Shelby County Joining SAFE-T

[scannerfreak]

http://www.shelbynews.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=93&ArticleID=56103&TM=61860.66

The Shelby County Council unanimously voted Tuesday night to earmark $700,000 from the county's Emergency 911 fund to partially pay for $3.8 million worth of infrastructure that will be needed for a new 800-megahertz radio system.

"This is a little more than half the cost of this ($7 million) project," said Shelby County Sheriff Mike Bowlby.

The $700,000 will help pay for three communications towers. Bowlby said the affected landowners have agreed to not charge any rent to the county for the tower sites.

On Feb. 4, Bowlby had suggested to the Shelby County Board of Commissioners that the 911 surcharge be raised from 75 cents to the maximum the county is allowed to charge telephone customers, which is $2.57. The fee, charged each month on land-line phones, was adopted by the county council in October 1992 and never has been increased. The surcharge for cell phones is 50 cents a month.

But by Feb. 19, Bowlby announced that he would postpone his request to raise the county's 911 surcharge until he could do more research on exactly how much the new SAFE-T (Safely Acting For Everyone Together) 800-megahertz system would cost.

Since then, Bowlby and other county officials have been searching for grants, as well as other revenue sources, that would help fund the new radio system. So far, the county has found at least two grants, totaling $1.1 million.

The recent Kernan-Shepard Commission report on improving government operations included a recommendation that all public safety departments in Indiana transition to the SAFE-T 800-megahertz system.

Bowlby said the system would have proved useful during the recent tornado and flood disaster, where cell phones were unreliable. The county had difficulty reaching the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies during water rescues and other emergencies over the past two weeks, he said.

The sheriff has said that that the county's current VHF radio system is obsolete. He said it is getting more difficult to find part for it, as well as technicians who know how to repair it.

 

[ten78]

Bout time. Shelby Co has the worst radio system i've ever heard. It is always scratchy even in county.
In Johnson Co., before the switch to 800, at least the radio traffic was crystal clear. It's almost never like that in Shelby Co

 

[WA9JGB]

Same Ol thing

This is nothing new. They have said the same things in several articles at least 5 times. For whatever reason they love that old crappy VHF system they have. That county has about 10 VHF repeaters all over the county, and none of them provide good coverage. I hope they can come on board soon.

 

[scannerfreak]

This is nothing new. They have said the same things in several articles at least 5 times. For whatever reason they love that old crappy VHF system they have. That county has about 10 VHF repeaters all over the county, and none of them provide good coverage. I hope they can come on board soon.

It gives you some of the time line in the article, which explains previous articles, and this is something new, they have started to set aside funds. It appears to me they have been trying and it takes time..
You can't just snap your fingers and be on the system, you actually have to acquire the funding first and without 3 more towers, which makes it even more complicated, it would be pointless to join. I seriously doubt "they love that old crappy VHF system" or they wouldn't even be talking about improving their communications..It's all about $$$

 

[WA9JGB]

It gives you some of the time line in the article, which explains previous articles, and this is something new, they have started to set aside funds. It appears to me they have been trying and it takes time..
You can't just snap your fingers and be on the system, you actually have to acquire the funding first and without 3 more towers, which makes it even more complicated, it would be pointless to join. I seriously doubt "they love that old crappy VHF system" or they wouldn't even be talking about improving their communications..It's all about $$$

Yes sir your right!!!!! Do you read the Shelbyville paper? Do you read the Daily Journal? There are other papers out there besides the Star. This has been discussed over and over again. Same Ol stuff. Hopefully they will be able to join. I hope they get the $$$$$ as you put it.

 

[jerk]

Well they are doing two good things. They are waiting and adding three more towers.
Sounds like a good plan to me.

Too many agencies switch without the coverage and the money to do it right...
which makes people mad, or turns them against the system. And this leads to complaints and bad feelings. Johnson County had a few agencies that this happened with.

They could probably switch to Safe-T today if they had the radios in place, but would most users be happy? Apparently not as they seem to require more towers for the coverage they want or need.

 

[WA9JGB]

Well they are doing two good things. They are waiting and adding three more towers.
Sounds like a good plan to me.

Too many agencies switch without the coverage and the money to do it right...
which makes people mad, or turns them against the system. And this leads to complaints and bad feelings. Johnson County had a few agencies that this happened with.

They could probably switch to Safe-T today if they had the radios in place, but would most users be happy? Apparently not as they seem to require more towers for the coverage they want or need.

That's a good point.

