Update on Communications in Butler County Butler Regional

Update on Communications in Butler County Butler Regional Interoperable Communications System Presented to Township Trustees Association January 13, 2011

Update Topics from BRICS 1. The Trunked Radio System 1. Project Status 2. The Conventional Radio System 1. FCC Narrowbanding Mandate 2. Weather Sirens 3. The Butler County 9 -1 -1 System 1. Next Generation 9 -1 -1 Project 4. The Regional Mobile Data System 1. System End-of-Life

The Trunked Radio System At a glance. . . 1. 14 towers 2. 13 active channels and 2 channels pending 3. over 99. 65% in-building, portable radio coverage 4. now supporting every public safety agency based in Butler County users: 1. 1084 Fire / EMS radios 2. 1073 Law Enf. radios 3. 227 Public Works radios In 2010: 1. 7. 6+ million push-to-talks 2. 10 busy signals 3. 11, 364 hours of airtime In December 2010 1. 60 Support Requests

Status of the Project 1. The last group of Butler County's public safety agencies joined the system in May 2010. 2. Around 1, 200 public safety radios from neighboring counties have been added to our system for mutual aid purposes. 3. Public works agencies serving Butler County have started using the system, including: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Butler County Engineer's Office Butler County Water and Sewer Fairfield Township Hamilton Middletown Oxford Township Wayne Township West Chester Township

The Conventional System 1. Conventional radio systems in VHF and UHF are used in Butler County to: 1. alert fire stations and fire pagers 2. activate weather sirens 3. provide communication for some governments and public works agencies not using 800 MHz 4. provide interoperability with public safety in neighboring counties who are not using 800 MHz

What is narrowbanding? 1. Narrowbanding is an FCCmandated change that will reduce channel spacing by 50% and will, in effect, make your frequency more narrow. 2. It applies to all VHF High Band (150 -174 MHz) and UHF (420 to 512 MHz) systems. 3. All systems must be operating in this mode by January 1 st, 2013

Narrowbanding Misconceptions 1. Narrowbanding does not affect 800 MHz or the BRICS 800 MHz voice system. 2. Narrowbanding is not the same thing as 800 MHz rebanding. 3. Narrowbanding is not the same thing as 700 MHz rebanding. 4. Narrowbanding does not affect 700 MHz or low band VHF.

What do I need to do? If you operate any radio system or radios in the VHF High Band or UHF system, they must be reprogrammed or replaced before 2013 to operate in narrowband mode. FCC licenses will need to be modified. 1. Inventory your radios and pagers 1. If they are narrowband- capable, they must be reprogrammed before 2013 2. If they are not narrowband capable, they must be upgraded or replaced with new equipment before 2013

Weather Sirens 1. Butler County EMA has been working on standardizing the weather siren activation policies in Butler County. 2. There is a wide variety of weather sirens and activation methods between Butler County communities. 3. While the sirens themselves vary in age from 3 to 30 years old, the systems that activate them are also very different. Newer, computerized systems allow two-way communication with sirens so the center will know if they are sounding.

Who activates sirens? 1. 1 COM Oxford 1. City of Oxford 2. Oxford Township 2. 2 COM Hamilton 1. Collinsville 2. Darrtown 3. Fairfield Twp 4. Hamilton 5. Millville 6. New Miami 7. Seven Mile 8. Somerville 1. Dispatch Center 1. Community 1. 3 COM Fairfield 1. Fairfield 2. 5 COM Trenton 1. Trenton 3. 6 COM Monroe 1. Monroe 4. 7 COM West Chester 1. Liberty Twp 2. West Chester Twp 5. 8 COM Middletown 1. Middletown 6. Hamilton County Comm 1. Ross Twp

How are they activated? 1. The eight dispatch centers activating sirens for communities in Butler County are doing so using eight different radio systems. All are VHF or UHF and will be affected by narrowbanding. 2. Of the eight centers, none have another center set up to activate their sirens if the responsible center has evacuated or is otherwise unable.

The Butler County 9 -1 -1 System 1. serves the area of Butler County and the parts of Middletown and Monroe that extend into Warren County 2. answers calls at 6 primary PSAPs: 1. Fairfield, Hamilton, Middletown, Oxford, Sheriff and West Chester 3. transfers calls to 3 secondary PSAPs 1. Miami University, Monroe and Trenton 4. is passed calls from Cincinnati Bell and Frontier 5. was certified as Wireless Phase II capable in 2010 1. providing mapped location of wireless 9 -1 -1 callers

Next Generation 9 -1 -1 What is NG 9 -1 -1? 1. A revamped "back end" to the 9 -1 -1 system, going from copper to IP. 2. Future-proofed to accept emergency requests from any device that can deliver to IP, instead of rigging the old 9 -1 -1 system to accommodate each new technology. What it could support. . . 1. Text mesages, images and video to 9 -1 -1 centers 2. Telematics from On. Star, medical alert devices, alarm systems 3. Centralized equipment serving multiple PSAPs across an IP network

NG 9 -1 -1 Progress 1. All PSAPs were invited to view four prominent NG 911 vendors and learn about their products and services 2. The technical staff from these PSAPs were asked to form a technical group that would evaluate the solutions for their feasibility in Butler County. Their objective: 1. Assuming the 911 Planning Committee decides to pursue a NG 911 solution, what is the best available NG 911 solution for all Butler County PSAPs?

Regional Mobile Data System 1. A countywide 800 MHz data system, dating from the middle 1990 s, at one time supported as many as 500 users. 2. It is a private, secure network for passing sensitive law enforcement information between vehicles and dispatch centers. 3. The system is near it's end of life. Unfortunately, no cost effective replacement is available. 4. A majority of its users have transitioned to public cellular for the bandwidth today's applications demand.

Questions, or for more information. . . Visit butlersheriff. org/radio for more information. Contact us: BCSO Communications Division radiohelp@butlersheriff. org (513) 785 -1299