Overview
Alameda and Contra counties are located east of San Francisco and encompass a land area of over 1,500 square miles with a combined population of over 2.5 million people. At build out, the East Bay Regional Communications System will be a 36-site, 2-county P-25 compliant communications system designed to provide fully interoperable communications to all public agencies within Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The system is designed and sized to offer participation to adjoining counties, as well as State and Federal agencies. Both counties are part of the Bay Area Super Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) and have been working closely with our partners, the West Bay Regional Communications System (WBRCS) and the Silicon Valley Regional Communications System (SVRCS) to ensure that all of our infrastructures are closely coordinated to provide region wide interoperability.
The first effort was to purchase and install a digital microwave system connecting all the sites within the two counties. A digital master site controller to operate the system was purchased and has been installed. Site development has been done in phases: the first phase consists of 8 sites, with 4 sites serving the western areas of Contra Costa County and 4 serving the north western area of Alameda County; phase two consists of 4 sites serving the eastern part of Alameda County. Installation is nearing completion on the phase one sites.
The EBRCSA continues to request additional grant funds to complete the infrastructure in both counties. CTA communications has completed the first phase of a multiple phase contract to evaluate the progress to date and develop recommendations for budget development and ongoing operational, maintenance, and replacement costs for the infrastructure that will be used to develop subscriber fees for users of the system.