Board Goes With VIPER

As of Friday, May 6, 2011

Moore County will adopt VIPER as its narrowband emergency communications system, a change mandated by the Federal Communications Commission.

At a Thursday work session the board of commissioners voted unanimously to direct the staff to move forward on the narrow banding issue and to use the VIPER system. The motion by Commissioner Larry Caddell also authorizes the staff to seek bids.

“Based on the evidence before us, VIPER is a no-brainer,” Caddell said.

Although they discussed funding options for the system changeover, the commissioners did not make a decision about the source of funding during the meeting. The system is estimated to cost $4.9 million, but Public Safety Director Brian Phillips said the overall cost might be lower.

VIPER is the system used by the State Highway Patrol, which will hold the license and will administer the program once it is in place. By joining VIPER, Moore County will be able to communicate with neighboring counties, some of which have already switched to VIPER.

The FCC mandate goes into effect Jan. 1, 2013, and public safety officials advised the board that time is of utmost importance.

County Manager Cary McSwain called it a major multi-year capital project and said a portion of the cost is built into the proposed budget for the new fiscal year.

Most of the time was devoted to discussion of miscellaneous aspects of the budget unveiled to the board at the regular meeting Tuesday.

Under board policy, the commissioners do not usually take action at work sessions, but they made two exceptions this time. In addition to the VIPER decision, they also agreed by consensus to consider reinstating $12,483 to the Department of Aging budget to cover a sharp cut in federal funding to RSVP, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.

The proposed funding of the public schools was discussed, but there was no talk of increasing the amount included in the manager’s budget.

The commissioners also discussed employee compensation and fire district budgets.

More details will appear in the print version of The Pilot.

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olebaldy 2 years ago

4.9 Million but the overall cost "might" be lower, does that mean it might be higher too? Ok, who hasn't done their homework on the actual cost before this system was approved.

rightwingpatriot 2 years ago

olebaldy its not really a choice the county wanted to make in the first place. The FCC mandated it. Our paging system in place now works fine. the cost come from the amount of work need just to get VIPR up and running. multiple towers, Repeaters on emergency apparatus. so It could be lower depending on how many towers needed, who needs the repeaters, how many VIPR radios will need to be purchased, how many pagers need to be purchased plus the cost of licence for the band.

mcguy1 2 years ago

VIPER will be a waste of money and time, the radios are three times as big as a standard radio that the police, fire, and ems crews use now. The cost of a viper radio is way way more, it would be cheaper for each agency to buy a UHF or VHF just depending on which frequencies the surrounding counties have and just keep them avaliable at there stations. VIPER will not pick up in a low spot in the county which leaves alot of dead area and it also has trouble penetrating buildings. There is nothing wrong with what the county has now so there is no need in changing it. You can not page off of VIPER so the county will still have to keep the regular channels they have now and each department through out the county will have to carry a pager and a VIPER radio.

lawman1973 2 years ago

When Scoot Brooks and the Highway Patrol Trooper appeared at an earlier Commissioner's meeting it was brought out that Viper was not a full proof radio system and there was still problems that needed to be worked out and for the County to also keep their present radio system and not discard it. The cost of Mobiles have been estimated at between $4,500.00 and $6,000.00 each and portables were not cheap either. Moore County Trooper's have complained that there are a lot of dead spots in Moore County and that if they go into a building, that they were unable to hear Monroe Highway Patrol Communications. It was also brought out that Mr. Brooks had said for the small department that could not afford to
purchase Mobiles and Portables that the County would purchase extra ones and lease them to the small departments.here has the County gotten all this extra money from? It seems that Brooks and a retired State Employee are wanting the County to HURRAY and approve this system before a study can be made and there should have been a Public Hearing before that much money is spent.

rightwingpatriot 2 years ago

again its not the county who wanted to change it was mandated

CSmithson 2 years ago

There is nothing "wrong" with what the County is using now, but the FCC requires the switchover to narrow band radios by 2013. What will the consequences be if they don't? Nobody knows for sure.

Whichever of the options the County and municipalities take, the costs will be in the millions of dollars thanks to this unfunded federal mandate.

I think one of the main reasons the County chose VIPER is because of the "free" towers provided by the Highway Patrol. In theory, this keeps the County from having to construct and maintain towers and transmitters.

The flip side is that the VIPER system was designed for the Highway Patrol, which operates mainly from highways. It was not necessarily designed to also work well in comminicating with handheld units used inside structures. The concern then becomes how well it will work for our public safety providers when they are not in their vehicles. Unfortunately, we will not know how well they work until the system is "live" and all towers are constructed.

IF there are serious gaps in coverage, especially inside buildings, public safety vehicles will then require an additional $10,000 repeater to be installed in each unit. That's potentially millions MORE and would certainly make the numbers look different when it comes to the "savings" of using VIPER.

We'll see how it all works out.

wbearp 2 years ago

Another unfunded Federal mandate...

truthmatterstome2 2 years ago

The fed is not requiring this change. The commissioners (apparently especially Caddell) should have listened to those who use both systems, rather than a person who is building his "empire" and another who does not have adequate cred to give a qualified opinion. Moore County is being sold a bill of goods, that will neither adequately service law enforcement or fire/rescue or add to the safety of its citizens.

Will there be any computer work needed with this installation? Just wondering, Larry.

rightwingpatriot 2 years ago

look both systems in narrow band are extremely expensive. the up about this like smithson said is the SHP allready has towers up. and yes the FCC is mandating all across the country switch to a narrow band. the VIPER will be more cost efective due to the multiple towers in the area. even if you were to go UHF 800mhz is pretty much a cell phone signal. ever tried to get out in a basement? so either way it sucks. this is nothing to point fingers at the county. do you really think we want to change everything we've worked on for the past year with radio system? no!