Heart of Texas Council of Governments, Texas, USA

The customer

Established in 1966, the Heart of Texas Council of Governments (HOTCOG) is a regional, voluntary association of local governments and elected officials who work together to solve mutual problems and plan for the future of a six-county region in Central Texas. Serving an area of 9,038 square kilometers and a population of 321,536 people, HOTCOG covers Bosque, Falls, Freestone, Hill, Limestone, McLennan Counties and 55 HOTCOG governments.

The challenge

The Emergency Preparedness Advisory Committee of HOTCOG, along with its Executive Committee, determined that an emergency wireless network would be of great benefi t to communities within the HOTCOG region in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.

They needed a network solution that would provide exceptional clarity and coverage throughout the HOTCOG area and that would be used specifically for seamless emergency management control communications within the region. In addition, they needed this solution to fall within a strict budget which was being funded by a grant from the State Homeland Security Program.

The contract was awarded to Comtex Communications, a Tait solutions provider that has been serving public safety agencies for over 30 years.

The solution

The Comtex engineering and technical team worked closely with Tait engineers to ensure maximum coverage and quality of service throughout the process. The Heart of Texas Council of Governments' emergency wireless network was soon established and is comprised of six individual Tait TB9100 digital base stations/repeaters. A TB9100 was installed in each of the six counties that HOTCOG serves.

The outcome

Along with being fully P25 compliant and capable of digital, analogue and mixed mode operation, Tait's TB9100 was chosen for its impressive performance and ability to provide the network scalability required for this unique application.