As far as the fire side goes, things have hit significant delays. I have been told by a solid source that "they" were hoping all the fire departments would be going online by end of year but it looks more like next year. Along the lines of shellys 7 months time frame. The fire side will be on 800. However our radios will be dual band VHF/800. My understanding is that the STL city system and the County system are two entirely seperate systems. I have been told that they will all be linked with MOSWIN in some aspect (radio wise).
To answer the above question as to why county PD has been getting new radios. My answer to that is more than likely they needed to be replaced and the new system isn't ready yet. Therefore if the money is allocated to those new radios VHF, even if they will not be used in near future, well they needed to spend it. Also we (fire side) will not be disbanding our old radios. It's extremely dangerous to immediately disband an old functioning radio system immediately after going online with something new. If the new system goes down or has bugs, at least users are familiar with the old system and could go back to if such an event took place.
I don't know for a fact this is why PD has gotten new VHF radios, just a thought.
As I have mentioned prior, most of the info discussed that I have heard about the new radio system is coming from people who are taking part in these meetings. If the info is coming from someone who heard from someone who heard from another, be careful. Ever played the telephone game?
My point is all we can really do is wait and see what happens.
For instance I was told a month ago that we would not be disbanding our current dispatch center but this has been put "in the air". I will not go into detail as I don't wanna get into a heated debate about centralizing dispatch but I can say that the county, meaning officials like Dooley and not dispatch centers, are pushing for centralized dispatch. Basically it's a, "were giving you these radios so if you want to use them then you have to go through us" crap.
As a future end user, I don't care either way if we go to centralized dispatch as long as it either improves communications and/or doesn't hamper operations.
Another tidbit to absorb that hit me hard as a scanner enthusiast. I asked my Chief how we were going to be "toned out" after going online with 800. He replied that the FDs are all looking at many different possiblilties. He mentioned telephone lines, a motorola system, VoIP, a Westnet system, current VHF, and...wait for it....UHF.