About the System

What is BRICS?

The Butler Regional Interoperable Communications System is comprised of several individual systems that provide voice and data communication to public safety and government users based in Butler County, Ohio. While this page primarily describes the new 800MHz voice system deployed in 2009, BRICS also includes: VHF radio systems used for fire paging, tornado siren alerting and interoperability with other VHF users; and an 800MHz data system used by several public safety agencies. BRICS is supported by the Communications Division of the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.

In 2009, Butler County began use of a state of the art voice communication system. The Butler Regional Interoperable Communications System, a digital 800MHz Motorola Astro 25 system, was built to meet the APCO Project 25 standard for radio system interoperability.

Predicted in-building coverage with a portable

Fourteen tower sites in and around our county provide the coverage and capacity needed to support our public safety and governmental users.  The system was designed to support the voice (and future data) communications for Butler County as well as all the local municipalities and agencies that will use it for their primary public safety communications.

The system was built by the Butler County Board of Commissioners and is operated by the Butler County Sheriff.  It supports all 14 law enforcement agencies, 23 fire and EMS agencies, and numerous other government and public service agencies.  It has been sized to provide future support to public works, public health, hospitals, transportation and schools.

The system will provide improved emergency response to the region’s 330,000+ residents by allowing public safety agencies to immediately share information and intelligence during routine operations and natural or man-made disasters. Regional communication is an essential component of emergency planning and response.

For a full list of our users, click here.

Learn about the history of the system.

Learn about the system governance and advisory board.

Towers

We use 14 radio towers to simulcast our trunked system.  Four of the towers were pre-existing; ten newly constructed.  The tallest new tower is 350 feet (but our highest transmitter is at 360 feet on a pre-existing tower) and the shortest is 180 feet.  Most of the towers are around 280 feet tall.

Users

In 2010, we’ll be underway with over 2200 subscribers, 23 fire/EMS agencies, 14 law enforcement agencies, 9 dispatch centers, and 6 hospital emergency departments on one radio system.

Capacity

The system will begin with 15 licensed frequencies, pooled together by Butler County, the City of Oxford, the City of Hamilton and West Chester Township.  Enough infrastructure equipment was purchased and installed to support 20 frequencies, allowing us to grow capacity as soon as more frequencies become available.

Coverage

The system was built to meet a specified coverage requirement:  95% portable radio coverage in 15db buildings within Butler County and 94% of specific extended areas (where Butler County agencies respond outside the county borders).  This means that a portable radio should be able to transmit and receive in 95% of the county from within a building with the density of a typical home.  Even where no structure exists, this coverage level was a requirement.  In practice, users have been able to use their radios clearly from within our densest buildings – places they were never able to communicate before.

Our Coverage Acceptance Test performed in 2008 by Motorola and Butler County showed our requirements had been exceeded.  The system scored 99.84% in Butler County and 99.65% in extended service areas.

Learn more about coverage testing.

Dependability

The radio towers are designed to be sustainable during the severe weather we experience here – specifically, ice and wind.  All of the system infrastructure is self-sustaining during emergencies when utility power becomes unavailable.  Every component is powered by battery.  The batteries, normally charged by utility power, are backed up by generator to provide long-term service in the absence of normal utilities.

Interoperability

In addition to allowing every first responder in our county to talk to one another – something we could never do before – we will be able to talk to more of our neighbors than ever.  Large scale emergencies don’t respect geopolitical boundaries and help can come from all over.  Every public safety radio on the Butler County system will be provided channels to communicate with users of the Hamilton County, Cincinnati, Montgomery County, Warren County and State of Ohio radio systems.  In addition, national mutual aid frequencies will allow us to communicate with anyone with a compatible and properly programmed radio.