Mark HoppeAndrew Maxymillian

Saratoga County System Design Review

Overall Objectives

#1 - Provide Reliable Effective Public Safety Communications for Saratoga County

Develop a System that would provide the foundation for Public Safety Communications for the next 20 plus years

Provide Reliable Coverage throughout Saratoga County

Enhanced Operations via Voice and Data

Enhance Interoperability with neighboring cities and counties, and state agencies

#2 – Achieve the Public Safety Communications Goals with the least impact on the community

Environmental impact of sites

Share resources as with other groups to reduce overall costs

Current System

Departments Overview

Operations BandDepartments Radios Voice Data Paging VHF Low VHF HighFire 949 N Rpt No VoiceEMS 641 N Rpt No VoiceSherrif/Police 331 Rptr Yes NoPublic Works 578 Rptr No NoTotal 2,499

Current System

Issues Reliability and Repairability

Basic System Design dates back to the 1960’s Components

Fire late 1950’s EMS - 1970’s Sherriff/Police system – 1960’s

Systems have many older components and components no longer available Issue will remain with unpredictable outcome and consequences

Operations Voice

Coverage Issues Data

No data in most operations, limited coverage and use Paging

Voice only No data Reliability of receiving

Current System

Issues Interference

VHF Low-Band Interference due to propagation characteristics of the band – generally

ducting from distant areas Unpredictable Unavoidable – Most parties are operating within FCC guidelines Low-band equipment lifecycle is near end

Coverage VHF Low-Band and High-Band

Southern part of the county - Clifton Park, Halfmoon, Waterford Eastern areas along Hudson APA Areas - South shore and Military Road Corridor Between Saratoga Springs and South Glens falls

Current System

Issues FCC Issues

Narrow banding

Narrowing channels from 25 kHz to 12.5 kHz for spectrum efficiency - double the number of channels, but narrowing the FCC allowable channel, currently Saratoga County is non-complaint with future requirements.

Manufacture and importation of any equipment on 25 KHz channel will be not be permitted after December 31, 2010

Systems operating on 25 KHz channels will not be allowed after December 31, 2012, all system after this date must operate on 12.5 KHz channels

Current System

Issues Inhibiting Enhancements

Voice Features

Enhanced console abilities

Direct Interoperability between agencies

Data

Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) functions for dispatching does not have the RF pipe and end-user radios to use functions

Paging

CAD functions for paging has the RF pipe, but not the end-user equipment – pagers - to use enhanced features

Overall

Many advanced functions that are becoming commonplace for public safety operations are not available until one has the RF delivery mechanism and end-user equipment

Evaluation Process

Requirements Review Review and validate existing County licenses Review frequencies to determine availability (VHF, 700, 800) Review traffic and loading to determine channel requirements Review Functional Requirements with County (multiple radios, connectivity, coverage, etc.)

Site Analysis Develop understanding of APA requirements, tendencies Review NYS - SWN design to determine if shared site placement achieved Review existing sites and potential sites Develop Candidate Site List APA View Shed by Chazen

Propagation Analysis Preliminary Propagation Review Review NYS - SWN design to determine if shared site placement achieved Send out propagation request to Motorola and MA/Com to confirm coverage Propagation drive test to confirm coverage Finalize Candidate Site List

Report Development Draft Final Report that contains findings and recommendations Present and Discuss Final Report to Saratoga County

Review Requirements

Frequency Resources VHF

Find at a minimum 3 pairs for VHF simulcast or 9 pairs for preferred VHF multisite solution

Review frequency reuse, splinter frequencies or use of other non-County controlled VHF assets

700 MHz (16) 700 MHz 25 KHz Frequencies Available for Use in Saratoga County

Involvement in process will ensure maximum amount of frequency allocation

800 MHz (22) 800 MHz NPSPAC County Frequencies Licensed currently to existing sites Frequencies are available for licensing including Spruce Mountain Rebanding

Frequencies will have to be rebanded in the future

Rebanding will not have significant impact on the use of the frequencies

Requirements Review

Traffic and Loading Channel Requirements

Based on traffic characteristics, radio users, channel loading requirements, and earlier traffic analysis

Channel requirements (3) Voice/Data channels in the APA region per Site (8) to (12) Voice/Data channels in the non-APA region per Site

Number of Radios APA Region -

(2) Two Radios - VHF High-band and 700/800 MHz Hadley is dispatched from Warren County on VHF High-band Edinburg/Day have significant weekly operations with Fulton on

VHF High-band NYS DEC operates on VHF High-band for lost person and fire

operations non-APA Region

(1) Radio - 700/800 MHz Currently, there is cross band operations occurring, most or all

could be eliminated via cross-banding thru console and migration of users to one common system

Review Requirements

Functional Requirements Coverage

Most important element in communications systems is coverage Use defacto standard and commonly applied measure of 95% coverage,

95% of the time Non - APA

700/800 Mobile Coverage - 95%/95% of the Non-APA Area

APA Area 700/800 Mobile Coverage - 95%/95% of the most populated areas of the APA VHF Mobile Coverage - 95%/95% of the land area of the APA

Connectivity Simulcast technology mandated the use of microwave If Simulcast not a requirement, Microwave preferred because of

reliability

Site Analysis

Develop understanding of APA requirements, tendencies Met with APA at Ray Brook and in the field

Defined conditions Refined and gave feedback on findings Reviewed View Shed and loading criteria

Refined "Substantially Invisible" Minimal access, road and power requirements Minimize ridge line sites that are back light Reduce height to minimum required Minimize size of antennas - especially MW Blend/camouflage if improves substantially invisible

Other Criteria Land ownership

Review focused on county or city owned property Focused on willing land owner

Developed or minimum access requirements

Review existing sites and potential sites Reviewed SSI work and site identified Existing tower sites Other tower sites and identified sites

Findings

Sites APA New Builds

Fraker (Original Design - New Build) Lakeview (Original Design - New Build) Conklingville Dam (Replaces Mt. Anthony - Willing Landowner) Lake Luzerne (Replaces Mt. Anthony - Town Property)

APA Existing Sites Spruce Mountain (Existing Site - Potential Upgrades) Corinth High School (Existing Site - Antenna on building for MW)

Non-APA Sites McGregor (Original Design - New Build) Providence (Original Design - Existing Site - Upgrades) Halfmoon (Original Design- Existing) or Bald Mountain (Alternative - Existing) Saratoga Springs Area (Existing) Stillwater (Existing ) or Willard (Alternative - Existing)

Findings

Coverage New Design - Key Elements

Meets coverage Replace Mt. Anthony with two low lying sites Conklingville Dam and Lake Luzerne

Brings Spruce Mt. into design for coverage and redundancy

Allows a vendor neutral solution for any vendor - Motorola or MA/Com

Provides Microwave connectivity to sites

Places sites to provide better coverage in critical portable patrol areas

Next Steps

Coverage and Connectivity Field Tests VHF and 800 MHz Coverage Tests to finalize Height of Antennas above trees 960 Links Tests to Verify Path Loss

Frequency Issues Refine 700 MHz availability Complete research on additional VHF frequencies

Site Agreements Finalize Site Agreements with land owners at Lake Luzerne, Conklingville Dam and

Corinth High School

Site Approvals Complete site documentation for new APA sites for various government

applications FCC

Complete NEPA and other required Federal approval for new towers Local Approval