Butler County’s current UHF analog radio system is noisy, suffers from interference, and does not provide coverage throughout the entire county on all channels.
Here is an example of the difference (click on the link)
Butler County Communications Project Facts
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The FCC’s narrowband mandate, which takes affect on January 1st 2013, forces the county to upgrade its’ radio system. This mandate is similar to the digital TV transition that recently occurred. In the same way that the public had an option to purchase a digital converter for older television sets it is possible to upgrade our existing system to comply with this mandate. This approach would be expensive and cost prohibitive to the same extent that purchasing a digital converter for a 25 year old TV was for the general public. The result would simply buy us time but ultimately be wasted money a few years into the future.
Butler County’s decision to migrate to digital technology is driven by several factors which include:
Rapid growth of wireless technologies requiring an increased demand for radio frequency spectrum.
The increasing need for improved voice security in public safety communications.
The need to transfer a wider variety of data.
Will provide much needed interoperability with all public safety agencies that support the County on a daily basis and in times of emergencies and disasters.
The availability of increased computing power in mobile and portable equipment.
The need to be interoperable with agencies from across the state and nation.
The ability to triple the number of voice paths with the number of radio frequencies.
A much cleaner and higher quality transmission of voice messages.
Being in a position to take advantage of new technologies. Manufacturers are focusing their research and development on the newer digital systems while allowing the legacy systems to become antiquated.