P25 COMPLIANCE NOTICE: Onondaga County's new Motorola ASTRO 25 Trunked Radio Network meets the P25 standards for a digital radio system. Many manufacturers claim P25 compliant radios. However, at this time, there is no independent certification process to verify compliance. To ensure that all P25 radio manufacturers meet the standards and their radios will be interoperable, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), radio manufacturers and the emergency response community have created the P25 Compliance Assessment Program (CAP). The P25 CAP is in the process of being implemented and is expected to start testing radios for compliance this summer. Radios that pass will be issued a P25 Supplier's Declaration of Compliance (SDoC).
Purchase of any P25 radios without the SDoC is discouraged. Additionally, the current DHS SAFECOM Grant Guidance requires SDoCs for all radio equipment at the time of delivery.
Once finalized by Onondaga County's governing board, a list of the minimum features required to operate on the new trunked system will be provided. This information needs to be considered when you make your purchase decision. The need for multiple vendor sources of radios was an important element in the decision to implement this new trunked radio network. However, until the P25 CAP is fully operational and SDoCs are available, informed purchase decisions by emergency responders is not possible.
