More open sky problems

[WB3DYE]

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) - In the woods of northeastern Pennsylvania in September 2014, state police search for Eric Frein, a suspected cop killer. But their radios aren't working. They can't talk to each other. That's bad, and it got worse.

"We dispatched hundreds of troopers and they're looking in the woods for Frein," Maj. Diane Stackhouse testified at a recent hearing in the state Senate. "Well, the Open Sky portable radios would blink and beep. This is a software problem and it created an officer safety issue. It's very disturbing to me that that was happening and they can't disable it, and it's been a problem since the beginning."

The beginning was Act 148 of 1996. Then-Governor Tom Ridge approved $179 million for a statewide radio system that would let state police, state agencies and local first responders communicate with one another in the event of an emergency.

Over more than 20 years, governors and lawmakers of both parties threw good money after bad toward MA/COM and then Harris Corporation. Open Sky, as it's called, became open wallet. In those two decades, the cost has swelled to an estimated $800 million taxpayer dollars. And it still doesn't work properly.

Statewide radio a nearly billion-dollar boondoggle - WHTM

 

[W8RMH]

That's why smart people use a company with a longstanding history of quality equipment.....Motorola.

 

[iMONITOR]

Oakland County, Michigan decided to go against the state-wide standard decades ago and chose MA-COM OpenSky for reasons I won't publicly speculate.

Inadequate unreliable coverage plagued the system putting countless lives at risk. I think they underestimated the number of tower sites required, in an effort to keep their bid competitive.

It became a quagmire when other agencies needed to work with Oakland County. They are finally coming to their senses and getting rid of OpenSKy and joining Michigan's MPSCS P25 Motorola system!

 

[WB3DYE]

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale today said he will soon begin an audit of the recently-awarded deal to replace the unreliable and ineffective statewide radio system that failed Pennsylvania State Police and first responders over the past 20 years.

Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General -Auditor General DePasquale Launches Review of Statewide Radio Network

 

[Voyager]

That's why smart people use a company with a longstanding history of quality equipment.....Motorola.

GE was the clear #2 brand for many years. It's not like they chose some start-up. Harris, and all the intermediate owners all stem from GE Mobile Radio.

It would have worked fine IF the engineers had designed it properly and not chosen the microcell concept.

 

[WB3DYE]

As state police combed the densely wooded Poconos for 48 days in 2014 to find trooper-killer Eric Frein, they also found that the statewide radio system for which taxpayers had dished out $800 million was not merely useless but dangerous. Several times, according to the recent state Senate testimony of state police Maj. Diane Stackhouse, radios blinked and beeped, potentially revealing their locations.

Hold vendors accountable for failures - Opinion - The Times-Tribune