 N3OGHYo Soy Col. "Bat" GuanoPremium join:2003-11-11 Philly burbs kudos:1 | Agreed on both points.
It's hard enough to get 4 or 5 police departments to share a dispatch sector (small, municipal departments), let alone get the fire guys, the band aid stretchers, and the cops all using radios that work together.
The only place I know they're doing this on a state level is Delaware. All of the police, fire, ambulance, probation & parole, and corrections are using the same digital trunked system, and all can talk to the other as long as the radios are programmed for it. They started out with the ASTRO radios, and right now, the Moto XTS 5000's are seeing extensive use as portables.
I remember they had a LOT of issues work the bugs out of it back in the late 90's early 2000's. One Vol. Firefighter lost his life in Claymont about a decade ago, as his radio lost signal in the basement of a working house fire and didn't get the evac notice.
Overall though, the system has just about 100% coverage now, and most of the end users have little complaints, so their is precedent for making it work on the older trunking technology... -- Petty people are disproportionally corrupted by petty power |