Consultant: Piecemeal Radio System Needs Help

The trunked radio system used by the Oakland (Calif.) police and fire departments is actually a collection of subsystems linked together over the past 19 years, according to a consultant, which will make it more difficult to fix reception and reliability problems reported by the two departments. RCC Consultants Inc. submitted its report to the city last May, but it was just now presented to the city council and released to the public. The city has one of the longest-running projects in the U.S. to improve radio communications, starting with a GE trunked system in 1993. The city now uses a Harris Corp., three-site, 10-channel, P25 trunked system covering 54 square miles. Along the way there have been various upgrades to the system, many accompanied by incompatibilities between old and new components and software. “At no time since 1993 has the entire system actually been re-engineered or replaced at the same time as part of a single system,” RCC noted. As a result, both the police and fire departments report many problems, including poor coverage, cross-channel interference, radios transmitting on the wrong channel, and poor transmission when a siren is audible in the background. RCC presented several options to the city, including a complete radio system replacement, and joining an in-progress regional radio network. Download (pdf) the full RCC report here.

Among the complaints that RCC collected from police officers about the radio system are these:

• Poor coverage in foothills;
• Poor coverage inside buildings (hospitals, PAB basement, buildings in various parts of the City, etc.);
• Users perceive that the system works better outside the city than inside;
• CC SCAN appears randomly. One officer noted LESS occurrence of CC SCAN while testing the single-site GWIN system than he normally sees when operating on the simulcast system. Officers report mobiles frequently in CC SCAN when portables are not;
• Radios take a long time to register (stay in CC SCAN a long time after powering up);
• Radio picking up traffic on other channels;
• Radio transmitting on wrong channel;
• Radio switching on its own to another channel;
• Variable incoming audio levels, especially between different radio types (mobile, console, portable);
• Fellow officers can hear transmissions, but dispatch does not respond;
• Radio lack of backlight (or at least backlight option) on portable radios. Patrol officers want backlight ON by default, with ability to turn it off when needed;
• When siren is on, officers are unable to transmit;
• Speaker mics pop off radios (Cracked retention slots, screws not tight enough);
• “Speaker mics work GREAT accidentally, but not when the officer needs to use it”. (One officer noted that if he accidentally sits on the microphone, the whole world will hear every word he says. But if he’s in a struggle or a pursuit, then no one can understand what he’s saying);
• Speaker mic PTT button is fussy – has to be pressed in just the right spot in order to key up the radio;
• Users report that the longer you key the mic, the weaker the transmission becomes (potential battery problem);
• Users would like a louder, more distinct talk permit tone;
• One officer noted that radio buttons are pressed by radio holster if user transmits while running. (Interferes with voice audio);
• Several users reported getting shocked when hanging up the mobile mic in the microphone clip;
• Mobiles “freeze up” when changing channels – have to power off, then on, in order to reboot the radio.