Radio Department

Maximizing Emergency Response Efficiency

The SNO911 Radio Department is responsible for the customer satisfaction and system performance with the Snohomish County 911 Emergency Radio System and its supporting subsystems. We are a portion of the overall mission of SNO911 which is to serve our community through providing service to the First Responders who are the customers of our services.

Our systems include:

  • 800 MHz P25/SmartZone Trunking system that serves the majority of Fire/EMS, and Law agencies within Snohomish County
  • Microwave communications system which support the radio system as well as other public-safety communication and data services
  • VHF Alphanumeric paging system for fire alerting and other critical notifications
  • Sustainment and maintenance of a significant number of member-agency radio equipment
  • For efficiency and accountability, we request that all inquiries regarding the systems, personnel, or other information requested for public use follow the Snohomish County 911 public records request procedures. The process can be started at the SNO911 Public Records Portal.

If you are an employee of one of our agencies, please utilize the main SNO911 telephone number to be routed to a SNO911 Radio staff member who can help you directly. You may also call a SNO911 Supervisor who can route you to the Technician On-Call, or escalate to first- and second-level management.

Thank you, and we look forward to working with you.

Department Resources

Radio Replacement Project

Learn about the SNO911 Radio Replacement Project which will deliver, update, upgrade, standardize, modernize, improve and enhance the communication capabilities of 911, Police, Fire, Emergency Medical, Emergency Management, Corrections and Sheriffs.

Visit the Website

BDA Information

It is not always practical for a public safety radio system to have 100 percent coverage. This is especially true inside buildings in which different construction materials can block or attenuate radio signals. It would be cost-prohibitive as well as almost impossible to get FCC licensing for a system to cover inside all buildings. There is a statewide public safety coverage requirement stated in the Washington Administrative Code (WAC). There are also local fire codes and requirements that must be followed. In order to reach this requirement, the most common solution is a Bi Directional Amplifier (BDA).

A BDA can take a usable received signal outside from a radio tower site and via antennas installed inside the building, amplify and distribute that signal throughout a building. It is also able to take the relatively low signal from a portable radio and amplify that signal to send to a radio tower site.

Letter of Provisional Authorization

SNO911 Scope

SNO911 is responsible for verifying that any installed BDA using the Snohomish County 911 radio frequencies does not interfere or cause harm with the SNO911 public safety radio system. SNO911 is not responsible for verifying that the radio system coverage meets the requirements of the WAC or Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ).

Authorization Procedure

  • The vendor will conduct testing to verify if a BDA is required.  A Letter of Final Authorization will not be issued if it is discovered that a BDA is not necessary for the building.
  • The vendor will fill out the Letter of Provisional Authorization(LOPA) and email it to BDA@SNO911.org.
  • SNO911 will review the document and will return a signed version of the LOPA with donor site and azimuth information.
  • Vendors will verify that the donor signal level received from the site noted in the LOPA is sufficient and will contact BDA@SNO911.org if it is not. If not, SNO911 will issue a new LOPA with a different site and this verification will be repeated until a site with sufficient donor signal is determined.
  • Once the donor site is finalized, the Vendor will complete the installation per AHJ requirements. The BDA is not to have the uplink portion activated until uplink tests have been completed by SNO911.
  • When installation is complete, the vendor will contact SNO911 at BDA@SNO911.org requesting to schedule uplink testing. A minimum of 72 hours advance notice is required although there is no schedule guarantee. As much advance notice as possible is requested.
  • A SNO911 representative will schedule uplink testing with the vendor.
  • After uplink testing is complete and it is determined that the BDA causes no interference or harmful effect to the SNO911 radios system, a signed Letter of Final authorization will be emailed  to the vendor.

For any questions or support please contact: BDA@SNO911.org

Agency Training Materials

Find the training materials and resources necessary for our team’s professional development and job performance. This information is updated regularly to ensure that employees have access to the most current and relevant training materials and information.

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Fire

Law/SCSO