Subject: [NEXTEL-1] James City, York, to buy single radio system

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 04:14:45 -0400

James City, York, to buy single radio system
Emergency broadcast upgrade will require 9 antenna towers

By Daphne Sashin and Christopher Schnaars
Daily Press

August 29, 2003, 2:53 PM EDT

When a small tornado tore through the Running Man subdivision in York County
earlier this month, deputies, firefighters and road crews dispatched to handle the
damage couldn't talk to each other on their radios.

"They were relaying information to the dispatcher to have the sheriff's department
do such and such, and the sheriff's department had to relay back to the dispatcher
to tell the fire department to do such and such. And meanwhile, the dispatcher is
handling multiple calls all at the same time," said Terry Hall, the communications
manager for York County.

In James City County, firefighters called to the Riverview Plantation neighborhood
along the York River don't know when their radio signals will break up. Sometimes,
police officers have used their cell phones because the radio channel they
operated in was so congested they couldn't get in to have a conversation.

A combination of inadequate radio coverage, not enough channels, old equipment and
incompatible systems have prompted the two counties to spend $24 million to
replace their aging analog radio systems with a single 800-megahertz
digital-analog system designed by Motorola.

While no one has died because of the communications problems that exist, that is a
possibility, said Richard Miller, chief of the James City Fire Department.

"If a person finds someone in medical distress or involved in a crime situation,
and they need to communicate quickly with police officers or responding fire
units, they don't have the ability to do that right now."

York and James City officials are confident that they will avoid the
communications problems other localities have faced with Motorola 800-megahertz
systems. In Washington, D.C., for example, firefighters have said they cannot
communicate with each other using their portable radios and are instead using
their personal cellular phones during emergencies.

The success of a system depends in part on the number of antenna sites the
locality chooses to build, said Terry Scroggs, area sales manager for the
government projects team in Motorola's southern division. He said D.C. officials
opted not to pay for the number of coverage sites that Motorola recommended.

Motorola has guaranteed the James City-York system will deliver coverage in 95
percent of the counties, 95 percent of the time. Ninety-five percent is the
industry standard for public safety.

"We did frequency studies on the antenna sites to guarantee as much as possible,
as humanly possible, that the interference would be a minimum, if any," Scroggs
said.

The counties plan to build nine towers, which would hold the antennas and
microwave dishes for the new system. In addition, they will lease space on the
towers to wireless carriers. Miller said the revenue generated could be shared by
the localities and the agencies that agree to host the sites.

The only bidder for the contract was Motorola. Officials said the counties worked
with several manufacturers of radio equipment, but when the process of identifying
what the counties needed was completed, of the two vendors that qualified, only
Motorola submitted a bid.

The counties will spend $20 million initially, with the total cost reaching $24
million over the next four years. York has set aside $5.5 million and could borrow
$4.5 million, York officials said. James City County will finance its share with a
combination of bonds and federal and state grants, said John McDonald, the
county's finance director.

Emergency communications officials in Virginia Beach and Montgomery County, Md.,
who have been involved in purchases of these systems, said the price seemed
appropriate for what the two counties are supposed to receive. Montgomery County,
a large urban area, just spent $50 million on an 11-tower system.

The new system could come online as early as the fall of 2004, said Hall of York
County.  It will connect the counties' fire and law-enforcement agencies as well
as the James City-Williamsburg schools, the James City Service Authority, the
regional jail and bus system.

Local departments also will have the ability to communicate with other localities
in Hampton Roads that are already operating in the 800-megahertz frequency, such
as Virginia Beach and Newport News.

The system is designed to move into the 700-megahertz band when it becomes
available. That will allow emergency personnel to transmit photographs and
streaming video.

Daphne Sashin can be reached at 223-5684 or by e-mail at [email-masked].
Christopher Schnaars can be reached at 247-4768 or by e-mail at
[email-masked]
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-broadcastaug29,0,294148.story?coll=dp-headlines-topnews

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