Mark Hoppe Andrew 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

Current System Issues Reliability and Repairability Basic System Design dates back to the 1960’s Components  Fire late 1950’s  EMS ’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