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The first wave of Radio Deployment began on January 27th and Wave 1 agencies, Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) and Sound Transit Operations, continue to receive their new radios. The progress is outlined below along with an overview of a couple of issues that arose in this initial wave.
Wave 1 Progress
Duration: January 27th – March 11th (end pushed out from 3/3)
Radio Countdown: 1019 Total Radios in Wave 1
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Mobiles: 318/529 (60% done and installations expected to complete next week)
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Portables: 0/459 (141 Sound Transit Operations portables will start being deployed next week and when SPU templates are ready, their portables can be deployed since the radios have been delivered)
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Control Stations: 0/31 (templates and scheduling in progress)
Issues and Resolution
The following two issues occurred during Wave 1, but were quickly resolved to continue deployment:
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Radio Programming Concern: A few days into the wave, the Project discovered what appeared to be a roaming preferences issue and it required the Project to pause deployment to investigate. Thankfully, the Project and stakeholders were able to determine that no change was needed. Additional quality assurance review of radio programming was conducted to ensure there were not any other anomalies and deployment resumed in a couple days.
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Incompatible Specialty Accessory: About half of the Sound Transit Light Rail trains had a specialty accessory handset that was not compatible with their new mobile radio. After reviewing multiple options, the agency decided to adjust their operations to use the standard microphone accessory. Working through this issue for a solution caused about a week of delay. A reminder was sent to all agencies to ensure their specialty accessories are compatible prior to deployment in hopes to mitigate this kind of delay in future waves. That information is also included later in this newsletter.
Due to the above deployment progress and the approximate week-long delay due to the two issues, the Project expects that Wave 1 will extend past the current March 11th end date, but that will not impact the Wave 2 start date.
The PSERN Project is providing agencies with standard accessories that are compatible with each radio they will receive. If an agency uses specialty accessories, it is their responsibility to ensure those accessories are compatible with the radios they will receive. The following is an overview of accessories and the steps agencies with specialty accessories need to take to receive their radios as scheduled, preventing any delays due to incompatible accessories.
Standard Accessories (provided by the Project):
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Portable (hand-held) Radio: microphone, 2 batteries, antenna, charger, holster
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Mobile (vehicle) Radio: microphone, Unity Gain antenna, speaker, interface cables between the intercom and headset system (the Project will ensure compatibility with fire agency headsets and intercom systems)
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Control Station: microphone, power supply
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Consolette: microphone (power supply within device)
Specialty Accessories: Some agencies use specialty accessories such as portable radio interface adapters between headset and radio, earpiece headsets, SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) with radio function, over-ear headsets for hands-free movement, specialty fiberglass base Unity Gain antennas, or consolette desksets.
Action Needed for Specialty Accessory Readiness
Agencies that use specialty accessories should take the following steps to prevent delays of when they will receive their radios:
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Determine Accessory Compatibility: On their Validated Final Radio Inventory, agencies should identify all radios that currently use specialty accessories and inquire with the accessory manufacturer or their local radio shop if those accessories are compatible with the PSERN radio model they will receive. For example, if an earpiece is used with a radio, they will need to determine if that earpiece is compatible with the new radio they will receive.
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Purchase Specialty Accessories (if needed): If a specialty accessory is not compatible with the radio the agency will be receiving and they require the specialty accessory for operations, the agency needs to purchase a compatible specialty accessory to be delivered prior to their Radio Deployment mobile radio installation appointment or portable radio/control station exchange date. The Project recommends that agencies use Motorola certified accessories. There may be lead time issues related to how quickly accessories can be delivered, so the Project recommends immediate action.
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Notify PSERN Project About Delivery Delays (if needed):If an agency needs to purchase specialty accessories, they should notify the Project to inform Radio Deployment scheduling if they believe there could be delivery delays.
If agencies have questions about specialty accessories, please contact Motorola Account Executive Joe Piksa at joe.piksa@motorolasolutions.com.
Due to the delays experienced in Wave 1, the Project now estimates Waves 2 – 4 Radio Deployment to begin approximately one week later than planned and Wave 4 to end in December rather than November. See updated Radio Deployment Waves. Also, Transition Dates have shifted. Wave 1 Transition Date is now estimated to occur on March 23rd (instead of March 8th). Due to challenges with radio template programming for Wave 2 agencies, the Project is currently reviewing Transition Dates for Waves 2 – 4. See updated Transition Dates. Radio template programming and lead time for radio delivery continue to potentially impact the overall schedule, but the Project will inform stakeholders of new information.
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