Subject: [NEXTEL-1] (Dated) Cost to replace public safety radio system startling

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 04 Aug 2003 05:57:34 -0400

By Mal Leary, Capital News Service
Last updated: Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Cost to replace public safety radio system startling
State seeks short-term remedy

AUGUSTA - Only 14 states have statewide
communications systems that allow all state and local pubic
safety agencies to talk to each other in case of a terrorist
attack or natural disaster. Maine is not one of the 14, and
the cost of funding such a system - estimated in a
consultant's report at as high as $201.5 million - is causing
sticker shock among state officials."It needs to be done,"
Gov. John Baldacci said in an interview last week. "We
saw that need on September 11. They all need to be on
the same wavelength and be able to communicate
statewide."

But the governor was astonished to learn the estimated
cost of the system that would allow all law enforcement
agencies, fire departments and other emergency agencies
to communicate in an emergency. The estimated $201.5
million price tag includes a statewide backbone of 146
radio transmitters and microwave towers as well as new
radios for all state and local users.

"This option would best meet the requirements set forth by
the state" was the conclusion of the report by the
consultant, Macro Corp. of California. The study cost the
state just less than $300,000 and was paid for by the state
Bureau of Information Services.

Public Safety Commissioner Michael Cantara said last
week the study was commissioned in 2002 to provide
state officials with options for replacing an outdated state
police communications system and to look at the additional
needs posed by homeland security issues.

"There is no question that we will have to replace our
system," he said, "but I am not ready to make any
recommendations to the governor or to legislative leaders."

The consultant said simply upgrading existing systems,
which are located on the VHF radio band, would cost
nearly $27 million. But those frequencies are being phased
out by the Federal Communications Commission. In five
years, equipment that operates on those frequencies will no
longer be made, forcing the state to move to different
frequencies anyway.

To do nothing but improve the reliability of the present system would be
"imprudent and an exercise in futility,"
according to the consultants. The study recommends an entire new system that would
operate in the 800 megahertz
and 700 megahertz bands and would cost more than $154 million just for the
Department of Public Safety, the Warden Service and the Marine Patrol. To expand
that system to all local and state public safety agencies and provide all the
field radios necessary brings the estimate up to $201.5 million.

"The state can't afford that right now, and I am not sure when it could," Cantara
said. "I hope we can find some less expensive options, but there is no doubt this
will be a substantial cost." The consultants make it clear it must happen because
FCC policy changes will eventually require a new system, and construction costs
will only increase in the future.

Maine Emergency Management Agency Director Art Cleaves acknowledges the necessity.
He said state disaster drills have made clear the need for reliable communications
among all agencies.

He said MEMA officials have found ways to work around the inadequacies
temporarily, "but, yes, in an emergency where the cell phone system goes down, we
would not have a way to communicate.  We have got to have a long-term solution."
Cleaves said MEMA considers development of a system a "very high" priority in part
because it will likely take years to construct and will have a large price tag. He
is looking at a short-term strategy that includes the use of satellite phones to
assure emergency communications, but only as a stopgap and partial solution. "Many
other states will need to come up with an answer," he said.

"We are not alone with this problem."  2002 Olympics were a boon to Utah, with the
federal government providing $310 million for a statewide, interoperable
communications system. Other states with completed networks, such as Michigan's
$230 million system, have been built over several years. "The federal government
must help, but it cannot afford to pay the whole bill," Sen. Susan Collins said
Friday. "I would hope we could use the FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency]
model where there would be a match required from the state and local governments."

Collins chairs the Senate panel with oversight of the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security. She said there are five separate federal programs that provide grants to
state and local governments for communications equipment, with no coordination
among the programs. She said the federal government has to do a better job in
making sure funds are used in the most effective way.

The Maine study indicates a new system could provide some savings to the state by
consolidating dispatch and maintenance facilities. The consultant's report
suggests the microwave system would have additional capacity for state data
transmission that could save the state the expense of leased fiber optic and other
data circuits.

But Cantara said when he asked for dollar estimates on how much could be saved,
the consultant "declined to be specific." Cantara said any operational savings
have to be clearly identified and substantiated before he can make any
recommendations to the governor and Legislature. "It is my personal goal to have a
recommendation for next January," he said. "We really can't wait on this."

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 07 Aug 2003 14:48:17 -0400

"Buchanan, David" wrote:

> Marcel - How can you have the same throughput to one unit using two
> channels?  Some of the applications users want need all the throughput they
> can get.   I'm also not following how coverage is better with 12.5 kHz
> bandwidth.

You can have the same throughput or better. In 1999 the Mobile Portable Radio Group
 proved that this was possible by using a modified TDMA algorithm.
(http://www.mprg.org)

In 2002 Motorola proposed a similar configuration on WiDEN (Wideband iDEN)
WiDEN consists of combining four (4)  25 kHz channels to achieve a speed of 132 Kps to the end user.
These channels can be non-contiguous.
http://ccbn.tenkwizard.com/cgi/image?repo=tenk&ipage=1947102&doc=60

iDEN's next generation will support 12:1 dispatch on a 25 kHz channel.
http://ccbn.tenkwizard.com/cgi/image?repo=tenk&ipage=1947102&doc=54

I understand the throughput issue and I agree, that is why I'm Pro-Greenhouse and I hope for more similar trials.
I spoke to the system admin and she said the officers loved the system  it and their efficiency increased
dramatically.

On the better coverage issue this claim came from a Moto white paper and it is also made on their website.

.ASTRO® 25 Digital Voice & Data Networks
<SNIP>
Narrowband simulcasting (12.5 kHz) delivers improved coverage in dense urban areas and indoors.
http://www.motorola.com/cgiss/astro_voicedata.shtml

I have not analyzed on their claim yet.  Maybe a few Moto lurkers here could step up
and clarify it.

>
>
> The FCC is mandating efficiency minimums for the different bandwidths.  The
> minimum data rate at 25 kHz is 19.2 kbps so you won't see the old systems on
> the air.

Moto's Old Datatac does 19.2 at 25Khz.

>
>
> The APCO petition will not propose any delay to the target date for
> conversion.  In fact, the request is to move the date earlier in time.

I was not just talking data-  I speaking overall.

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