 

[Viper43]

Shelby Co has been simulcasting on SAFET for a long time. As for the old system, it works fine, and there are very few times I have any problems hearing comms on it. At home I pick up everything , PD, Sheriff, fire, road crews and I am on the the NW side of Hancock Co.
The 800 simulcast meanwhile is aweful off the Fairland tower, although oddly enough Batholomew Co comes through it loud and clear....

 

[ten78]

Whats the 800 mhz simulcast id

 

[Viper43]

Check the DB, all the TG's for Shelby Co have bee active since at least January.

V

 

[Snibble]

They could probably switch to Safe-T today if they had the radios in place, but would most users be happy? Apparently not as they seem to require more towers for the coverage they want or need.

They could probably switch today if:
they didn't care that Digital SAFE-T is unsuitable for the fire service,
they didn't care that there's no suitable voice pager for SAFE-T,
they didn't care that no one has identified a good Knox Sentralock solution for digital SAFE-T,
they didn't care that history has shown that the only tower in the county gets overloaded whenever something happens...

 

[Viper43]

#1: SAFET has BOTH digital and analog capability so thats no excuse
#2: better re-check your info as many counties are using voice paging on SAFET
#3: really, there are several counties that use workable systems
#4: never heard the system go down other than when it took a lightning strike but it was back up in a short time. Even so, "overloading" in this case is a simple fix adding more frequencies which they would get if going to the system full time. At present it's not a major deal since it isn't a primary system

Henry county is using the system full time with no issues, and Since Shelby Co is surrounded by counties that use the system it would only make sense to use it as well for mutual aid, both fire and LE. Batholomew Co is going or has gone full time as has Johnson Co. (the latter BTW uses a Knoxbox system that works)

V

They could probably switch today if:
they didn't care that Digital SAFE-T is unsuitable for the fire service,
they didn't care that there's no suitable voice pager for SAFE-T,
they didn't care that no one has identified a good Knox Sentralock solution for digital SAFE-T,
they didn't care that history has shown that the only tower in the county gets overloaded whenever something happens...

 

[Snibble]

RE: Shelby County and SAFE-T

#1: SAFET has BOTH digital and analog capability so thats no excuse
#2: better re-check your info as many counties are using voice paging on SAFET
#3: really, there are several counties that use workable systems
#4: never heard the system go down other than when it took a lightning strike but it was back up in a short time. Even so, "overloading" in this case is a simple fix adding more frequencies which they would get if going to the system full time. At present it's not a major deal since it isn't a primary system

#1: Yes, it does...but there are no analog TGs for Shelby County TODAY.
#2: Please, name one (pager or county). I'd very much like to see/try one.
#3: I'll check again, but last I talked to Knox, they could do analog but not digital. (See #1)
#4: That would be a "simple" fix costing how much and taking how much time? Probably longer than TODAY.

Henry county is using the system full time with no issues,

Thanks. I'll see if I can make some contacts in Henry County and ask about their solutions to the above.

and Since Shelby Co is surrounded by counties that use the system it would only make sense to use it as well for mutual aid, both fire and LE.

Marion switched? Decatur and Rush are on now? I'll have to check on that.

 

[W9NES]

Marion County is NOT On safe-t, they have there own system

 

[Viper43]

Other than Marion co EVERY county surrounding Shelby uses or can use SAFET. Bartholomew is full time, Henry fulltime, Decature uses it regularly, Rush Co uses it occasionaly and simulcasts everything on it., Hancock uses it on certain shifts and for all special events as does Greenfield, New Palestine, Fortville and McCordsville. And Johnson Co is full time on it.
If I'd had seen this thread before Saturday I'd have talked to Morristown Marshall Henry to see what he thinks about it, but I probably won't see him until the Mt Comfort Air Show. BTW, Henry is Shelby Co's new DARE officer, he just completed the training and will start hitting the schools when they open. He's a good choice since he used to be a teacher.

V

 

[ten78]

The shlelby co deputies have got their new radios- XTS models. I didn't know they would work on VHF and then be able to be switched to digital 800 if they go to SAFE-T

 

[scannerfreak]

County OKs phone fee hike

http://www.shelbynews.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=93&ArticleID=56533&TM=62688.18

 

[Viper43]

FYI: Shelby Co Sheriff's Dept. is apparently using the system on 3rd shift now, the past three nights I've heard them on 800 but not VHF.

V

 

[chaddiesel]

Can I get the Shelby Co. Sheriff's department with a Pro-95 analog scanner? Are the talkgroups all digital?

I have 868.93750 control channel programmed into one of my scanner banks set to RX Mode MOT and have DEC 37296 (Police) 37328 (Sheriff). When I hit scan, all I get is noise on 868.9375. I'm new to trunking, but if they are on digital, I'm probably not going to get anywhere with this. Any help would be appreciated.

Thank You -Chad