Coverage Guarantee Summary

The portable radio configuration for determining system coverage was an XTS-5000 portable in a swivel case equipped with a public safety speaker microphone with a quarter-wave antenna at shoulder-level for transmit (talk-in) and receive (talk-out).

The contract with Motorola had the following coverage guarantees:

Provide talk-out and talk-in coverage to 95% of the total Butler County service area (Butler County’s jurisdictional boundaries) inside 15 dB loss buildings using the above-mentioned portable configuration.

Provide talk-out and talk-in coverage to 94% of the total Butler County plus extended service area inside 15 dB loss buildings using above mentioned portable configuration.

For more details, see Coverage Acceptance Test Plan (CATP) Test Summary Report (PDF).

Test Areas

The coverage guarantee references two geographic area – Butler County and extended service areas.  Butler County refers to the geographic area of the county.  Several public safety agencies that call Butler County home have jurisdictional responsibilities outside the borders of the county.  The radios system was built to provide coverage in these extended areas, which t0tal over 120 square miles.  The College Corner Fire Department, for example, provides service in an area that falls within Butler and Preble counties in Ohio and Franklin and Union counties in Indiana.  The Cities of Middletown and Monroe extend into Warren County, including the location of the new Atrium Medical Center.

For testing, Butler County and the extended service areas were divided into grids approximately .5 mi by .5 mi in size.  The county contained 1943 grids and the extended area contained 485 for a total of 2428 grids (607 square miles).

Summary of Testing Process

In order to verify talk-out coverage within both service areas (Butler County’s jurisdictional boundaries and Butler County’s jurisdictional boundaries plus extended areas), Bit Error Rate (BER) measurements and Delivered Audio Quality (DAQ) talk/listen tests were taken over a large number of uniformly distributed random test points. BER samples were automatically recorded using the Motorola Voyager test tool for the BER objective portion of the test. DAQ talk/listen test data was recorded electronically using DeLorme XMap software and manually using printed test sheets.

In order to verify talk-in coverage within both service areas (Butler County’s jurisdictional boundaries and Butler County’s jurisdictional boundaries plus extended areas), DAQ talk/listen tests were taken over a large number of uniformly distributed random test points. DAQ talk/listen test data was recorded electronically using DeLorme XMap software and manually using printed test sheets.

The BER, DAQ, and In Building tests were conducted during the weeks of December first, eighth and fifteenth. The five re-banded frequencies of Butler County’s license, WQCD754, were used at all of the Butler County sites operating in the digital simulcast wide area trunking mode of operation for BER and DAQ testing of the ASTRO 25 System.

Coverage Evaluation Results

BER Talk-Out Test Results – Butler County

Total Grids:                        1943
Total Grids Inaccessible:    163 (excluded from test)
Total Grids tested:             1780
Number of Passing Grids:   1748
Number of Failed Grids:      32

Coverage Test Scoring:       98.20% = Pass

BER Talk-Out Test Results – Butler County plus extended areas

Total Grids:                        2428
Total Grids Inaccessible:    245 (excluded from test)
Total Grids tested:             2183
Number of Passing Grids:   2134
Number of Failed Grids:      49

Coverage Test Scoring:       97.75% = Pass

DAQ-3.4 Talk-Out Test Results – Butler County

Total Grids:                        1943
Total Grids Inaccessible:    85 (excluded from test)
Total Grids tested:            1858
Number of Passing Grids:   1855
Number of Failed Grids:      3

Coverage Test Scoring:       99.84% = Pass

DAQ-3.4 Talk-In Test Results – Butler County

Total Grids:                        1943
Total Grids Inaccessible:    85 (excluded from test)
Total Grids tested:             1858
Number of Passing Grids:   1855
Number of Failed Grids:      3

Coverage Test Scoring:       99.84% = Pass

DAQ-3.4 Talk-Out Test Results – Butler County plus extended areas

Total Grids:                        2428
Total Grids Inaccessible:    134 (excluded from test)
Total Grids tested:             2294
Number of Passing Grids:   2286
Number of Failed Grids:      8

Coverage Test Scoring:       99.65% = Pass

DAQ-3.4 Talk-In Test Results – Butler County plus extended areas

Total Grids:                        2428
Total Grids Inaccessible:    134 (excluded from test)
Total Grids tested:             2294
Number of Passing Grids:   2286
Number of Failed Grids:      8

Coverage Test Scoring:       99.65% = Pass

Note: The information on this page was taken from the Coverage Acceptance Test Plan (CATP) Test Summary Report, Version 1.0, provided by Motorola to Butler County on 1/20/2009.