http://blog.tcomeng.com Commentary on Public-Safety Technology --- and other things Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:07:56 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Last week someone sent me a copy of a bid solicitation for "P25 Professional Grade Portable Radios" issued by Contra Costa County, California.  Contra Costa County has been in the news a lot lately because of its severe financial problems.  It's financial condition is so bad that mass layoffs are ... http://blog.tcomeng.com/index.php/2009/primer-on-restrictive-bidding-for-p25-radio-equipment/ Reprinted from the Center For Investigative Reporting web site By: G.W. Schulz //  Originally published on April 8, 2009 Local officials in California failed to properly account for millions of dollars spent on homeland security efforts in the state, made dubious purchases that may not make communities safer, and could have overpaid ... http://blog.tcomeng.com/index.php/2009/golden-state-lacks-control-over-grant-spending/ The appearance of impropriety continues as the Bay Area SUASI Program grows. Under the direction of general manager Laura Phillips, the Bay Area SUASI organization continues to hire "project managers" who were previously employed by Motorola selling the same products and technology that SUASI is now funding for some Bay ... http://blog.tcomeng.com/index.php/2009/the-appearance-of-impropriety-part-2/ Large, multi-zone digital trunked radio systems can be so fragile that too many users merely listening to the system can cause problems. Such was the case during the aftermath of a catastrophic collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis on the evening of August ... http://blog.tcomeng.com/index.php/2009/what-happens-when-too-many-users-listen-to-a-trunked-radio-system/ Public-safety unit eases Motorola's pain Police radio business faces recession squeeze February 09, 2009 By John Pletz Motorola Inc. co-CEO Gregory Brown is counting more than ever on public-safety equipment, the company's oldest and most profitable unit, for a rescue. Profit from selling two-way radios and other equipment to police and fire departments is ... http://blog.tcomeng.com/index.php/2009/police-radio-business-faces-recession-squeeze/ Recently I developed an Excel worksheet to compare the cost of sustained use of three different types of radio systems that are commonly used by police and fire departments that serve cities with less than 250,000 population in the San Francisco Bay Area.  The results are surprising, and the Excel worksheet ... http://blog.tcomeng.com/index.php/2009/can-you-afford-a-regional-p25-digital-trunked-radio-system/ Office for Technology Finds M/A-COM in Violation of Statewide Wireless Network Contract.  Fifteen of Nineteen Deficiencies Remain Unremediated. Contact Information: Angela R. Liotta Acting Public Information Officer/Director of Media Relations 518-402-3899 ALBANY, N.Y. (January 15, 2009) - The New York State Chief Information Officer and Office for Technology (CIO/OFT) today announced that M/A-COM Inc., ... http://blog.tcomeng.com/index.php/2009/state-of-new-york-cancels-2-billion-digital-radio-contract/ Only a small percentage of problems with digital trunked radio systems are reported by the news media, however there are a sufficient number of stories to establish reasonable doubt as to the veracity of these systems. In fact, there is a clear pattern that would cause a reasonable and prudent ... http://blog.tcomeng.com/index.php/2008/digital-trunked-radio-system-failures/ The complexity of selecting radio systems and equipment for use by police officers and firefighters has dramatically increased over the past ten years. The cost of the technology has skyrocketed and a higher percentage of systems are considered to be failures than ever before. FEMA and the U.S. ... http://blog.tcomeng.com/index.php/2008/communications-guide-for-the-fire-service/ San Francisco / Oakland television station KTVU-TV2 recently aired an investigative report about concerns that some law enforcement officials have regarding the technology chosen for a proposed Bay Area regional police radio communication system. Jana Katsuyama from KTVU-TV2 provided the following report. Click the start arrow to watch the video. Chief ... http://blog.tcomeng.com/index.php/2008/police-officials-concerned-in-the-san-francisco-bay-area/ Television station WSLS-10 in Roanoke Virginia recently presented an in-depth investigative report on the perils of digital trunked radio used by some public safety agencies. The report describes many of the issues related to using digital radio in critical, life threatening situations. Click the start arrow to watch ... http://blog.tcomeng.com/index.php/2008/concerns-about-digital-radio-in-roanoke-virginia/ While it's becoming common knowledge that the performance of many (perhaps most) digital trunked radio systems is deficient, it is also becoming widely known that P25 digital radio technology has been surpassed by newer alternatives. P25 is quickly on its way to becoming obsolete. City, county and state ... http://blog.tcomeng.com/index.php/2008/what-happens-after-the-p25-digital-radio-bubble-bursts/