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Senators grill company over problems with statewide radio network | PennLive.com
An official from the company whose technology underlies the statewide radio network — a system that the state has invested upwards of $368 million to build and still doesn’t work in places around the state — was put on the hot seat on Tuesday.
Members of four Senate committees questioned John Vaughan, Harris Corp.’s vice president for public safety and professional communications, about problems that state police, in particular, have had with the system.
Vaughan defended his company’s technology as one of the most advanced in the nation. He blamed the troopers’ complaints on inadequate training and maintenance.
State police Lt. Col. Scott Snyder disputed that assertion. “Training, maintenance are always important no matter what we do ... and they do affect performance, but I will tell you they have absolutely nothing to do with the 2,000 system outages we had,” he told senators.
The radio system’s price tag was $179 million when approved in 1996. It now stands at $368 million, not counting the $90 million for radios to use the system or the more than $20 million spent annually to maintain and operate it.
An official from the company whose technology underlies the statewide radio network — a system that the state has invested upwards of $368 million to build and still doesn’t work in places around the state — was put on the hot seat on Tuesday.
Members of four Senate committees questioned John Vaughan, Harris Corp.’s vice president for public safety and professional communications, about problems that state police, in particular, have had with the system.
Vaughan defended his company’s technology as one of the most advanced in the nation. He blamed the troopers’ complaints on inadequate training and maintenance.
State police Lt. Col. Scott Snyder disputed that assertion. “Training, maintenance are always important no matter what we do ... and they do affect performance, but I will tell you they have absolutely nothing to do with the 2,000 system outages we had,” he told senators.
The radio system’s price tag was $179 million when approved in 1996. It now stands at $368 million, not counting the $90 million for radios to use the system or the more than $20 million spent annually to maintain and operate it.
Wake up PA..Bottom line, Open Sky will NEVER work.
Harris knows this but will never say it.
To change to P25 Simulcast state wide your looking at 5 to 6 hundred mil.
PA wants Harris to pay and Harris isnt going to pay
So your stuck!
Harris knows this but will never say it.
To change to P25 Simulcast state wide your looking at 5 to 6 hundred mil.
PA wants Harris to pay and Harris isnt going to pay
So your stuck!
phillydjdan
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Why does it have to be simulcasted statewide? Certainly not for inteop. When is the last time you heard of a disaster or major incident where a trooper in philly had to talk to a trooper in pittsburgh? I cant recall any such instance. Why spend so much money for technology that will never need to be used as its intended?
Why does it have to be simulcasted statewide? Certainly not for inteop. When is the last time you heard of a disaster or major incident where a trooper in philly had to talk to a trooper in pittsburgh? I cant recall any such instance. Why spend so much money for technology that will never need to be used as its intended?
radioman2001
Member
All of the GE/MACOM/Harris equipment is upgradeable to P-25 with just a firmware update. The costs should be minimal, BTW there have been reports from Dayton that the newest version of DSD has been able to decode Open Sky. Havn't tried it myself, but locals in Penn should try it.
Which speech? The one where the current PSP Commissioner stated they are abandoning the consolidated dispatch program because it is inefficient and keeps too many troopers off the road? That, of course is the exact opposite of what the centers were supposed to be. I have not seen any details as to why thee centers have not worked out, but according to PSP, they're going back to individual station dispatch in the few areas they went regional. Only the Norristown and Harrisburg CDC's ever opened.
Also, the state's radio project office is being moved from the Governor's Office of Administration to the PA State Police. That's an interesting turn of events in itself since PSP is the biggest system critic.
Is there a forum topic on that info? A nearby county is using OpenSky, so decoding it is of interest, to me. (I haven't noticed anything about OpenSky, in the DSD topic I follow.
Fast1eddie
Member
I, like many others have been following the Open Sky debacle. In light of the Commonwealth's budget issues I would like to see Open Sky gone. PSP will still need reliable and robust commo capabilities as additional funding will be required to implement the necessary fixes to perform. They should have stayed with the duplex vhf frequencies which I am certain are being retained as backup. We could use the 368 million and change.
