N.C. city uses Tait solution for P25 migration
Concord, N.C., has implemented a Tait Communications open-standards solution to support its public-safety agencies migrating from conventional analog systems to P25 digital technology, according to an official with the city.
Previously, Concord had a Motorola system but turned to Tait’s TB9100 dual-mode base stations to enable the migration to P25, said Chris Linker, Concord’s radio communications manager.
“As I started looking at what’s available on the market, I found out that Motorola was doing away with the only station they had that would work in mixed mode, where we could run analog or digital without going out and reprogramming it,” Linker said, noting that the Tait solution “seemed to be about the only one that could do what we were looking for, and they were within the budget we had set for this project.”
This Tait solution is used to support P25 digital 800 MHz channels, as well as UHF and VHF systems, Linker said. The approach also satisfies the FCC narrowbanding mandate for the UHF and VHF networks, which was a priority for the city, he said.
In addition, the installation of the equipment was straightforward, Linker said.
“I’ve never worked with Tait before, but I … took it out of the box, plugged it in, loaded the software up and didn’t have any problems at all,” he said.
