Signal Booster Information & Application

The County of Berks has adopted an ordinance (01-2020) establishing procedures and guidelines for the installation of bi-directional repeaters (also known as signal boosters) associated with the county-wide public safety radio system. Signal boosters may be utilized in structures to ensure adequate system coverage for emergency responders and, in some cases, are required by laws, regulations or local codes. The County of Berks does not mandate any property owners to install a signal booster in any building. However, because the County owns the licensing for the radio system and is responsible for its technical upkeep and performance, the County must set the standards for these systems and dictate the process by which they are approved.

In January 2020, the County adopted Ordinance 2020-1 addressing this issue. Any property owner planning the implementation of a signal booster must comport with the ordinance and the regulations authorized by law. The following documents need to be reviewed, completed in their entirety, and submitted as part of the application process.

Radio System Design & Overview

The County of Berks has deployed a countywide public safety radio system engineered by Motorola Solutions Inc. This system consists of 27 physical facilities which provides a combination of radio system network sites and trunked and conventional radio transmission sites supporting the design of the system.

The physical plant services a diverse radio infrastructure that is comprised of the following sub-systems:

(23) Site Fully Ringed 150 Mbps Alcatel Lucent Multi-Protocol Label Switching Microwave Backhaul Engineered to Class 5 Reliability.
P25 Phase II 700 MHz Trunked Radio System
- Dual Master Sites
- (3) Console Dispatch Sites
- (2) System Rf Sites
  - North
    - Dual Prime Sites
    - (9) North Site Remote Radio Sites
    - (12) 12.5 kHz channels
      - Site Control Channel
      - 22 TDMA Talk Paths
  - South
    - Dual Prime Sites
    - (10) South Site Remote Radio Sites
    - (16) 12.5 kHz channels
      - Site Control Channel
      - 30 TDMA Talk Paths
- Coverage
  - 95% Coverage @ Portable On Street (PoS) on Hip Tx/Rx Countywide
  - Defined Areas of Enhanced Coverage at 12 and 20 dB Over PoS
Simulcast Conventional Interoperability Overlays
- Dual Prime Sites
- Coverage
  - 95% Coverage @ Portable On Street (PoS) on Hip Tx/Rx Countywide
- Sites, Spectrum and Capacity
  - (8) Tx/Rx, (3) Rx VHF Low Band, Low Range; (1) Channel
  - (8) Tx/Rx, (3) Rx VHF Low Band, High Range; (1) Channel
  - (7) Tx/Rx, (7) Rx VHF High Band; (5) Channels
  - (8) Tx/Rx UHF; (3) Channels
  - (11) Tx/Rx 800 MHz; (5) Channels Including (1) Analog Channel for Toning
Simulcast VHF High Band Fire and EMS Tone Alert Paging
- (12) Transmit Sites (Increase of Two Sites Over Legacy System)
Multicast VHF High Band Fire and EMS Tone Alert Back Up Paging System
- (9) Transmit Sites (Increase of Three Sites Over Legacy System)
Multicast VHF High Band Agency Conventional System
- (4) Transceive Sites
Interoperability Control Stations Proving Back Up Communications Between Berks and All Surrounding County 9-1-1 Centers Except Lancaster
Interoperability Interconnects Among Eastern PA EMS Council MedComm, Reading Hospital and St. Joe's Medical Center.
Enhanced Telephone Interconnect
MotoBridge Device Interface

The radio system is installed at Berks County owned or leased facilities. All facilities are supported by:

Precast Concrete Equipment Shelter
Motorola Compliant R-56 Grounding
On Site Electric Generation
- 7-10 Day On Site Fuel Supply
- Uninterruptible Power Supply for Utility/Generation Bridge Time Maintenance.
- Full Motion Video Camera Security Surveillance
- Electronic Facility Security