HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 11-21-2013 - Information Item 6-FINFORMATION ITEM - Attachment 6 - F
INFORMATIONAL PAPER
LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED TRUNKED 700MHz RADIO SYSTEM
BACKGROUND
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Over the past three months, Orange County Emergency Services has had discussions with
the Sheriff, Orange County Animal Services, Orange County Asset Management
Services, Orange County Planning, Orange County Volunteer Fire Departments, Orange
County Schools, the Town of Chapel Hill (Police, Fire, Transit, Parks, Public Works,
etc.), the Town of Carrboro (Police and Fire), and Chapel Hill /Carrboro Schools,
regarding their opinion on the coverage and usage of the North Carolina Voice
Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders (VIPER).
Concerns expressed over the existing State -owned VIPER System include:
• Coverage is not adequate throughout the County. There are many dead spots
where transmission from a portable (hand -held) radio is not possible, even outside
of a building.
• Coverage lacks of building penetration throughout the County. This is a severe
safety problem for all responder when units inside buildings cannot transmit or
receive messages.
• The State limits on radio assignments outside public safety. For Orange County
to have true interoperability, we need to be able to directly talk with public works,
transit, schools, animal control, inspectors, etc. Currently, the State -owned VIPER
system will not allow these users on the system.
• There is no local control over the system, its capabilities, its use, or even how
many radios can be assigned into it. We are dependent on the State to issue radio
IDs (each radio must have unique radio ID to work on the system, much like a
cell phone). For the past year, the State has advised that they are out of IDs and
cannot issue any more.
• Routine radio programming and maintenance must be performed through State
approved vendors or technicians, versus at the local level. This can be costly and
time consuming.
Orange County recently utilized the consultant company Federal Engineering to conduct
a VIPER radio coverage study throughout Orange County. The study looked at adding
tower sites for coverage, as well as upgrade channel capacity to create a more balanced
system (the current system has 5 channels north and 8 channels south). This unbalanced
system creates busy "bonks" where users cannot transmit during peak periods. The draft
VIPER radio study report was presented to the Board of County Commissioners on
October 3, 2013 and showed that there was still a substantial coverage issue even with the
recommended modifications.
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To support the anticipated outcome of this study, the County has identified approximately
$3.5 million dollars in the Capital Investment Program (CIP) to build towers and add
channel capacity to help resolve these issues.
PROPOSAL
Enhancing the State -owned VIPER system for coverage and channel capacity will not
enable Orange County to achieve true interoperability because those agencies that the
State considers non - emergency (transit, public works, schools, inspections, etc.) will not
be allowed to use the system.
With supplemental funding in addition to the current CIP, Orange County could convert
to a locally owned and controlled Trunked 700MHz system for true interoperability. The
system would be designed to provide significantly better coverage, more user capability,
and the ability to implement the use of data and GPS for increased safety options for all
of the users. It would also be completely compatible with the State's VIPER system for
redundancy and resiliency (users could still use statewide mutual aid TalkGroups).
An inter -local government agreement with the City of Durham would allow us to use
their P25 (digital) radio controller to operate our system seamlessly, saving about $2
million dollars of initial investment. Over the next 3 -5 years, Orange County would
purchase and install our own P25 controller, and offer a link to Durham so we both would
have redundant P25 radio controllers. If one system went down, the other would continue
to operate the system, and vice versa.
Advantages to a locally owned and operated system;
• Achieve true interoperability by expanding the system to include not only all
public safety agencies, but also other services active in emergency and disaster
response and recovery such as Transit, Public Works, Parks & Recreation,
Inspections, Schools and others. The system would enable all local agencies
capable of communicating with each other during planned events, emergencies
and disasters.
• The local system uses the same radios and towers as the VIPER system. There is
no additional cost of having to replace any existing equipment. We would keep
the VIPER system programmed into the radios for statewide interoperability with
mutual aid partners.
• The system could be a cost sharing partnership between Orange County and three
(3) municipalities, helping to keep costs at a minimum. The City of Durham has
expressed willingness to partner locally, potentially reducing implementation cost
for all partners.
• The system would be designed to provide better building penetration and channel
capacity to eliminate busy "bonks ". It would also be designed to enable the use of
several safety options such as text/data and GPS location.
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