ARMER was first built in the Twin Cities in 2004, then moved to St. Cloud and Rochester, and has since migrated throughout the rest of Minnesota. ARMER currently serves as the primary communications tool for the majority of state, county and local public safety entities in Minnesota.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation owns the core infrastructure providing the ARMER backbone and 95-percent mobile coverage. Many local units of government own local enhancements providing improved local and in-building coverage.
For the more technically minded:
- ARMER is a P25, Motorola, SmartZone, 800 MHz, phase 1, trunked radio system utilizing six zone controllers.
- ARMER is currently version 7.17 and is presently transitioning to version 2020.1.
- ARMER utilizes 349 frequency pairs through over 4,000 base station radios at more than 400 transmitter sites.
- ARMER possesses over 7,300 assigned and over 6,200 active talkgroups.
- Over 104,000 radios are registered and over 85,000 radios are active.
The last state tower site will be complete in 2020 and, with that, ARMER will be completely built. Emphasis will transition from build out to maintenance and improvements.
