Public safety radio systems have undergone a massive transformation over the past four decades. From bulky, single-channel analog sets to sleek P25 and broadband-integrated networks capable of GPS tracking, instant replay, and text paging, the radios themselves have never been smarter.
But there’s one part of the system that hasn’t kept up: the power infrastructure keeping them alive.
“If the system isn’t on the air, it’s ineffective,” says Scott Rowland, Senior Technical Specialist at HCI Energy. He’s spent more than 40 years building, maintaining, and troubleshooting radio systems for public safety agencies—and in that time, he’s seen the same pattern repeat: when the radios stop working, the radios get blamed, but the real culprit is almost always the power.
From One Channel to Hundreds and the Pressure That Comes With It
Early 2-way radios were power-hungry and physically large. Each mobile or handheld operated on a single frequency, meaning everyone on that channel, whether they were a police officer, a farmer, a taxi driver, or a waste collection crew, could hear the same conversation.
Today, a single radio can manage hundreds of talk groups, record and replay transmissions, pinpoint GPS locations, and send individual text messages. Tower site equipment has also shrunk and become more versatile, functioning like a private cellular network while preserving one-to-many capability.
Rowland points out that these advancements also increase the risks: “When the infrastructure fails now, you’re not just losing a single channel; you could be taking out every talk group, every responder, and every function tied to that network.”
Power: The Most Overlooked Part of a Radio Upgrade
According to Rowland, most modern radio systems have few problems of their own. Outages almost always come from elsewhere, most often from the power systems supporting them.
The weak points are predictable: “Grid failures, generators that won’t start, transfer switch malfunctions, depleted battery backups, and surges or lightning strikes.”
“I’ve been on more outage calls caused by a dead battery or a failed generator than I have for the radios themselves,” Rowland says. “Battery age has a huge impact on performance—and many agencies don’t have a maintenance plan that keeps up with that reality.”
Even when batteries and generators are in place, other components in the chain can take an entire network offline.
Rowland has seen it firsthand.
At the sheriff’s office in Franklin County, Kansas, a power surge destroyed the transfer switch, burning it beyond repair. “We had to order a replacement, and for several days the department was without radio coverage,” Rowland recalls. During that time, deputies relied on mobile radios, but those signals only carried to nearby units. The 911 center couldn’t consistently hear the traffic, leaving dispatch cut off from the field.
Not every failure comes with flames or sparks. In wildfire-prone regions, Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) deliberately cut grid power to reduce ignition risk. While the measure saves lives and property, it can also leave critical facilities and emergency services in the dark if backup systems are undersized, poorly maintained, or never tested.
The NIAC Catastrophic Power Outage Study highlights that communications, particularly emergency radio, pose a significant risk during long-term grid failures.
Rowland says both sudden failures like Franklin County’s and planned outages like PSPS lead to the same conclusion: “Without resilient power, even the best-designed networks can go silent.”
It’s Not Always the Power, But It’s Rarely the Radio
While power is the primary culprit, other infrastructure failures can cripple a system.
In Delaware County, Pennsylvania, atmospheric “ducting” repeatedly caused LMR coverage failures, isolating first responders from their 911 center. And in a major public safety network in 2024, GNSS jamming disrupted simulcast timing across multiple towers, leaving responders with unintelligible audio despite the radios themselves working properly.
“Most of the time, the radio is the last thing that’s actually wrong,” Rowland says. “Environmental, infrastructure, and power failures are almost always the real cause.”
Rowland highlights that some of these failures reveal an additional vulnerability: an excessive dependence on short-term backup solutions such as UPS systems.
From Standard Practice to Growing Risk: Why Agencies Are Moving Away from UPS
One of the most common backup solutions is the UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). A UPS uses internal batteries to bridge the gap until a generator starts or utility power returns, meaning its performance depends directly on the health and maintenance of those batteries.
For decades, UPS systems have been the default backup for critical communication sites. Compact and familiar to IT teams, they’re often assumed to be fail-safe until a crisis proves otherwise. Internal batteries degrade over time, conversion steps add failure points, and in many environments, UPS units can’t deliver the extended runtime critical communication networks require.
Ernie Miller, General Manager of Midwest Mobile Radio and an HCI customer, saw those limitations firsthand when dual UPS units at a primary core site failed back-to-back, forcing his team to run a generator 24/7 to keep thousands of subscribers—including police, fire, sheriff, and public works—connected.
“If they lost power, they lost the system for everybody,” Miller recalls. “Several thousand subscribers, plus police, fire, sheriff, and public works, were all off the air.”
After that incident, Miller moved away from UPS units entirely, replacing them with a continuous battery-backed design built for long-duration events. By eliminating unnecessary power conversions, the new setup reduced failure points, an approach that mirrors the same principles behind HCI’s Zero-glitch Power Module (ZPM)—the core of every HCI power system.
CISA’s Gold Standard—And How to Get There
Miller’s decision reflects a broader shift that Rowland says more agencies need to make—one aligned with the “gold standard” for critical site power outlined by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). But most sites, he adds, still fall far short of those recommendations.
CISA’s guidance includes:
- Two independent backup power sources (ideally different fuel types)
- Redundant circuits
- Dual utility feeds for critical sites
- Geographically separated backups
- 3–30 days of on-site fuel plus emergency refueling contracts
Few agencies can fulfill all requirements, which is why it's crucial to bridge this gap with a long-duration, self-sustaining power system.
Rowland believes hybrid power systems, like HCI’s ZPM or Hybrid Power Shelter with solar and genset backup, are the most direct way to close the gap. “Installing one of our systems would eliminate 95% of system downtime,” Rowland says.
The Bottom Line
Rowland puts it plainly: “The radios get better every year, but they’re only as good as the power behind them.” Outages don’t just disrupt calls; they delay response, cut off coordination, and put lives at risk.
The next time a system is reviewed, the most important question isn’t “What’s wrong with the radios?” It’s, “Can our power system hold through the next outage?”
This is the most crucial question during a real emergency.
