From the Asheville Citizen: First responders sound alarm over aging communications system in Madison County
What counties have you experienced poor Viper coverage in the mountains?From my experience viper leaves a lot to be desired in the mountains. I know some agencies are using it but vhf seems to still be king. I also suspect a county like Madison may be a bit more budget minded, 76/100 per capita income for the state. Wouldn't be surprised if they went with vhf dmr or nexedge system like a lot of the rural counties up that way.
At this point the Viper system is nearing construction completion. I know that the Western part of the state was the last to be built for a myriad of reasons but the biggest obstacle shown in their newsletter has been the removal of legislative exemptions on state or leased land in regards to local ordinances. While it is true that the counties you reference may have in the past have had and may still have coverage issues the Viper group have been bringing up towers in the area. The Mt. Toxaway location is on the western border of Transylvania and I recall seeing the Rocky Top site in Georgia come online as well in a newsletter.Poor may not be the best description. I live in a county in the piedmont with great coverage so when it's not as good as what I'm used to, I say it isn't great. Haven't lived in the western area in a few years but Cherokee, Clay, and Transylvania were never great. I realize none of those counties were, and probably still aren't on viper, but the coverage for shp and the users who were on those sites wasn't great. Lots of poor decode. May not be the same story now. Haven't been up that way in a yearish. Would you say that coverage in the western part of the state is as good at the piedmont?