Notes from the 9/17/2025 RCB Meeting
Limited Primary Users:
There are five currently. Limited Primary User typically have all the Maryland TAC channels enabled, plus various numbers of talkgroups to use as backups for their primary system. Two counties have applied to upgrade from Interop Partner to Limited Primary status: Harford and Charles. Harford has 3,500 TDMA subscribers, and Charles has 3,000 TDMA capable subscribers. Harford is one of the counties slated for a 2-channel expansion to support MTA busses, and the Charles Simulcast cell only has 10% usage during busy times. Both approved.
Charles County is still using their ancient SmartZone system that is getting more difficult to maintain due to the scarcity of replacement parts. They want to make sure they have an alternative system available for backup if they experience a catastrophic failure. They are asking for 8 talkgroups Their new P25 system is now planned to cutover in January of 2027, which is several years behind schedule.
Budget
The projected topline operating budget will be more or less flat at $19.8M for the next few years due to the state’s self-created budget woes. The majority of the expenditures is for the system maintenance contract with Motorola at approximately $18M. A new mx contract is currently being negotiated with Motorola.
The capital budget hovers around $17M per year out to FY29. The capital budget mostly funds the Coverage Improvement Program that should be completed in FY29. It also funds various fiber projects that will create a second path to sites that are currently only connected by microwave.
Technology Modernization Project
The T1 -> Ethernet conversion is almost complete. Zone 5 was constructed using ethernet / MPLS technology. The Zone 3 conversion was completed on May 23, and Zone 1 completed conversion on September 12. These upgrades will enable the system upgrade to A2024.1 to be completed sometime this year.
The GCP -> software based site controllers will need to be installed at all prime sites and standalone sites. These new virtual site controllers are needed to support the next A2026 version of system software. The new controllers should be in place by 2027.
New RF Sites
FY23
Queenstown: Looking for new site for new or existing monopole. (1)
FY24
Patapsco: Greenfield. Community Meeting completed.
Cumberland: Site identified. Planning.
FY25
Barton Valley: Existing site, applications in progress.
Bretton Woods: Existing site, D-series base station equipment on order.
New Germany SP-1: Greenfield. Soil testing completed.
St. Michaels: Greenfield. Site identified.
FY26
Cambridge: Greenfield. Site identified.
Accident: Existing site.
Burtonsville: Existing site.
FY27
Bowie
New Germany SP-2
New Market
FY28
Boonsboro
Buds Creek
Bishops Head
FY29
Dickerson
More sites may be added as coverage deficiencies are discovered / reported.
(1) The Queenstown site saga is bordering on Kafka-esque. Queen Anne County ES wants this site to happen, yesterday. However their Planning and Zoning Dept doesn’t seem to be on-board, complaining about alternate site locations and antenna heights. The original plan was to erect a 250’ tower, but they wanted it limited to 200’ feet. The state came back with a 180’ monopole plan, but they rejected that as non-conforming. A backup to a backup plan is to locate the site on an existing monopole / leased site which is not preferable. This all went down because the SHA land that FIRST was planned to use has been slated for sale because a planned US50 widening project is not going to happen anytime soon, and SHA wants to raise money for more immediate projects. (Seems a bit short-sighted because the same land will probably be 10x more expensive to re-acquire when they finally get around to widening US50.). This site need to be located in the immediate area of the US50/301 split as this is where coverage from three FIRST sites converge but don’t overlap, causing radios to roam to a different site when moving only a few feet.
BDAs
Chapel Primary School, Talbot Cell.
Galena VFC, Kent Cell.
Millington VFC, Kent Cell.
Courts of Appeal, Anne Arundel Cell.
ICC Police, PG Cell.
Kent EOC, Kent Cell.
Dorchester EOC, Dorchester Cell.
Md Port Admin, Baltimore Cell. (Maybe the Cruise Ship terminal that was used during the Key Bridge incident.)
Still funding available if a need is expressed.
2-Channel Expansions
Howard
Anne Arundel
Harford
Mostly to support MTA; will also be the first to receive D-series base stations.
Resiliency
Geo redundant prime sites.
FY24 - Baltimore Cell
FY25 - Anne Arundel Cell
FY26 - Garrett Cell
FY27 - Cecil Cell
FY28 - Allegar Cell
FY29 - Worcester Cell
Simulcast cell architecture notes: The simulcast sites are designed with two routers and two switches. A pair of a router and a switch manages one half of the subsites that form the simulcast cell. If one router or switch fails, only half of the subsides would go offline.
The were more site outages than usual during the last quarter, none attributable to a common factor. The longest was due to a cable cut in the “last mile” to a site, another due to an extended power failure. Backup power doesn’t seem to be something that can be relied upon - typically either transfer switches fail, or generators don’t start. Other failures that reduce coverage also occurred, for example when some antennas on a site were found to be misaligned by 30º. The admins measured coverage before and after the repair, and the difference in coverage was significant.
Help Desk debut
Management has decided to take the load off the system administrator fielding calls 24/7 by standing up a Help Desk that is available 24/7. It has had a soft launch, and should be fully functional by the end of the year. An additional position was added to support this function. The FIRST staffing level is surprisingly sparse for a system of this size - less than 10 staff members.
