from TelecomWeb http://www.telecomweb.com/tnd/23033.html
Hall County, Fla., continues to boast about its new sales-tax-funded, $16 million radio system built for law enforcement, firefighters and medics to replace equipment that in some cases was 50 years old.
Voters approved funding for the radio system in a 2004 sales tax referendum, and it's taken three years to design and build. According to local news reports, the 800 MHz digital trunked system supports 64 channels, repairs myriad "blackout" spots where coverage was hit-or-miss in the county and provides static-free reception.
The $16 million went toward building or acquiring eight tower sites throughout the county and purchasing some 1,100 radios for county employees in all fields, from public safety to public works.
The Motorola radios (and Florida /is/ a Motorola state) cost between $1,100 and $2,400 each. Each radio reportedly has its own identifying imprint, allowing dispatchers and other public-safety workers to know immediately who is talking when the microphone is activated, a feature could prove useful in cases of an officer in distress. In the future, the network also may be GPS-enabled.
The six repeater towers have eliminated a lot of the cross talk that choked public-safety channels in the past, and more bandwidth and channels now allow different agencies to communicate together (otherwise known as "interoperability"), something that has been on the front burner since 9/11. That option was tested last month when high winds damaged dozens of homes in the area, and first responders switched over to a designated tactical channel to talk.
The new system has thwarted scanner enthusiasts, though, because of its digital encryption, but the cops say this is just fine, because it knocks the criminals off their listening posts as well.
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