Over the past few years I’ve written several articles about digital and trunked radio systems that have been distributed to clients and published on this website. The articles have elicited a strong emotional reaction from many of the people who have read them.
Click here to read some of the articles I’ve collected that were published by others.
Here is a summary of recent articles about this topic.
- $23M Chicago digital radio system still not used after 5 years – 09/23/2011
- Security researchers crack APCO P25 encryption – 09/10/2011
- Firefighters (still) balk at new digital radios – 09/06/2011
- Oakland officers sound of on new police radios – 08/22/2011
- Military radios that don’t work – 05/18/2011
- Pennsylvania statewide radio network proves a bust – 05/14/2011
- Costly PA radio system for law enforcement agencies isn’t working as planned – 04/28/2011
- House committee concerned about Motorola’s dominance – 04/21/2011
- Homeland Security and Motorola, a recipe for scandal in Chicago – 04/28/2011
- Audit finds waste and misconduct in Chicago 911 agency – 04/08/2011
- The Great APCO Project 25 Boondoggle – 02/2011
- DuPage, Illinois – No bid contract in shambles – 01/26/2011
- Oregon emergency radio system running late and $107 million over budget (09/21/2010)
- California Fire Service – Facts about P25 Digital and Trunked Radio Systems for the fire service (11/2009)
- Problems with OpenSky digital trunked radio systems (07/12/2009)
- What happens when too many users listen to a trunked radio system (02/20/2009)
- Philadelphia – July crash of radio system laid to faulty maintenance (12/11/2008)
- Philadelphia police radio system will cost $40 million to upgrade (12/11/2008)
- Concerns about digital radio in Roanoke Virginia (2008)
- What happens after the P25 digital radio bursts (2008)
- When the digital trunked radio bursts… (2008)
- The appearance of impropriety (Part 1) (2008)
- Problems continue with Philadelphia digital trunked system (2008)
- Motorola P25 problems in Indiana (2008)
- Problems with digital radio when background noise is present (2008)
- Orlando and Marion County Illinois firefighters won’t use digital radios (2008)
- Why some digital trunked radio systems are perceived as failures (2008)
- Montgomery County, Maryland – Digital trunked radio on the fireground (2008)
- Colerain Township, Ohio – Radio problems during fatal fire (2008)
- KGO-TV follow-up story on San Mateo County digital trunked radio problems (2008) (video)
- San Mateo County Sheriff’s Deputy comments on digital trunked radio problems (2008) (PDF)
- KGO-TV news story on San Mateo County and Redwood City Police Dept digital trunked radio problems (2008) (video)
- ABC7 news report on Redwood City Police Department problems with San Mateo County digital trunked radio system (2008) (PDF)
- Open Source P25 Switch and Trunking Controller – Call for discussion
- Radio Silence – FDNY
- Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! I’m trapped inside…
- Why Large Trunked Radio Systems Are Like Mainframe Computers
- Boise Fire Says No to 700 MHz Digital Radios
- The Difference Between Trunked and Conventional Radio Systems
- Anonymous Police Department Walks Away From Digital Trunked Radio
- Digital Trunked Radio System Failures
- Sometimes It’s Best to Call the Baby Ugly
- Will 700 MHz Radios Become Obsolete in 2017?
- How Vulnerable Are Trunked Radio Systems to Terrorist Hacker Attack?
- Phoenix Fire Report on Digital Trunked Radio
- Narrowband Analog Conversion – A Case Study
- The Real Difference Between Analog and Digital
- Interoperability – Stop Blaming the Radio
Some of the politicians, bureaucrats and sales people who have read my articles are enraged, as if they are one of the faithful and I just walked into their church and proclaimed that their God doesn’t exist. Most of the engineers and technicians
who have commented about my articles generally agree with my analysis.
Why did I write these articles? A large segment of the public-safety community is dissatisfied with the performance, reliability and exceedingly high cost of digital trunked radio systems. Many agencies that are considering this technology are uncertain about its suitability. My comments are intended to cause law enforcement and fire service executives to seriously consider the downside of extraordinarily complex, computer-controlled radio systems. Simple, diverse, and much less expensive communications systems are often a better choice.
Please continue to send me your stories about digital trunked radio systems and questionable business practices related to their procurement. Click here to send me e-mail: daryl@tcomeng.com
