember - no one has heard of them before, so they must be brand new. Not over 80 years old with successful communications systems worldwide.

56 locations in the US alone.

 

[Ravenboy2003]

Remember - no one has heard of them before, so they must be brand new. Not over 80 years old with successful communications systems worldwide.

56 locations in the US alone.

It's just one of those things that makes sense when you are trying to expand your business.. you research a target area for new business growth...you open up a satellite office... you schedule demonstrations of your system... you attend local meetings and get face time with the players.. make it clear that you are serious about playing in the same sandbox with your potential customer.

There is nothing untoward or sleazy about this. It was a great business move by ARINC.

 

[radiomanNJ1]

Okay for those of you jumping on the UHF T band idea. Have you paid any attention to the fact that all UHF public safety will be going away since the Federal Govt passed the D block legislation.
700-800 and vhf will be there. It makes absolutely no sense to put up a UHF system that has to be totally changed out in about 10-11 years.

 

[bauker]

700/800 would not work well here, and so would require many more towers, etc. 476 T-band will work well with those towers already up. As far as the future, I was told that they are probably safe from losing their T-band channels after 12 years because whoever wants the frequencies would have to pay to replace the County's radio system and all of the radios on it, making that prohibitively expensive to anyone who wants to take these channels. Did any of you get to read the fine print?

 

[bauker]

Clarification

I would like to clarify that the above is what I was told, but it may not be correct. That is why I am asking if anyone can provide a link to the fine print.

There is a lot of concern among the ranks that these Public Safety T-band frequencies will actually "go away" and the current licensees would have to vacate them whether they are compensated or not.

 

[lancopa]

If I was told correctly, there was a meeting this morning or today to talk about the radio system, and med radio updates as well as AVL's. Does anyone know how it went and what all was talked about? I know the AVL's they are pushing people to get. I know some people have them on already.

 

[NodrogCop]

Local news article FYI...

Firm eyed for new Lancaster County emergency radio system - News

 

[lancopa]

Is there any high band freqs in use in the county for emergency services? That is NOT listed in the database? Do any units operate on the OpenSKY system? I know local hospital have a few OpenSKY radios they use.

 

[ocguard]

Is there any high band freqs in use in the county for emergency services? That is NOT listed in the database? Do any units operate on the OpenSKY system? I know local hospital have a few OpenSKY radios they use.

No Lancaster County agency uses OpenSky.

Police use high band frequencies almost exclusively. They are in the database.

Every hospital in the Commonwealth of PA has an OpenSky desk set for the PA-StarNet system used for PA Dept. of Health alerts (public health emergencies, regional disasters, pandemic/outbreak). There are also desk sets in each regional EMS council office for the same purpose.

 

[lancopa]

No Lancaster County agency uses OpenSky.

Police use high band frequencies almost exclusively. They are in the database.

Every hospital in the Commonwealth of PA has an OpenSky desk set for the PA-StarNet system used for PA Dept. of Health alerts (public health emergencies, regional disasters, pandemic/outbreak). There are also desk sets in each regional EMS council office for the same purpose.

Thanks,

Also does anyone know of a radio spec sheet? There has to be one out there for the departments using the grant to buy radios for the system, and if they choose to buy more for themselves .

 

[daneg]

Jobs bill threatens Lancaster County's new radio system
Consultant says new federal legislation would require county to abandon its T-band within nine years

Read more: Jobs bill threatens Lancaster County's new radio system - News

 

[daneg]

Any updates?