The Wisconsin State Patrol recently began testing Raytheon’s JPS Communications Project 25 (P25) channel controller. Developed by Etherstack, the P25 channel controller converts analog radio channels to P25 digital channels, allowing users to economically replace conventional analog communication systems with the modernized P25 digital system. The device was first released in November 2006.

“Many public safety agencies lack the monetary resources required to upgrade from analog to digital,” said John Verhyen, chief engineer for the Wisconsin State Patrol. “We were particularly interested in beta testing this device because not only does it have the potential to aid our agency, but could also save the public safety industry money as it does not require replacement of existing equipment to upgrade.”

The P25 channel controller was installed in Fond du Lac, Wis., in mid-December. Since then, the Wisconsin State Patrol has connected three analog conventional base stations to the unit for upgrading.

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