Background:

The US Congress, through the National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA), has mandated that all federal government radio operations in the Very High Frequency (VHF) and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) government radio bands be "narrowbanded". The transition to narrowband channel spacing should have been accomplished by January 1, 2005 for the VHF band. The date for "narrowbanding" the UHF band is January 1, 2008. Narrowbanding means the changing from 25 kHz channel spacing to 12.5 kHz channel spacing. This effectively doubles the number of channels/frequencies available for government use in the same amount of electromagnetic spectrum.

Concurrently, new digital technologies for Land Mobile Radio (LMR) are being developed. This is being accomplished jointly among the federal government, the telecommunications industry, and the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials - International (APCO). The standard for digital LMR radio is known as "P25", "APCO Project 25" and as the Electronics Industry Association/Telecommunications Industry Association "EIA/TIA-102" standard.

At the recommendation of the Department of the Interior (DOI) Radio Liaisons, DOI decided to adopt the P25 digital radio standard as the standard for all radio purchases within DOI. DOI has also mandated that all radios/radio systems that carry law enforcement traffic comply with the EIA/TIA-102 standard which include encryption capabilities/technologies. These mandates are outlined in DOI IRM Bulletins 1998-001, 1998-002, and 1998-003.

As of October 1, 2005, the US Department of Agriculture's Forest Service (USFS) has also mandated the purchase of P25 compliant radio equipment. The USFS is requiring the purchase of digital P25 radio equipment from the DOI Digital Radio contract.

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DOI Narrowband Digital Radio Contract

Due to the anticipated substantial investment in digital radios, and the potential to realize significant cost savings, DOI established a multi-year, multi-vendor contract for the purchase of P25 compliant digital narrowband radio equipment. The first five-year contract was awarded on August 21, 1998. A second five-year contract was awarded in November 2002. The digital radio testing team is currently working on the specifications for a third five-year contract to be released for bid very soon. This contract includes not only radio equipment, but support equipment such as dispatch consoles, accessories, and training. Visit DOI's Digital Radio Contract.

Equipment Available on the DOI Radio Contract

The following equipment now available on the DOI contract:
Portable (Handheld) Radios:
Datron Guardian 25
EF Johnson 5100
Motorola XTS5000
Relm/BK DPH
Thales (Racal) 25

Mobile Radios:
EF Johnson 5300
Motorola XTL

Base Stations and Repeaters:
Daniels Electronics (repeater)
EF Johnson
King Communications (submitted the ADI)
Motorola Quantar (base station and repeater)
Relm/BK (submitted the ADI)

Consoles and Desk Equipment:
IDA

Aircraft Radios:
Technisonic TDFM-136

Please Note: Some of the equipment listed above have contract specification deficiencies. What this means is that the equipment meets the basic TIA/EIA-102 Standards and contract functionality requirements but does not meet 100% of the contract specifications. The contract requires that each manufacturer actively works to clear all of their noted deficiencies. After corrections are made, each piece of equipment is re-submitted to the Digital Radio Testing Team for re-testing. Once the equipment passes a retest, the deficiency is cleared from the contract deficiency list.

The contract included specifications specifically for supporting the interagency fire and aviation community. These include a "fire handheld radio" with at least a 64 channel capacity, front keyboard programmability, a "AA" battery pack (clamshell), radio-to-radio cloning, and some specific radio software functionality which includes password protection of groups or zones. Each manufacturer is striving to comply with these "contract specific" items.

An aircraft radio specification was included in the second contract and will be carried into the next (third) contract.

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EIA/TIA-102 (P25) Functionality and Capabilities

There are numerous questions concerning the functionality and compatibility of analog radios vs. digital radios. The biggest question seems to be: Will the new digital radio work with the current (analog) wideband and narrowband radio systems. The answer is "yes". All P25 compliant radios are "backward" compatible with both wideband and narrowband analog radio systems. Backward compatibility refers to a P25 radio's ability to communicate with older wideband and narrowband analog technology radio systems.

P25 radios have a "multi-mode" receive function which allows the radio to be programmed to receive both analog and digital transmissions. However, if a digital channel is currently selected, most radios must be switched to an analog channel to reply in the analog mode.

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Testing for the Fire and Aviation Community

As directed, and chartered, by the National Fire and Aviation Executive Board (formerly the National Interagency Fire Directors), the NIICD Engineering and Development Section performs the "Fire Radio Certification" testing for all of the federal wildland fire agencies. Each radio submitted under the DOI Digital Radio contract as a "fire radio" undergoes additional functionality and performance testing. This testing includes "field tests" to insure it will meet the extreme operational requirements of the wildland fire and aviation community. Once a radio has passed these additional tests, a recommendation for inclusion on the "fire certified" list is sent to each of the National Fire Directors at the National Interagency Fire Center. Once approved, the updated list is distributed throughout each Director's agency.

Questions concerning the fire certification process can be directed to NIICD's Engineer.

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