I'm not lookin forward to it either really...
I know what you mean, but bear in mind the benefits of DTMF. Rowan can really save on air time and, by using the "wildcard" feature, one tone can set off multiple stations sirens. But again, I'd think that they've got to be able to get the single stations tones assigned and working before they would move on to inserting wildcards in for multiple stations' assingments. And who is to say if they will even use the wildcard feature? There is so much more they can do with DTMF than they can do with standard Motorola two-tone alerting.
If you listen to the county's TRS, there are several talk groups that are nothing more than sporadic rapid bursts of DTMF tones to turn on and off different features in the water-sewer system. Some water towers transmit DTMF tones back to the W-S Department with information on how much water was used during a single time period. There are many other uses for DTMF that the county has already implemented and been using for years. The tones are broadcast at a very high speed over the trunked system, similar to those heard over NOAA radio.
I think the main issue when building out the DTMF fleetmap for the county volunteer fire departments is the radio interconnect (RIC). The TRS is RIC'ed with VHF for dispatches of VFDs, EMS and Rescue. I don't know for sure, but I'd say that they can get DTMF to flow pretty fast over 800 (as discussed in the paragraph above), but something in the system is slowing things down when it has to be broadcast simultaneously over VHF. Once they get over that hurdle, I'd look for DTMF tones to start being the norm for dispatches across the board.
I've often wondered why the the City of Salisbury FD isn't dispatched using DTMF since they are strictly 800 and, again, the county is already using it in the trunked system. At the fire station, it can be used to open bay doors, turn on lights, ring a bell, turn on the coffee maker (just kidding), or anything that they wish. Time will tell, but it's certain that the possibilities are endless. The times, well, they are a-changing and with it comes many new things. And the biggest thing that changing times brings to Rowan County Emergency Services is bigger bureaucracy (red tape), bigger heads, and bigger politics.