I will admit i am a bit bummed that i cannot hear opensky, but there is an obviously bigger problem with it.
I am not sure how long the system actually went down. Some soureces say 2 hours. On this forum, they say 30 minutes. I heard that 3 murders took place when it was down. These are all rumors of what i heard. I'm not calling of that as a fact.
Opensky is a problematic system, end of story. Although i cannot say that Analog is better than Opensky, even though Analog probably has less major problems, i feel confident in saying that there are much better digital type systems that can be used with similar benefits and less mess than Opensky. Hearing the system failure does not supprise me, not in the least. And i am not supprised that officers rely on their cell phones more than the system itself.
There is already a hazard with the lack of communication among law enforcement. I am concerned that MFD is switching to the system as well. I would not want to put my life in the hands of a system where firefigters cannot communicate with each other and/or with dispatch. They are still using the VHF frequencies for dispatch and are using thier Opensky radios as well, which sounds like it is very problematic, and i personally dont know how they're using both at one in the first place.
Milwaukee is pretty much fubared on this system, but they've already sunk millions into it. Either they can pull the million dollar plug, which would be a bold move, or they can - and most likely will - continue to pour more and more money to get this system to work as close to dedent as possible. Nobody knows how long it will be before they either scrap the system or reach a major milestone in fixing the system. Either way, it means for us that we get to face the concequences with the safty risk and the higher taxes.
I dont understand why some people still think Opensky is such a great system. It has dead spots, faulty radios, horrible audio, and now complete system failure. It may be an alright system, but it was not ment to be used for a large metropolitan area like Milwaukee. Maybe it would have worked for a smaller community, but not here.
Wouldn't have been easir to join the Motorolla system? That seems the most logical to me, especially becuase everyone around them is on it. The only problem is that Motorolla's life is ending and they are in the process of replacing that one to with the P25 digital systems. (By the way, how is that even going?) I think it would really be great if Milwaukee scrapped the Opensky bit, and everyone in Milwaukee County worked the single P25 system, so everyone can talk to everyone else easier in the county. Will that happen? Probably not. Too much money spent. If they really needed Opensky, they probably would have much more success in implemeting it is smaller doses or going at an even slower pace. All i can say is that this is going to be one big clusterf***.
