Anyone have any idea what is planned in Yamhill county? Well, they had planned on putting a Bond Measure on an earlier ballot, but decided that the timing was wrong... probably scared off because of the 50% voter turnout requirements, or something like that. Last I heard, they intend on asking for money to upgrade YCOM, sometime in the future. I understand their facility is crowded (back room of McMinnville City Police Station), and the equipment out-dated (hard to find parts). There are some "dead spots" in the County with the current system, but I haven't heard that the new system will, necessarily, correct those problems. That would, probably, require more repeaters, and I don't think that was in the Original Plan. Lonewolf has the inside info (and an opinion... which, surprisingly, jibes with my opinion, i.e., "going higher freq makes no sense"). Consider this a request for input from the wolf. My opinion goes beyond the above (what a surprise). If YCOM moves to a higher frequency range (for no logical reason), why don't they go "all the way" to 800Mhz, so they can more readily communicate with nearby agencies (WashCo, Newberg, etc.)? Mind you, I don't think 800Mhz has any advantage in a rural environment... I just don't think a move up to 450Mhz makes any sense, whatsoever. Newberg Dispatch managers would probably agree that YCOM should go to 800Mhz. Polk County, to our South, uses 150Mhz. It looks like Marion County uses a wide variety of freqs. Does the State of Oregon have an Emergency Communications Policy or Plan? Shouldn't this plan attempt to standardize frequencies used by lower governmental bodies? Silly me, I thought it might make sense for the different police & fire agencies to be able to talk to each other.
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Subject: Re: New Listings in "Police Call" Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2000 23:03:58 -0800 X-Message-Number: 9 XX wrote: Has anyone noticed in the 2000 edition of "Police Call" the new listings for Yamhill County"? I checked the FCC web site as well for further info. Looks like they've licensed several frequencies in the 453 and 460 mHz range with transmitter locations at the same locations they now have for their low band repeaters on police and fire. Some kind of UHF trunking system? I didn't check but I'd guess that some of the frequencies may be former Washington and Multnomah county and Portland frequencies before their moves to 800. In addition, I noticed one system that includes 460.625 which is used by Skamania County fire/ems. Anyone have any idea what is planned in Yamhill county?
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Currently the new freq's 460.05, 460.10, 460.275, 460.325, 465.05, 465.10, 465.275, 465.325, 460.625 & 465.625 are unused & inactive. YCOM (Yamhill County Communications Agency) who supports Law & EMS for the county except for Newberg & Dundee, jumped the gun on the new system. The Director of YCOM & McMinnville police chief wants to install a 6.2 million dollar digital system with encryption capabilities. The other option is a 5.6 million analog system w/o encryption capabilities. Either way the new system has been under review for several years now. Reason for upgrade is due to some dead spots in the woods & 10 days out of the year the system is hit with skip from the east coast.
The bad part about this situation is that this director has his mind made up and is unwilling to listen to realistic ways to upgrade the current system for around one million or go shared with Newberg's trunked system at a somewhat lower costs. Upgrades & replacement of repeaters would keep the current system running for another 20 years. As most of the radios/portables have been replaced over the past two years. The second big hurtle is that the county is split on the tax proposal if submitted (missed previous deadlines.) Newberg & Dundee want not part of it as they just upgraded to 6 million 800 trunked system a few years back. With Newberg/Dundee accounting for almost 1/2 of the tax base, YCOM will have to be looking for other alternatives. There has been talk about cuts in the city & county to get funding as well. Newberg would approve if YCOM goes 800 Trunked and develop a stronger relationship with adjoining Washington Co.
On a personal note & user of these frequencies, YCOM needs to go with an upgrade to the current system or go 800 Trunked. I'm not a real believer to the 800 system, but it will do better than the digital encrypted 450 system. This encryption deal worries me as the other agencies whom don't choose to have crypto radios will be in jeopardy in attaining valuable information. Happy New Years!