Yates County: Future P25?

[SpectralContent]

Scrolling through FCC license for Yates County and noticed that they were granted a license for numerous frequencies in the 700mHz band in July 2022.

Anyone know if they are in the process of upgrading to P25?

I figured Yates would be the least likely to make the switch given the size and low radio traffic volume. However, I wonder if the interoperability with neighboring counties might be driving them to convert.

 

[GTR8000]

That's a conventional 700 MHz license (SG) for the nationwide interop channels. Fairly common for counties in NYS to have a license like that, especially when bordering a county that uses 700 MHz trunking.

 

[Joshuascanner2021]

If they were going to it (go to P25) would most likely be on their current VHF and just be conventional P25 (just like what Steuben county did). NY state is one of the few states that did not roll out a state wide 700 or 800 P25 system. (I do think I read somewhere they were at one point going to roll out a different technology state wide back in the early 2000s like EDACS?? or something but nothing ever materialized. One reason that I think NYS never rolled out a statewide system is because the NYS police (most divisions) get dispatched from the county they are currently assigned to. I know at least the the Rochester area that's how its done.

 

[GTR8000]

OpenSky in the 2009 era, they had some pilot sites in the Erie County area, but wisely decided to terminate the contract for failing to live up to expectation. One of the few smart things the state has done in recent memory. After they came to their senses realizing that an 800 MHz system using proprietary technology would be a lousy fit in a state with such varied terrain (refer to Pennsylvania's money pit former OpenSky system), they decided instead to focus on supporting P25 system buildouts at the county level, and to promote interoperability that way. Obviously the results are very mixed. Some systems/regions have decent interop between counties, other areas are a mess and are probably worse than when everyone was simply on VHF analog. Nature of the beast.

By the way, the NYSP getting dispatched by the counties is a more recent thing, as they've looked to offload the dispatching responsibilities over the past decade. Prior to that it was more common for them to self-dispatch, either from the local barracks if they were busy enough, or from the Troop/Zone HQ. Another thing that is a mixed bag, as in some areas you have the NYSP operating almost exclusively on county trunked systems dispatched by the county PSAP, in other areas they are still on their own VHF channels and are self-dispatched, and in other areas you have a hybrid of the two where they are self-dispatched on their own talkgroup on a county system.

Troop F, for example, where Zone 2 patrols in Orange County are dispatched by SP Middletown on the Orange County 700/800 system. Zone 2 patrols in Rockland County are dispatched by Rockland 911 on the Rockland County 700 system. Zone 1 and 3 patrols in the counties north of Orange are dispatched by the NYSP on the legacy VHF channels.

 

[SpectralContent]

Did not know that about the interoporobility. Makes a lot of sense looking more at the license. Should have looked more thoroughly before posting.
Thanks for the info!

Before FIRST rolled out throughout MD, a few of the more suburban/rural counties had a combined system CMARC, similar to how Monroe/Ontario operate their system.

I always wondered if some of these smaller central Finger Lake counties would do a combined P25 at somepoint.
Yet again, being some of the least populous counties in the state, the radio traffic probably doesn't warrent more then a few conventional channels for each nor the resources to upgrade to a wide system like the more urban areas.

 

[Joshuascanner2021]

OpenSky in the 2009 era, they had some pilot sites in the Erie County area, but wisely decided to terminate the contract for failing to live up to expectation. One of the few smart things the state has done in recent memory. After they came to their senses realizing that an 800 MHz system using proprietary technology would be a lousy fit in a state with such varied terrain (refer to Pennsylvania's money pit former OpenSky system), they decided instead to focus on supporting P25 system buildouts at the county level, and to promote interoperability that way. Obviously the results are very mixed. Some systems/regions have decent interop between counties, other areas are a mess and are probably worse than when everyone was simply on VHF analog. Nature of the beast.

By the way, the NYSP getting dispatched by the counties is a more recent thing, as they've looked to offload the dispatching responsibilities over the past decade. Prior to that it was more common for them to self-dispatch, either from the local barracks if they were busy enough, or from the Troop/Zone HQ. Another thing that is a mixed bag, as in some areas you have the NYSP operating almost exclusively on county trunked systems dispatched by the county PSAP, in other areas they are still on their own VHF channels and are self-dispatched, and in other areas you have a hybrid of the two where they are self-dispatched on their own talkgroup on a county system.

Troop F, for example, where Zone 2 patrols in Orange County are dispatched by SP Middletown on the Orange County 700/800 system. Zone 2 patrols in Rockland County are dispatched by Rockland 911 on the Rockland County 700 system. Zone 1 and 3 patrols in the counties north of Orange are dispatched by the NYSP on the legacy VHF channels.

Ok, yeah I knew it was something that failed, thanks for the info on what it was exactly.
I do remember the NYSP dispatching from their barracks!