Radio system upgrade in Botetourt County

[resqpig]

New Public Safety Radio System in Botetourt County

www.wdbj7.com

 

[Listener1440]

Good catch, I heard they were asking for bids earlier in 2023. They have some areas that limited coverage.
The Fincastle Herald has a good coverage map in their article showing the the areas in question.

Board approves budget amendment for new Public Radio Safety System

By Matt de Simone The Botetourt County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a FY 23-24 budget amendment last Tuesday afternoon for the purchase contract of Motorola Solutions Inc. totaling $17,958,322.66 for the installation of the county’s new Public Radio System during a public hearing...

fincastleherald.com

The Botetourt Bee has some more information on costs.

New Motorola digital public safety radio system approved by Supervisors

Botetourt County will be replacing the antiquated public safety radio system and enter the digital age with Motorola. The current system is circa 1999 and analog. Parts were no longer available, th…

thebotetourtbee.com

It was just a matter of time Botetourt County would get a new system, the county seems to be growing.

Now I wonder when Floyd County will find their way to a digital system. With Montgomery County eventually getting one. was wondering if it would form a system like the Roanoke Valley Radio System (RVRS) and Central Virginia Communications System. Read where Craig County is working on modernizing their system as well. Interesting times a coming.

73s, and keep monitoring.

 

[mocofeed]

Good catch, I heard they were asking for bids earlier in 2023. They have some areas that limited coverage.
The Fincastle Herald has a good coverage map in their article showing the the areas in question.

Board approves budget amendment for new Public Radio Safety System

By Matt de Simone The Botetourt County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a FY 23-24 budget amendment last Tuesday afternoon for the purchase contract of Motorola Solutions Inc. totaling $17,958,322.66 for the installation of the county’s new Public Radio System during a public hearing...

fincastleherald.com

The Botetourt Bee has some more information on costs.

New Motorola digital public safety radio system approved by Supervisors

Botetourt County will be replacing the antiquated public safety radio system and enter the digital age with Motorola. The current system is circa 1999 and analog. Parts were no longer available, th…

thebotetourtbee.com

It was just a matter of time Botetourt County would get a new system, the county seems to be growing.

Now I wonder when Floyd County will find their way to a digital system. With Montgomery County eventually getting one. was wondering if it would form a system like the Roanoke Valley Radio System (RVRS) and Central Virginia Communications System. Read where Craig County is working on modernizing their system as well. Interesting times a coming.

73s, and keep monitoring.

Giles is also updating their system this year per sheriff's office Facebook. Unclear to what extent, but they said it will include DMR.
I have to wonder what these Virginia counties see in DMR when compared to P25...but that's just my view.

 

[mocofeed]

Good catch, I heard they were asking for bids earlier in 2023. They have some areas that limited coverage.
The Fincastle Herald has a good coverage map in their article showing the the areas in question.

Board approves budget amendment for new Public Radio Safety System

By Matt de Simone The Botetourt County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a FY 23-24 budget amendment last Tuesday afternoon for the purchase contract of Motorola Solutions Inc. totaling $17,958,322.66 for the installation of the county’s new Public Radio System during a public hearing...

fincastleherald.com

The Botetourt Bee has some more information on costs.

New Motorola digital public safety radio system approved by Supervisors

Botetourt County will be replacing the antiquated public safety radio system and enter the digital age with Motorola. The current system is circa 1999 and analog. Parts were no longer available, th…

thebotetourtbee.com

It was just a matter of time Botetourt County would get a new system, the county seems to be growing.

Now I wonder when Floyd County will find their way to a digital system. With Montgomery County eventually getting one. was wondering if it would form a system like the Roanoke Valley Radio System (RVRS) and Central Virginia Communications System. Read where Craig County is working on modernizing their system as well. Interesting times a coming.

73s, and keep monitoring.

Makes me wonder why these counties couldn't work out a P25 system years ago and share costs? Now we have tons of different systems with poor interoperability.

 

[GmanX]

They could jump on STARS and save some upgrade cost. If everyone is on the same system interop wouldn't be an issue

 

[kainixon2187]

They could jump on STARS and save some upgrade cost. If everyone is on the same system interop wouldn't be an issue

most use the same band and type of system so they just program surrounding counties into separate zones in the radio or they can just use designated interop groups/patching

 

[mocofeed]

most use the same band and type of system so they just program surrounding counties into separate zones in the radio or they can just use designated interop groups/patching

Pulaski seems to be the outlier in the region with a trunked DMR system. 700/800 P25 seems to be popular among Virginia's larger counties. Also coming soon to Montgomery.

 

[maus92]

MS doesn't do DMR for public safety infrastructure. Perhaps they will be installing some DMR mobile radios or issuing some Kenwood hand helds.

 

[ZeroGravity]

MS doesn't do DMR for public safety infrastructure. Perhaps they will be installing some DMR mobile radios or issuing some Kenwood hand helds.

MS absolutely does DMR for public safety infrastructure. Take a look at Mecklenburg and Halifax County. /\/\ DMR Tier 3 Cap+ trunking.

 

[maus92]

MS absolutely does DMR for public safety infrastructure. Take a look at Mecklenburg and Halifax County. /\/\ DMR Tier 3 Cap+ trunking.

Motorola Solutions or a local Motorola vendor?

 

[jeepsandradios]

Shops.

