Tuesday, September 15, 2009

What is Happening at Fort Riley?

Do I have any readers within ground range of Fort Riley with a scanner? Based on information presented in the FBO DAILY ISSUE OF AUGUST 05, 2007 FBO #2078, the folks at Riley should have made major changes to their LMR trunk radio system. See the pdf doc at: http://www.fbodaily.com/archive/2007/08-August/05-Aug-2007/FBO-01361752.htm

They will at a minimum replace their EDACS ProVoice system in the 406-420 MHz band with an APCO P25 system or possibily replace it with a new 380-400 MHz TRS. I need some help here ladies and gents. If you are within earshot, please check the following freqs for activity:

406.1625/415.1625 406.7625.415.7625 407.5625/416.5625 407.7625/416.7625 409.5625/418.5625 410.3625/419.3625 410.7625/419.7625 MHz

Also check the 380-390 MHz segment (repeater outputs/390-400 MHz repeater inputs) of the UHF aero band for a possible TRS. You will know you have one if you hear the TRS control channel.

Here is a portion of the text from the FBO Daily release.

"We have a requirement for upgrade of the installation base radio system (BRS). Fort Riley is looking for sources with capability to upgrade its M/A-COM ProVoice ?, trunking radio system to an APCO 25 compliant Trunking radio system consisting of a p rimary site and 2 new sites. The Primary site currently consists of 7 transmitters and will be expanded to a total of 14 operating in the 406 -420 M bandwidth. The Grant Ridge site will be a new 3 transmitter site utilizing an existing tower and communicat ions hut. The Range 54 site will be a new 3 transmitter site utilizing an existing communications hut but requires the erection of a 100 transmitter tower.

"SECTION 2.0 - SYSTEM UPGRADES AND CONVERSIONS RF Sites Current RF Site (BUILDING 5002 Main Trunking tower) The seven-channel ProVoice? system located at Building 5002 will require t he following upgrades or replacements. Provide and install a complete 14-channel RF site at this location. This will support cutover of current users to the APCO 25 compliant system, while continuing to support the ProVoice? system currently installed. Granite Ridge and Range 54 RF Site Additions Granite Ridge and Range 54 will each receive a three-channel RF trunking site. Although both sites provide similar services, the configurations differ.

Granite Ridge RF Site: The Granite Ridge site is co-located with the tower beacon for the adjacent airfield. A single antenna will be mounted on the 60-foot tall beacon tower to support the TX and Rx needs of the site through a duplexer. This allows the site to provide the bes t coverage from a short tower. The Granite Ridge RF site will consist of the following items: One APCO 25 compliant RF site consisting of the following: Three Repeaters, with trunking controllers and switching power supplies Alarm and monitoring system. Trunking control system RF Diagnostics system One Layer 2/3 switch OTAR, OTAP and other data support One UPS sized as needed to support the equipment for 10 minutes One ten foot ice bridge between GFE shelter and tower One RF System consisting of the following: One three-channel combiner (TX RX Systems) One eight-channel multicoupler (TX RX Systems) One Bandpass Duplexer (TX RX Systems) One 8 dB gain antenna, with associated cabling and lightning protection (TX RX Systems and others) All site equipment, including the shelter, generator and grounding system will be provided GFE. Vendor will ve able to coordinate the installation of the UPS system in the shelter by the shelter vendor or by other contract. The UPS should be included in this quotation.

Range 54 RF Site: The Range 54 site is located on a green field (undeveloped) site in the northeast area of the Fort. The Range 54 RF site will should consist of the following items: One APCO 25 compliant RF site consisting of the following: Three Repeaters, with trunking controllers and switching power supplies. One Network Sentry alarm and monitoring system. Trunking control system RF Diagnostics system One layer 2/3 networking switch OTAR, OTAP and other data support One RF System consisting of the following: One three-channel combiner (TX RX Systems) One eight-channel multicoupler (TX RX Systems) Two 8 dB gain antenna (TX RX Systems) One 100-foot Tower guyed tower, designed to carry the load of the new antenna system. One UPS sized as needed to support installed equipment for 10 minutes One ten foot ice bridge between the GFE shelter and Vendor-provided tower All site equipment, including the shelter, generator and grounding system for the shelter will be provided GFE. Tower site prep, grounding and lightning protection will be included in the tower work. Contractor may consider an option to include an FAA ap proved Lighting system for a guyed tower.

System Routing, Control and Management: The Fort Riley system control center will continue to house the primary control subsystem of the new APCO 25 compliant system, as it does for the current ProVoice? system. The new control center will be housed in the newly installed shelter that also hous es the main site. Command and control of the radio system must be possible via a remote management system on a client PC that will reside on the Ft. Riley Network. Also the capability to provide call routing to and from each of the RF sites, and five dispatch consoles should be included.

"SECTION 3.0 - IMPLEMENTATION Frequency Licensing Current Fort Riley frequencies will be reused and additional in-band frequencies added, unless Fort Riley decides to utilize the dedicated DoD band from 380-399.9 MHz. The decision to utilize this band will not affect the current 7100 series radios, which operate from 380 MHz through 430 MHz. Use of the dedicated 380-399.9 MHz DoD band may offer Fort Riley more options for expansion and frequency selection in the future. If authorized, sites in both bands can be used. Licenses and Permits Fort Riley will be responsible for all permitting and licensing. Site Development Fort Riley will be responsible for providing all site infrastructure including, but not limited to, towers, new shelters, site grounding and generators to support the new equipment. Vendor will have the capability to furnish and install the equipmen, incl uding UPSs and ice bridges at all three transmit sites and a new 100 guyed tower at Range 54. All vendor-provide d equipment will be grounded to the GFE grounding systems. Coverage Description RF coverage provided by the new radio site will be similar to that provided by the existing system. The proposed two new sites will provide additional coverage not currently supported, expanding the coverage footprint. Coverage maps will be provided upon request. Interoperability Interoperability must be provided by an interoperability gateway device using the current 4-wire connection devices. Functionality must be comparable to that currently offered, but may differ in operation."