Oklahoma City Radio System 

Overview

Operating in both Digital and Analog modes, the Oklahoma City Radio System is comprised of two rings of Harris Corporation’s EDACS Provoice simulcast.  The inner ring, known as the Core System, covers the majority of Oklahoma City with seven sites and was designed for in-building penetration.  The outer ring, or Wide System, covers the majority of the city limits with six sites located farther out than the Core System and is designed for handheld use outdoors.  These two systems are tied together by a Harris Integrated Multi-Site Controller (IMC) and operate as one system, providing 95 percent handheld coverage to more than 1,100 square miles.  Units on the Core System can communicate with units on the Wide System.  The IMC also functions as a gateway to many channels and talkgroups on radio systems operated by surrounding mutual aid partner agencies.  Also linked to the Oklahoma City Radio System are national mutual aid VHF, UHF and 800 MHz conventional channels.  These 8TAC, VTAC, and UTAC channels can be quickly patched to form the “Cross-Band Stack” providing tactical communications for a mix of responders, regardless of the frequency band in which their radios operate.  The four primary Oklahoma City Police Department (OCPD) talkgroups are linked to talkgroups on the Oklahoma Wireless Information Network (OKWIN).  This allows public safety agencies on the OKWIN system to directly monitor and communicate with OCPD units.  Users on the Oklahoma City Radio System include all city of Oklahoma City Departments and Trusts, as well as the cities of Yukon, Bethany, Warr Acres, and Mustang.

Expansion

Current expansion plans include migration to P25 trunking.  Funding was approved for the first phase of this, which included:

• Adding redundant P25 switching systems to control future sites and IP based consoles
• Linking the new P25 switches to the current Oklahoma City EDACS system so that radios on both the old and new systems can operate on the same talkgroup during the transition
• Providing an IP based gateway to radios on other systems in the Central Oklahoma area (This replaces the current Causeway System in use, and sixty ports were set up for this purpose.)
• Implementing an ISSI link to provide seamless IP connection to systems such as OKWIN

As of October 7, 2011, all of the above equipment had been installed and acceptance testing was completed.  A temporary P25 site was brought in and used for acceptance testing.  No ISSI link has been configured, awaiting completion of projects by other agencies, and determination of what media/path will be used between the systems.  

Contact Information

Kerry Wagnon
Kerry.wagnon@okc.gov

Help Desk

405-297-2727

Last Update October 2011