Digital Trunked Radios in Public Safety Promoted in a Post-9/11 World, But Are They Worth Risk of Catastrophic Failure and the Cost to Taxpayers?

Digital radios are working better than expected in Rochester, New York (Monroe County), but firefighters worry about rare catastrophic failure […]

The county's commitment of $30M to a new radio system is on track but still facing some obstacles:

No guarantee that a firefighter has backup options if radio signals are blocked.

Fire districts question how to dispatch calls to volunteers, monitor and record calls to volunteers.

Fire districts are facing hefty bills for new equipment.

Proponents always exclaim the following improvements are necessary in a post-9/11 world, but it's ironic because New York City -- where the worst terror attacks occurred -- have not switched to digital trunked radios. Thirteen years after 9/11, NYPD police operate on a UHF repeater system and FDNY fire dispatch works on a UHF base-to-mobile system.

"At the end of the day, the new system will ensure that emergency responders across the region can talk to one another on a single seamless system, avoiding potentially fatal communication errors like those seen during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, county leaders said."

RadioReference.com: New York City, New York (radio frequencies database) […]