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N_Jay
Guest
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This is great news to scanner listeners, with the current digital scanners this system will e able to be monitored and EF Johnson is a good company. I am glad they went with a good company and nothing like Harris Open Sky system or known as cloudy sky.
Should be, however as I understand it it will be site trunking (is that the right term?) and not simulcast at the onset. This could of course change as time goes on. It sounds like each site controls itself without a central controller, and subscriber radios roam from site to site as needed. I know very little about this type of system, but it sounds like a LTR-ish type system. My research continues
How do you know EFJ is a good company? Do you have any experience with them? Use their products? Harris is a fantastic company and look at the mess they inherited. GE/Ericsson/M-A/Com was a good company with great products except OpenSky. Their EDACS trunked and conventional systems are awesome but because of OpenSky everyone thinks that company sucked.
Frankly there needs to be less opining about how bad OpenSky is and why. It fails to deliver, we know that now so let's move on.
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I didn't say Harris was a bad company just there open sky system in voice operations, data is good on it. I have heard that EFJ is great with there systems, I know back in the 80's there LTR Multisite system was horrible and didn't work out very well but now they are a very strong player in the public safety radio market. I hope the state of Wisconsin doesn't encrypt all the communications on the new system. I have done some research with EFJ.
ltjweiss
Member
you have to admit, it is pretty brave for harris to take on the open-sky mess.
I am sorry I shouldn't have even brought Harris into this, I have done a lot research on the WISCOM system if you go to the website here Wisconsin Interoperability Council they have excellent information. Now since they have awarded a contract to the vendor they will be getting equipment and starting roll the system out. I have heard they want it up and running by the end of 2010 but not the whole system, it's going to be 80 site system so it's going to take a while.
Any chance of seeing an 800 mhz public safety reciever with some real good recieve and decoding specs any time. Maybe in the 500-700 dollar range. I know that Motorola ect are expensive in part because they transmit also. I would love to see Vertex, uniden or GRE come up with some thing, and I don't mean a scanner.
Shame on you. You should be punished accordingly:lol:
It will be interesting to see if they can get those sites done by the end of next year. It looks like they will be using sites that they already own/utilize, which is smart.
I just read the Statewide System Management Group November 20th, 2009 meeting minutes and it states Tower contractors only recently made aware of award, still waiting on antennas
Tower work to be done by Trillium (northern) and Tower Tech (southern)
Sites will go on the air in late May / June 2010
One site will be put on the air as soon as possible for testing and outreach
Tower work to be done by Trillium (northern) and Tower Tech (southern)
Sites will go on the air in late May / June 2010
One site will be put on the air as soon as possible for testing and outreach
I briefly scanned the proposed tower/coverage sheet and it appears to be all existing DSP/DNR towers. Because of this, and not changing RF bands, the system cost is a lot lower than most as all supporting infrastructure is already in place.
There will need to be site work, but not having to build new sites or retrofit current sites is a big plus.
Here is a 336 page pdf. from the consulting firm about the first 3 phases of system planning. It is a must-read as far as I'm concerned:
ftp://doaftp04.doa.state.wi.us/doadocs/Kimball_PhaseII+III_Report.pdf
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yes it is I have read it and it is very detailed and interesting. I am glad Wisconsin took there time to research and do there homework because this system is going to be great for the state of Wisconsin and all the agencies that decide to utilize the system. In southeastern Wisconsin I don't think many municipal departments will use the system since we already have fairly good trunked radio systems i.e. Waukesha County, Milwaukee County, Ozaukee County, Sheboygan County and the soon to be Washington County. I know state agencies have already decided to join the system. Will have to see what happens down here in southeastern Wisconsin
A good sign of news as of now the recommendations are to roll the system out as a P25 phase 1 system so current digital scanners should work with the new system.
That generic statement is pointless, much like "cars have 4 wheels".
The only state agency that is guaranteed to use the system is WisDOT/WSP because WISCOM is the de facto replacement for the WisDOT/WSP state radio system and WSP's Bureau of Communications is doing the build-out. WISCOM will be using 71 existing WSP/DNR tower sites and the WSP microwave network, but the system is going up for the benefit of public safety at large...not just state agencies.
It is my understanding that state agencies like WDNR and WEM will likely use WISCOM, but they do have their own radio systems that either need to be rolled into WISCOM or migrated away from. Other state agencies may come board the system at some point, but that is dependent on new equipment and system capacity. Each state agency would need to budget for new P25 equipment and related costs, then buy said equipment and have it installed and brought up on WISCOM. This does not happen overnight. DOC has their own 800 MHz trunked sites at the prisons, so they are good to go. I could see some interop talkgroups tied between DOC and WISCOM at some point.
My prognostication is that other than initial WSP, WEM and some DNR usage, the WISCOM system will remain an interoperability solution for the near term without a lot of other state agencies on it. Look at all the agencies up north that are VHF P25. If their radios can handle P25 trunking, then all they need to do is be granted system access and reprogram some/all radios to become very interoperable. Same goes for all the 800 MHz trunked systems in the SE part of the state. At some point, patches and interop talkgroups will come along and then VHF WISCOM users can talk to county TRS users without 3 radios in a vehicle.
2010 will be an exciting time to watch WISCOM come online, but only if the misinformation is squelched. As the system unfolds during the last half of the year, it will become apparent who is on it and who is isn't.
I agree I meant to say some state agencies will join like WI State Patrol which with there communication specialists will be running the system and then the WI DNR.
I'm beginning to think that all you do is glean phrases and bits of information about radio systems off the internet and then regurgitate them here...especially with some of the comments in this thread.
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I have learned that even this tidbit of information is not wholly correct. Apparently, there has not been a final decision by WSP to leverage the WISCOM system. The WISCOM system will be it's own standalone system, apart from the existing VHF conventional statewide network that WSP/DNR currently use.
While WisDOT and WSP have played a large role in the WISCOM system procurement, that does not mean they will be primary users.
WISCOMM
Member
The state owns no towers in Milwaukee County, closest tower sites would be Delafield in Waukesha and Brighton in Kenosha County. There has been some rumor of locating the Milwaukee County on the State Prison in downtown Milwaukee.
Correct, as far as actual towers are concerned (as far as I know).
Brighton is not in Kenosha County. I'm assuming you are speaking in terms of the WISCOM system, so I will leave out the other two current WSP sites that are also in the immediate area since they are not mentioned in the WISCOM build-out.
Locating the what?
There has been a WSP site in Milwaukee since the 90's, currently (maybe always?) at the DOC facility. Nothing new about that.
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