Thursday, August 21, 2014

Not like a carton of cottage cheese

Why do we need to update the radio system? What will happen if we don't? These are valid questions. It's a pretty big expense, after all--probably more than an elementary school, but less than a middle school. Experience with prior radio systems, beginning in 1933 (see page 9) suggests that the life span is around 25 years, and the core of the current system dates to the late 1980's.

It is not like a carton of cottage cheese, however--it doesn't have an expiration date, and you probably won't open the lid tomorrow and be tipped off by a bad odor. The current system (EDACS) is no longer sold or manufactured, and support is ending soon. It might keep working just fine for quite some time, but with every passing week, we are increasingly susceptible to failures, and it will become more and more difficult to recover from those quickly.

Think of it as a 1989 Honda Accord. It's 25 years old, it has 272,313 miles on the odometer. It has had regular maintenance such as oil changes, tune ups, and filters. It has been in the shop twice for body work following fender-benders. It had a leaky head gasket replaced on warranty in 1992, a valve job sometime during the Clinton administration. It's had a new exhaust system, alternator, struts and shocks, ball joints, two timing belts, and few batteries as and several sets of tires over the past couple of decades. Thanks to regular wax jobs, a garage, and some seat covers from JC Whitney, it doesn't look bad at all. I't has been a reliable and economical car, and it still gets you to work every day.

The old Honda is a perfectly good grocery getter, but would you really want to take it on a drive to California in order to deliver a kidney in the cooler? Might get there just fine, but a cylinder head, camshaft, piston, or transmission failure lurks at every turn, and you won't be able to stop at the local Jiffy Lube to get that replaced.

From the time we get the green light to move a radio project forward, we could be a couple years from flipping the switch. It will take a few months to develop the specifications and draft the request for proposals, a few months to solicit and evaluate responses from vendors, a couple of months to develop and get approval for a contract, several months to design and engineer the system, a few months to install the infrastructure, a couple months to train personnel and execute the transition. If we got cracking now, we might have this all accomplished by 2017...or so.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I'd deliver the cooled kidney over a distance of 1,500 miles with a twin-engine aircraft, not a land vehicle of any sort (other than shuttles to/from the airport), but, hey, what do I know...

Oh, unrelated, but timely: Are robberies of delivery drivers classified as business robberies, even though they take place on the street, rather than in a building? It seems they should be, but I didn't know for certain.

Anonymous said...

NO. Enough tax. Tax and spend. Tax and spend. ENOUGH!

Tom Casady said...

Noon,

Oh, I think you realize I'm using the kidney as a literary device to make the distinction between convenience and necessity in relation to stuff being reliable.

Robberies of pizza deliverers would be ROBBERY MISC.

Anonymous said...

For a computer geek you sound like you know your way around a car!

Tom Casady said...

3:07,

Best compliment I've had all month! Truthfully, though, my automotive knowledge and computer knowledge are the about the same: mediocre. I can talk a good game, though. In reality, I would have no idea what a tie rod or a pitman arm was if you clonked me over the head with it.

ARRRRG!!!! said...

Is that Honda for sale? My car got banged up a little the other night while I was delivering pizzas.

Anonymous said...

The state of Minnesota has a very impressive statewide 800 MHz trunked radio network that allows for simple interagency communication for law enforcement, fire, and medical services, as well other government agencies. It is very simple and reliable. Something similar would be useful in Lincoln. This link is a recent report about the radio system and future upgrades they hope to make.

https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/ecn/programs/armer/Documents/minnesota-armer-and-ng911-funding-study.pdf

Max

Anonymous said...

Hands UP! DON'T SHOOT! I do hope lincoln Officers took note on the conqisences of shooting unarmed people.

Tom Casady said...

2:07,

You should read about my brush with death at the hands of an unarmed man.

Anonymous said...

Hey 2:07. How about hands open, nose in book and learn how to spell.

Steve said...

Anon 2:07

What are the conqisenses (sic)? Fewer people on the street who can't spell?

I really don't mean to be sarcastic or condescending, but I find it increasingly difficult these days to respond with a civil tone to such drivel.

Anonymous said...

@Steve: I think what 2:07 is saying is the conqisenses (sic) of walking around with your hands are up is that it makes it difficult to use spell check.

Anonymous said...

Wow Chief, tell these guys what it was like in the 4 channel 412 days. 800 was a great solution back in 1987. Today, nearly 25 years later, Lincoln has grown geographically to an extent no one could have predicted. Other than LCS we have no adjacent jurisdictions. There are no "bedroom" communities. We are on our own. I would bet that few if any cities share our situation. Chief, work those numbers, as we all know you can, slap those numbers in the appropriate lap.