Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Regional radio expansion to be explored Government agencies to meet Monday

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 23:05:02 -0400

Regional radio expansion to be explored Government agencies to meet Monday

By Lois Gormley
The Desert Sun
October 24th, 2003

The Coachella Valley Association of Governments is
scheduled to vote Monday on a proposal that would
provide better radio coverage for some public safety
agencies experiencing "dead spots" in certain areas of
the county.

Steve Reneker, chief information officer for Riverside

County, said the plan would develop a regional public safety radio system and
bring all 54public safety agencies in the county onto shared frequencies and
technologies.

It also would allow some agencies that cannot talk to one another at the click of
a button the ability to do so.
"When cities and counties join forces, they are able to get better coverage
throughout the region at a lower cost," Reneker said.
Riverside County Sheriff Bob Doyle agrees "the radio system, as it exists today,
is totally inadequate."
"You get dead spots everywhere," he said, particularly in the areas of Cabazon and
Norco. "It is a significant safety issue for our people."

Options

Doyle said there are really three aspects to the radio communications issue:
the current problems with the county’s 800 MHz system an immediate plan to create
a channel that can be used by every agency in the county to communicate with one
another during a disaster. Doyle said $1.1 million in Homeland Security funds will
be used to bring that channel to fruition. The project will entail adding
components to nearly every dispatch center in the county, he said, and is expected
to be up and running by June.
the future -- which Reneker is seeking to address.

Reneker said there are a number of ways the county could go about establishing
some sort of regional system.
The proposal calls for a system that would have a "backbone" shared by various
cities, counties and other government agencies. They could form a joint powers
agreement and commission a feasibility study to determine how an effort could be
self-funded and meet the needs of everyone involved, he said.

Or, the agencies could approach, and possibly join, an already established
regional system, such as those in San Bernardino or San Diego counties, Reneker
said.

The more entities that participate -- when backbone facilities and technologies
are shared -- the lower the operation costs per unit, Reneker said.

But establishing the backbone will be costly.

Currently, public safety agencies use an entire spectrum of radio frequencies
ranging from high frequency, VHF and UHF to 800 MHz, Reneker said.

As 800 MHz frequencies are depleted or become incapable of accommodating new
technologies, the county will need to make the move to the next generation -- 700
MHz.

While Doyle agreed that regionalization ultimately is the way to go, making the
move to 700 MHz is at least five to seven years in the future, he said.

In order to support the system and provide adequate coverage, between 60 and 70
more tower sites must be built, Reneker said. The cost for the towers alone --
between $600,000 and $1 million each -- easily could reach $70 million, he said.

Reneker said the county can work with public safety agencies to identify grant and
other funding sources and will seek Homeland Security funds to help with the
costs. He said lobbying for a public safety communications surcharge on phone
bills also could provide a way to fund local communications infrastructure.

Problems & Solutions

The locations of the 35 radio tower sites currently in place are not adequate to
support the 7,300 square-miles of coverage needed throughout the county, Reneker
said.

"We have some areas where public safety folks get a busy signal," he said. "That’s
unacceptable."
The original system was planned poorly for the county’s geography, Doyle said.

While more towers would help the situation, there are other issues such as
conformity of equipment that also need to be addressed.

Even though the Palm Springs Police Department and the Riverside County Sheriff’s
Department are both on the same frequency band -- 800 MHz -- the use of different
equipment prevents them from communicating without being patched together by a
dispatch center.

Palm Springs police use Motorola equipment, like the majority of surrounding law
enforcement agencies. The Sheriff’s Department uses Macom/Ericsson.

Conformity in the type of equipment used would enable agencies to communicate more
easily with those in surrounding counties, said Henry Richter, a contract
consultant hired by the city of Palm Springs to evaluate its current system.

Richter, who worked on the regional systems in neighboring San Diego and Imperial
counties, said joining efforts with other agencies and sharing the costs makes
sense.

"Regionalization got a start here but sort of fell apart four or five years ago,"
he said.
The change would save money and provide better interoperability, and now would be
a good time to do it, he said.

Palm Springs’ system is old and in need of replacement, Richter said. Other nearby
cities, particularly those experiencing financial trouble, also would benefit from
a joint powers agreement.
The average radio system lasts about eight to 10 years because of changes in
technology and unavailability of parts, he said.

Palm Springs’ system is about 10 years old now.

Riverside County’s system is about 15 years old and uses a single trunk for both
voice and data transmission, which has caused a real problem, Doyle said. "It just
overloads," he said.

http://www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories2003/local/20031024021400.shtml

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