STATE OF DELAWARE
DIGITAL 800 MHz STATEWIDE TRUNKED RADIO SYSTEM A New Era Begins...

On October 15, 1993 the State of Delaware purchased a state-of-the-art, digital 800 MHz trunked radio system to provide statewide communications for all state, county and municipal government agencies, including fire and emergency medical services. The system is sub-divided into three geographic regions which correspond to the three counties of the State, with fourteen channels in our New Castle County, and ten channels each in our Kent and Sussex Counties. The State contracted for a digital system which
is compatible with the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials - Project 25 (APCO 25) standards, such as “common-air-interface.”

The basic system design incorporates a digital microwave (6 & 10 GHz) infrastructure, which links the three county sub-systems and the intra-county system sites. There are three primary dispatch control points, one at each of the three county 911 dispatch centers. These console configurations provide voice logging and instant playback recording and interface with existing conventional radio systems in other frequency bands. In addition to these primary control points, there are many secondary console and radio
frequency (RF) control stations located within the other user facilities such as, fire stations, police stations, highway yards, etc.

There are ten trunked radio sites within the State. Additionally, there are twenty microwave sites, some of  which are console and management system sites. The microwave “backbone” provides enough capacity for all radio communications as well as a capability to support future customer requirements.
The system coverage is fully compliant with the Region 28 guidelines for co-channel dbu)  and adjacent channel (25 dbu) interference levels and provides 95% reliable contour coverage with a three watt portable, in the street, equipped with public safety speaker/microphone/antenna. Site selection was chosen to provide reliable coverage in buildings within selected population areas such as the cities of  Wilmington, Newark, Dover, Georgetown, Seaford and Rehoboth Beach, etc.

The system, when fully implemented, will provide reliable radio communications anywhere within the  borders of  the State of Delaware for more than four thousand State users, as well as a significant number of non state agencies, who require communications inter- operability in a truly multi-jurisdictional radio system.