2000-11-08 Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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SECTION I INTRODUCTION 1.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND Public safety land mobile radio systems in use in Anoka County were studied during the spring and summer of 1997. The output of that activity was a report entitled, "Anoka County Governments Land Mobile Radio Systems." Conclusions and recommendations in that report include: " • Continued use of existing systems as is for more than a few years cannot be recommended due to the operational concerns described in Section 3.4 and 3,5 of this report. In particular, the evaluation parameters in the summary table are listed from top to bottom in the general order of importance. It should be noted that the most important four operational parameters that need to be satisfied by a radio system all have significant concerns with the existing radio systems as they are. It must also be observed that those concerns will become even more of a concern each year into the future. • Enhancing existing systems can overcome, at least partially, three of the four major operational parameters that were evaluated in the systems. There is little that can be done with interference in the frequency bands that are most used by governments in Anoka County. Even though relief from three or four concerns can be provided though enhancements, those enhancements will only provide relief from concerns for a temporary period of time. Eventually the congestion problems will reoccur even with the enhancements. This would mean that there is the high probability that in the early years of the first decade of the twenty- fast century, that Anoka County governments will find that there is 110 longer an opportunity to continue use of the frequency bands that are currently used. At that time, it is highly probably, without some radical change in the regulatory proceedings that are not apparent at this time, that Anoka County governments will find it prudent to migrate to an 800 MHz trunked radio system. This means that if Anoka County governments make the investment in the enhancements of the existing systems, that investment will need to be abandoned before the end of the useful life of those enhancements is reached, and the full cost of migrating to an 800 MHz radio system will happen even though it happens a little bit later. No part of the capital investment in enhancements will reduce the cost of any 800 MHz trunked radio system alternative. • Continued use of the radio frequency bands currently used by governments in Anoka County will eventually require that those governments purchase digital modulation radios because of regulatory changes by the Federal Communications Commission. The best estimate as to when that might occur is approximately the year 2003 or 2004. Those digital modulation radios in the currently used radio bands will be close to the same price as digital modulation radios for use in the regional 800 MHz trunked radio system. • Proceeding to an 800 MHz trunked radio system is most likely to be inevitable for government radio users in Anoka County. The timing could be as early as the year 2000 or as late as 2003 or 2004, particularly if at least some system enhancements are implemented and Anoka County governments can tolerate the negative effects of increasing levels of interference. At the time that the inevitable happens, and Anoka County governments find it prudent to migrate to an 800 MHz trunked radio system, the system option must be determined. A stand -alone system will be more expensive for infrastructure mainly because Anoka County can use the infrastructure of the regional system if becoming a subscriber on Ronald Vegemast Engineering, Inc. - Report: Anoka County