Not all of it. Actually, the P7100 family of portables, yes. But many of the control stations, and certainly most of the low-profile infrastructure, are not. Plus, to switch to P25, you're going to go from 4-slot TDMA to, as best, 2-slot TDMA Phase II. Many sites will need more frequencies for capacity. Not saying it's a bad idea, I would be all for it. But it's ALOT of money involved.
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The state has already sunk more than $400 million into building a statewide radio network to serve its agencies’ needs, with an expectation of spending $68 million more.
Despite that enormous investment, state troopers no longer trust it to always work.
So the Pennsylvania State Police is spending $11.5 million on a new backup radio system.
The backup VHF system carries a price tag of $10 million for its patrol cars, and about $1.5 million more to change the antennas on towers for those radios.
Statewide radio system's dead air continues to cost Pennsylvania money | PennLive.com
Despite that enormous investment, state troopers no longer trust it to always work.
So the Pennsylvania State Police is spending $11.5 million on a new backup radio system.
The backup VHF system carries a price tag of $10 million for its patrol cars, and about $1.5 million more to change the antennas on towers for those radios.
Statewide radio system's dead air continues to cost Pennsylvania money | PennLive.com
olddirtret
Member
Taken from the PennLIve Article May 30, 2012
Noonan said having a reliable communication system for troopers in the field takes precedence.
“I cannot have my troopers out there without a backup radio system. That would be very dangerous,” he said.
PSP operated for many years without a "backup radio system" and the system worked well. Why the change in thinking?? The danger has always been there..
In the early 70's PSP had the low band radio system without a backup and when the new VHF system was installed, it was a major leap forward. We could actually talk with local departments using NEPF. We could also cross monitor other departments with inexpensive Radio Shack scanners. Try that now with Cumb Co which uses Opensky..
Another thing that others forget is that the average citizen could listen to broadcasts. That added extra eyes and ears to assist when incidents occurred. That was a great help....
Noonan said having a reliable communication system for troopers in the field takes precedence.
“I cannot have my troopers out there without a backup radio system. That would be very dangerous,” he said.
PSP operated for many years without a "backup radio system" and the system worked well. Why the change in thinking?? The danger has always been there..
In the early 70's PSP had the low band radio system without a backup and when the new VHF system was installed, it was a major leap forward. We could actually talk with local departments using NEPF. We could also cross monitor other departments with inexpensive Radio Shack scanners. Try that now with Cumb Co which uses Opensky..
Another thing that others forget is that the average citizen could listen to broadcasts. That added extra eyes and ears to assist when incidents occurred. That was a great help....
Seems to me the state has wasted enough money (tax payer) on a system that obviously isn't going to work. What they should have done is updated their vhf system.
olddirtret
Member
Every morning I hear the PSP cars calling their respective stations on VHF for a radio check. The stations and the cars still have the equipment. Also when there is something special going on, PSP still uses the VHF system. IE AOV
phillydjdan
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I think they didnt consider a backup system before because they didnt need one. Now that the state shoved a crap system down their throats, theyve been forced to turn to a backup system. IMO they should have just upgraded the VHF system.
I think they didnt consider a backup system before because they didnt need one. Now that the state shoved a crap system down their throats, theyve been forced to turn to a backup system. IMO they should have just upgraded the VHF system.
There has been many other complaints about open sky from numerous other agencies with open sky systems.
radioman2001
Member
Each of the GE/Harris products M7100, P7100 and Mastr III all require a daughter board to operate on anything other than simple analog whether it's P-25 or IP. The station equipment is a plug and play replacement of the daughter board, mobiles should be the same, but I am not sure as I have only worked with P-25 and if you say the P-7100 do it, OK. As far as the loss of 2 additional slots per channel with the conversion, I think a working 2 slot per channel system over a 4 slot non-working would be more advantageous. Even 1 slot as long as it works, they can always go phase 2 in the future, but after they get it working first.
Quite honestly they should make it work analog first then convert like most agencies have ie: New Jersey and Conneticut.
Quite honestly they should make it work analog first then convert like most agencies have ie: New Jersey and Conneticut.
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olddirtret
Member
State police buy backup for balky radio system - abc27 WHTM
A spokesman for Harris Corp said many of the problems were beyond the company's control.
A spokesman for Harris Corp said many of the problems were beyond the company's control.
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