Subject: [NEXTEL-1] County radio coverage still not adequate

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 07 Dec 2003 14:27:34 -0500

County radio coverage still not adequate
By Wendy Miller-Warrick Publishing Online

Emergency personnel radio coverage is no new topic to the Warrick County Board
of Commissioners. Since the county's police departments began using the new
$840,000 system last year, there have been a few kinks they haven't been able to
work out.

Lt. Ray Wallace with the Warrick County Sheriff's Office said officers are still
finding "dead" spots, where their portable, hand-held radios lose contact with
other officers and the dispatchers. A member of the Warrick County Communication
Board, Wallace gave the commissioners an update last week on where the issue
stands.

"As a whole, I think that the system works well and I think that the idea behind
the system is good," he explained. "But the main problem we have with our radio
system right now is our portable radio system. Our main issue right now is that
the majority of time, our police officers and firemen and EMS (personnel) are
out of our cars--we are in people's houses and we're out directing traffic and
we're out at wreck scenes--and we have no communication with our dispatch."

Although it's a limited area where the portable, 4-watt handheld radios aren't
working, Lt.  Wallace said it's a major issue "because it's in Newburgh and
that's the concentration of where the majority of our calls are."

Other areas include southern portions of Ohio Township and Yankeetown, and areas
in Elberfeld where the terrain is different.

In working with Tri-State Communications, the distributor of the county's radio
system, Wallace said the communication board is looking into three options that
may clear up the issue once and for all. But, whichever option they choose, the
board can be sure it will come with a hefty price tag.
The first option is to add an LTR voting system, which Wallace said is a
remotely-located system that picks up weak signals. With the use of materials
the county already has, it could cost up to $60,000 per system, plus the added
expense of maintaining a T-1 telephone line at an estimated cost of $500 per
month.

The second option the communication board is looking at is installing car
repeaters in each vehicle. Wallace said that would cost approximately $2,000 per
unit with all the accessories.  With more than 35 deputies on the sheriff's
department and the additional expense of outfitting other agencies' vehicles
with the new equipment, the county would be looking at a total cost of at least
$90,000.

The final option is to either construct a new tower or additional towers, for
which a cost wasn't available. The system currently runs off a tower on Eby
Road. To decide if this is a viable option for Warrick County, Wallace asked the
commissioners to approve a maximum of $1,430 for a survey.

He said the county-wide tower survey, to be conducted by Motorola, would
identify whether additional towers or a new, centrally-located tower would take
care of the radio problem and if so, it would report potential sites. The
commissioners unanimously approved the request.

"It's a problem and there's problems where our radios just are not operable and
I feel like whatever we have to do...we are going to have to do something to
make our radios better," said Wallace. "It's a safety issue and I just feel like
whatever will happen in the end, we have to find some means to get the radio
system working to where we can get over this safety problem."

Another concern prompted Lt. Wallace to ask for funding to create a back-up
system at the Sheriff's Department; "Currently all of our radio traffic is
directed through the tower on Eby Road and if something happened to that tower,
we would be basically without any usable radio system."

He asked the board to approve an expenditure of $3,327.95 to move one of the
repeater-based channels from the Eby Road tower to the Sheriff's Department
tower. The money would also allow the department to hook up a mobile radio
system for Warrick County dispatch that could be used as a "total failure"
system.

The commissioners also approved that request, with funds coming from the
Enhanced 9-1-1 budget.
Wallace said he would keep the board updated on the radio system issue, and he
hopes to report back to the commissioners in January with new information on
costs and any other options that may be available to correct the situation.

"We still are trying to figure out ways to make this system work," he said.
"We're going to have to try to find the best option--and it may not be the
cheapest option--to make it work.

"But, we need to find the best option to where we've got the amount of coverage
we need with our handhelds."
http://www.warricknews.com/articles/2003/11/26/news/04radiocoverage.txt

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