Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Radio System Withstands Criticism

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 12:29:48 -0500

Wheeling News Register, WV - Feb 12, 2004
Radio System Withstands Criticism
By CARLEY AMICO

While Ohio County currently is looking to join Wheeling's 800 megahertz
communications system, the system had many critics before it was installed a
decade ago.

Wheeling City Councilman Cliff Sligar was serving as fire chief and helped
implement the police and fire communications system when it was built in 1994.

He said an 800 megahertz system has several advantages to a high-band system -
one of the biggest being it is not vulnerable to interference the way high-band
systems are.

"It's a type of system you can build around and they don't interfere with each
other," he said.
The death of Assistant Fire Chief Bob Foster in 1991 was a tragedy that
convinced the city something had to be done to improve communications, Sligar
said.

Foster was killed when he became trapped in a burning garage in Center Wheeling.

At that time, the department used high-band radio frequencies that were
sometimes overpowered by interference from other agencies. When a garage door
closed and Foster became trapped, interference prevented firefighters from
hearing Foster's radio calls for help.
Eventually his calls did come through, but by the time firefighters reached him,
it was too late, Sligar said.

After that, Wheeling City Council agreed to raise the fire fee $5 to fund the
800 megahertz system.
Sligar said there were many skeptics. The Ohio County Sheriff's Department, the
volunteer fire departments in the county, and other agencies were asked to help
build the system and become a part of it. They all declined.
"At that time, nobody wanted any part of it," he said. "They said it wouldn't
work because of the valleys - but it did work."

While only police officers and firefighters used the system when it was
initially built, it now is also used by the city's water and sewer departments
along with the public works department.

It is a system that can be expanded, Sligar said. It is now being modified to
carry high-tech communications such as mobile data, which is accessed through
laptop computers in police cruisers.

"It's a superb system," Sligar said. "Now they're adding digital data to it."
Sligar believes it's a good idea for Ohio County to join the system.
"It should have been done years ago," he said. "It should have been a
region-wide system."
Wheeling officials have said that, in order for the county to join the system,
it must pay for about 20 percent of the costs associated with debt payments for
building the system as well as some ongoing maintenance and future upgrades.
While some of the equipment for the 800 megahertz system is located in the
City-County Building's 911 center, the communications system is not a part of
911, he said.

"The 911 and the communications system are two totally different things," Sligar
said.
The 911 system involves dispatchers taking emergency calls from the public and
sending the appropriate agencies to respond.
The 911 service fee that appears on residents' telephone bills helps fund 911.
It is not related to the 800 megahertz system.
The 800 megahertz system is used by officers, firefighters and others to
communicate with each other.
"The communications system is a totally different ball game," he said.

http://news-register.net/community/story/0212202004_com02.asp
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