Williamson County going digital
I've been meaning to submit this as a news item for Williamson County (I'll do so in a little bit).
Round Rock PD and FD do not operate their own system but participate as a member agency on the Williamson County TRS. (
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=78)
Williamson County and participating agencies have received federal funding and signed an agreement with Austin/Travis County for interoperability this past summer. (I have a PDF of the agreement if anyone is interested.)
The digital system will be Motorola P25 for full interop. with the current Austin/Travis County System. (
http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=2) This makes sense considering the City of Austin extends up into Williamson County. I'm think all Austin units can already talk to Williamson County agencies on the "PS1" and "PS2" talkgroups we have, but I'm not positive. (If APD Air 1 comes up to help on something those are the TGs they use.) This agreement should take it a step further with coordinated talkgroups I would assume.
EDIT: Here is the article mentioned in the original post:
http://www.impactnewspaper.com/www/docs/101.726 It isn't entirely accurate, for example the sentence: "The RRPD will advance its radio communications from analog to digital technology to improve and secure the interoperability or exchange of information between city and county entities." All cities within the county can communicate with each other just fine on the current system. This upgrade is more about communicating with Austin and Travis county units.
The Round Rock Leader has published several articles about the system upgrade dating back to early 2006. Unfortunately you have to be a subscriber to read their archives.
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