 

[jeepsandradios]

Halifax County supervisors acquire radio system, support drought declaration - SoVaNOW: Home of The News & Record and The Mecklenburg Sun

Halifax County supervisors took action on several agenda items and heard updates on other matters as the county governing board convened Monday night in Halifax for the regular October monthly meeting. Among the highlights: » Supervisors voted unanimously to purchase a new emergency...

www.sovanow.com

 

[fredva]

They could jump on STARS and save some upgrade cost.

Except the state charges a lot of money to be on STARS. All indications are the state wants to keep STARS predominantly a state agency system.

 

[mocofeed]

Except the state charges a lot of money to be on STARS. All indications are the state wants to keep STARS predominantly a state agency system.

Dozens of other states: let's put localities and state agencies on the same system for interoperability.

Virginia: no

 

[kainixon2187]

Dozens of other states: let's put localities and state agencies on the same system for interoperability.

Virginia: no

its also more difficult to manage over 100 agencies all on one system, all agencies that are already on their own system would have to switch over to vhf. its all about saving money and stars cost wayyy more to go on, most of the time localities find a better deal using harris systems

 

[mocofeed]

I think my issue is that this wasn't explored before now. Most states have a statewide trunked network, with varying degrees of participation from localities. I understand Virginia's VHF system isn't ideal for localities, but I wonder if there should've been extensive planning to create a system that would offer everyone participation (WV's has been an enormous success). Interoperability between VSP and localities normally consists of dispatchers on the phone with each other. Not ideal during major incidents.

 

[TJX400]

I think my issue is that this wasn't explored before now. Most states have a statewide trunked network, with varying degrees of participation from localities. I understand Virginia's VHF system isn't ideal for localities, but I wonder if there should've been extensive planning to create a system that would offer everyone participation (WV's has been an enormous success). Interoperability between VSP and localities normally consists of dispatchers on the phone with each other. Not ideal during major incidents.

It's too little too late for that unfortunately. If they'd gone 800MHz when they were building the system in the early 2000s, we'd be looking at a very different usage of the STARS system today. Even if the initial plan was just to have state agencies on the system, the 2000s decade was the absolute best time to get localities to start joining a statewide system, as many of the localities in the state were exploring upgrades from conventional systems or EDACS systems to P25 during that decade.

Today we have several large areas of the state (Lynchburg, National Capital Region, Richmond Capital Region, York, etc.) that are building their own "regionwide" systems (or in NCR's case, ISSI linked systems), and have no interest in joining any other system since they've already poured tons of money into their own systems.

With the state purchasing multiband radios, it's likely that we'll see more interoperability between state agencies and localities. Some localities would be open to the possibility of the State Police specifically having access to their LE channels (or interop channels, just depends) given how much they work together. That idea will require cutting through massive amounts of red tape as far as developing MOUs and policies.

In most areas of Virginia, the most "interoperability" localities have with state agencies, aside from two dispatchers on the phone with each other, is COMLINC - a RoIP based solution using RIOS software that the state has been pushing hard for years as the solution to all interoperability woes.

 

[mocofeed]

It's too little too late for that unfortunately. If they'd gone 800MHz when they were building the system in the early 2000s, we'd be looking at a very different usage of the STARS system today. Even if the initial plan was just to have state agencies on the system, the 2000s decade was the absolute best time to get localities to start joining a statewide system, as many of the localities in the state were exploring upgrades from conventional systems or EDACS systems to P25 during that decade.

Today we have several large areas of the state (Lynchburg, National Capital Region, Richmond Capital Region, York, etc.) that are building their own "regionwide" systems (or in NCR's case, ISSI linked systems), and have no interest in joining any other system since they've already poured tons of money into their own systems.

With the state purchasing multiband radios, it's likely that we'll see more interoperability between state agencies and localities. Some localities would be open to the possibility of the State Police specifically having access to their LE channels (or interop channels, just depends) given how much they work together. That idea will require cutting through massive amounts of red tape as far as developing MOUs and policies.

I agree, it's too late. The state's largest counties have dropped millions and millions of dollars in creating their own systems, and like you said, they're not switching to anything. It's just frustrating knowing what we have vs. could have. Absolutely bizzare to see four counties in a region using a combination of DMR, P25, analog, etc. COMLINC is not a replacement for daily interoperability. But as you said, hopefully these multi-band radios can help solve the headaches. Just frustrating, but too late now!

 

[kainixon2187]

It's too little too late for that unfortunately. If they'd gone 800MHz when they were building the system in the early 2000s, we'd be looking at a very different usage of the STARS system today. Even if the initial plan was just to have state agencies on the system, the 2000s decade was the absolute best time to get localities to start joining a statewide system, as many of the localities in the state were exploring upgrades from conventional systems or EDACS systems to P25 during that decade.

Today we have several large areas of the state (Lynchburg, National Capital Region, Richmond Capital Region, York, etc.) that are building their own "regionwide" systems (or in NCR's case, ISSI linked systems), and have no interest in joining any other system since they've already poured tons of money into their own systems.

With the state purchasing multiband radios, it's likely that we'll see more interoperability between state agencies and localities. Some localities would be open to the possibility of the State Police specifically having access to their LE channels (or interop channels, just depends) given how much they work together. That idea will require cutting through massive amounts of red tape as far as developing MOUs and policies.

In most areas of Virginia, the most "interoperability" localities have with state agencies, aside from two dispatchers on the phone with each other, is COMLINC - a RoIP based solution using RIOS software that the state has been pushing hard for years as the solution to all interoperability woes.

exactly