The World's First IDAS™ Simulcast System

A sheriff’s office in Oklahoma, US, has decided to introduce their deployment plan of the IDAS Simulcast System. Our Icom Dealer “Integrated Circuits” (owner: Jim Ivans) in Oklahoma City services the Sheriff's office in Payne County. Payne County serves over 80,000 people and covers an area of approximately 700 square miles (1810 km²).

Until now, they have used a single site IDAS IC-FR5000 repeater for the county, but the coverage was insufficient at the North end of the county. When Icom’s LTE solution was introduced, Integrated Circuits became an early adopter of this and our VE-PG4. At first, they tested a few IP501H radios to fill coverage holes for officers at risk (For example, for officers operating outside of the radio system coverage). This worked well and they are now using 38 IP501Hs as a part of the county communications solution.

The IC-FR5300 is planned to replace the current single site system with two simulcast sites. The VE-PG4 is planned to be integrated with the new RF radio system so that the LTE radios can continue to be used as well.

The state of Oklahoma operates a 700/800 MHz State-wide P25 System but the county is happy with their hybrid system of IDAS, and to be Simulcast and Icom LTE Systems in the future. A total of five sites are planned over time, with the installation of these additional sites dependent on the performance of the initial two. However, we are confident that the performance to date will also be carried over into the Simulcast System as well.

As mentioned, a state-wide P25 system is already available, so why go with IDAS? There are two main reasons — one is that P25 being a state-wide system, Payne County would not be in full control of it. Operating their own IDAS system gives them that control, especially if a system outage was to occur for any reason. The other reason is that our general digital performance and the cost performance are better for them compared to P25 radios. Finally, interoperability is of concern, so plans include using the VE-PG4 to integrate P25 through the Police Departments console, something Icom is able to provide.