Maricopa County radio system upgrade?

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Silent key.
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There are new 700Mhz Trunked licenses popping up for Maricopa County. Is the County finally upgrading their system? Below is what is licensed so far. From the looks of the licensing, there will probably be some simulcast sites. I have not heard any control channels yet.

WQVX813 (MARICOPA, COUNTY OF) FCC Callsign Details
WQVV844 (MARICOPA, COUNTY OF) FCC Callsign Details
WQVG941 (MARICOPA, COUNTY OF) FCC Callsign Details
WQUF568 (MARICOPA, COUNTY OF) FCC Callsign Details
WQVX927 (MARICOPA, COUNTY OF) FCC Callsign Details

WQVX813 - Bronco Butte
769.08125
769.54375
769.79375
771.08125
771.54375
771.80625

WQVV844 - 840 S. MESA DR. - Mesa, 911 S. HAMILTON - Chandler, South Mountain, & 8450 E. MAIN ST. - Mesa
770.51875
770.76875
771.01875
771.24375
771.33125
771.49375
771.70625
771.83125

WQVG941 - White Tanks East, White Tanks West, & I-10/Miller Rd - Buckeye
771.15625
771.40625
771.65625
771.90625
772.15625
772.40625
772.65625
772.90625
773.96875
774.65625

WQUF568 - Mt Ord, Humboldt Mtn, & SHERIFFS STATION E. BARTLETT DAM RD. & 26 KM E OF
771.19375
771.44375
771.69375
771.94375
772.19375
772.45625

WQVX927 - 3324 W. GIBSON LN. - Phoenix, & 201 W. JEFFERSON - Phoenix
771.20625
771.45625
771.53125
771.74375
771.95625
772.20625
772.50625
772.75625
772.96875
774.63125
 

AZScanner

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Yep, they're getting a new radio system. I found this:

Wireless Radio Tower Upgrade
This project will replace and expand the County‐owned Public Safety Radio System used by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), Adult and Juvenile Probation Departments, Department of transportation, Animal Care and Control, Flood Control, and others. This includes an upgrade to the infrastructure and replacement of all radios. The new system will provide greater radio coverage across the entire County enabling law enforcement and other first responders to work together in the event of a large or catastrophic incident that involves many jurisdictions. Through these efforts Maricopa County will increase its radio sites from 15 to 49, creating much greater coverage throughout the county. This replacement of the County’s Public Safety Radio System will provide necessary improvement to enhance public safety for our citizens, officers, and probation officers and ensure compliance with FCC mandates.

here: https://www.maricopa.gov/technology/initiatives.aspx

Not much more info on this new system yet that I could find online, but I'm sure as things progress more information will be popping up.

-AZ
 

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In this document, it mentions "Through these efforts Maricopa County will increase its radio sites from 15 to 49". I can think of a way to decrease the number of sites needed....Join the RWC!

Why can't government agencies work together? We will now have four shiny new Government owned P25 systems that have overlapping coverage in the Valley! It seems like a LOT of wasted money.
 

AZScanner

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In this document, it mentions "Through these efforts Maricopa County will increase its radio sites from 15 to 49". I can think of a way to decrease the number of sites needed....Join the RWC!

Why can't government agencies work together? We will now have four shiny new Government owned P25 systems that have overlapping coverage in the Valley! It seems like a LOT of wasted money.

Indeed! But if the county (and our illustrious if not infamous Sheriff) have shown us anything it's that they prefer to be the ones doing the dictating rather than being dictated to. So in their mind, the ONLY viable option is to own their own P25 simulcast system. It doesn't matter how great the RWC, TRWC, or YCRS systems are or how much cheaper it would be to subscribe to one of those rather than shell out $100 million dollars on another radio system we DON'T need. They give up control to someone else if they do that.

The biggest joke of all is the idea that all these disparate P25 networks magically make us safer and let any agency talk to any other agency. That's why SouthWest ambulance has to have 3 radios in their rigs - one for the RWC, one for the TRWC and one for their own dispatch - because these systems all work so seamlessly together. :roll:

I'll tell you what they are very good at doing with these systems, which also explains even more why everyone wants their own instead of having to share and play nice with others, and that's hiding communications from the news media and general public. Literally hundreds of encrypted talkgroups are constantly active on these systems. What are they talking about on these encrypted channels? Only they know, but they are so paranoid that even the parking ops at Sky Harbor are encrypted now. Parking ops! Boy, I sure feel safer knowing that, don't you? Ugh. Makes me glad I'm finally moving out of this God forsaken county at the end of next month. Hallelujah.

-AZ
 

KB7MIB

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Is the county radio system owned by the Sheriff's Office, and they lease space to all the other county departments and the few city's that are on it, or is it owned by the county as a whole, and the SO is one of the leasees along with all the other departments?

John
Peoria
 

Quint6

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Any word if the control channels are up ? Also looking for "Scanner Jim" (HRO) I Don't have your e-mail Can you PM or email me Qu6int@aol.com

Thanks
Mike
 

Astrak

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The county owns the county system. MCSO and everyone else is a part of the county and can use the system. One of the main reasons for the county having their own system is the amount of radio ID's, as it is the current system is maxed out. The radio shop is slowly but surely upgrading all the radio's to APX models.
 

FLANO

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Question - When they were building the Pima County Wireless Integrated Network, there was a committee that met fairly frequently and published minutes of the meeting. Is there such a committee for this system ?

The meetings with PCWIN were open to the public. Certain things were excluded from public during the session, but you still get a pretty good idea of what is going on and the timeline.

Might be worth looking into.

One of the guys down here had the secretary e-mailing him the minutes as soon as they came available.

Worth a try....
 

KB7MIB

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There is some encryption on the Special Investigations talkgroups. But it sounds like it is per radio, and not strapped to the talkgroup itself, as some radios are encrypted and some aren't.
I have never heard anything on the Special Operations talkgroups, which I believe are used by the tactical team, so I cannot say whether they're encrypted per radio or strapped to the talkgroup.
I would expect that the SID and TOU talkgroups on the new system will be encrypted full time.
I can recall that when the SO switched from their old UHF channels to the trunked system, and before trunking scanners were available, Sheriff Joe stated that the public had no right to listen in to his deputies. I'd be very surprised if they don't enable encryption on at least some talkgroups.

John
Peoria
 

KB7MIB

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No, Protective Services are not encrypted.

For those not familiar, Protective Services are county employed armed security officers under the facilities management department who patrol county facilities, including the parking lots of the Sheriff's HQ and the jails.

John
Peoria
 

KB7MIB

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I'm guessing that it'll be at least a couple of months before we start hearing control channels coming active.

John
Peoria
 

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It will be Phase 2 capable as all P25 systems being sold today are. I think it is safe to assume that they will be using P2 as there would be no reason to host Phase 1 talkgroups unless they are planning to keep a large number of very old radios.
 
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