Over the past eight years we have received much feedback from the field, in the form of after action reports that related to the operation of the portable tower trailers that the state purchased. The three tower trailers that contained a fully operational five (5) channel trunked radio system have operated on the 2C10 system ID and were limited to standalone operation. Virtually every instance where the trailers were deployed resulted in an after action summary that expressed concerns that the current solution did not provide for an enhancement of the wide area system. Moving forward, we will be beginning the transition this year to convert the trailers to be a coverage enhancement tool rather than a standalone system. This will mean that the trailers will each be assigned unique frequency sets such that more than one trailer could operate in relatively close proximity to each other. We are working diligently with the NRPC to see if a nationwide frequency plan is the best option or to utilize channels within our NC 700 MHz state plan and once we finalize that, we will update all of you accordingly. In addition to the migration of the trailers to P25 wide area operation, with the number of radios now exceeding 65K, we are unable to provide a unique 4.1 ID for each radio programmed for the 2C10 system. This could potentially cause an ID duplication which is not something that we desire to have happen even if it is only applicable during the standalone operation. Finally, as a reminder, the trailers will still have a standalone National Public Safety (NPSPAC) repeater on board that can be used to support a communications solution with approximately a five (5) mile radius of operation in a conventional mode.
