If you're going to the trouble of putting up backup RF links.... a good idea. Take a look at the Ubiquity data radios ( http://www.ubnt.com ) .

Your own RF data network. Forget the public internet except for an entry point. And ditch the controllers.

On the analog RF links..
If you have a lot of overlap on the simulcast transmitters, you'll need do some audio delay lines to keep everything in phase. And I'd recommend a GPS disciplined time base for the MSF repeaters.

I used to maintain a couple simulcast paging systems. Simulcast with overlap is a big pain.

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