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Construction

The City of Portland 800MHz Public Safety Radio System was conceptualized beginning in early 1989, with Ordinance 161831 being adopted by a unanimous vote of Commissioners Blumenauer, Bogle, Koch, Lindberg and Mayor Bud Clark on April 21, 1989.

That ordinance permitted the City to contract with Adcomm Engineering Services to

perform a study of the base/mobile radio system for all of the City bureaus to recommend to the City the most effective ways to improve City radio communications

By early 1990, "several recommendations" had been made in the Adcomm engineering report, and Ordinance 163070 was adopted on May 23, 1990 to continue the contract with Adcomm to finalize the planning for the system.

Ordinance 164581 was adopted on August 23, 1991 ordering a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) to be issued to any interested vendors, and beginning the design phase of system engineering.

On September 18, 1991, the City Council authorized (ordinance 164666) a waiver of city code and ORS279.017(1), which prohibited specifications "requiring any product by brand name", and required a competitive bid process, and authorized negotiations with "Motorola C & E" for "the purchase of" the 800MHz Radio Communication System and Related Services. The justification for the waiver was the recent (at the time) award of a contract by Washington County to Motorola for their 800MHz radio system, and the desire to maintain interoperability.

Ericsson/GE Mobile Communications opposed the ordinance.

40 STX Portables, 3 Spectra Control Stations, and associated accessories were ordered, as well as a single base station transmitter (tuned to 815/860.7125MHz); cost of the system to this point: $160,000.00. (Ordinanace 164667)

In April 1992, bids were accepted for a digital microwave system for the 800MHz Radio System (ordinance 165366). In May (ordinance 165403), purchase orders were authorized for "ancillary equipment" in support of the 800MHz radio system. On June 5, 1992, the City entered into a contract with Motorola for construction of the 800MHz radio system, and design and construction began, with the radio system going into service toward the end of 1993.

Between the time that the contract was signed and the 800MHz system went online, the City of Portland consolidated police dispatch (the Bureau of Emergency Communications) and the Fire Alarm office (which at the time was occupying a building around NE 28th Avenue and I-84) into the newly built Portland Communications Center at the base of Kelly Butte. This new facility replaced an aging quonset-hut style structure built into the side of Kelly Butte that had housed BOEC since 1974.

The system has undergone many upgrades since it was built in 1992. As originally specified in the contract, the simulcast "site" consisted of only 20 channels; today there are 24. Initially, the simulcast "site" was the only part of the system. Documentation in the public record cannot be located to determine when and under what circumstances the City determined the need to expand the system with the variety of fill-in sites (Goat Mountain, Timberline Lodge, Walters Hill, Engine 22 (Removed), Portland International Airport, Forest Heights, PCC, Arrowood, etc.).

Today, the pre-existing 800MHz Public Safety Radio System operates as a "Smart-X" Zone of the City's (under-construction) 700MHz Public Safety Radio System, which consists itself of 2 simulcast (East Simulcast and West Simulcast) and 1 multicast site (Goat Mountain).