Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Allentown, PA -Whitehall to boost police radio signals

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 15:23:55 -0400

From The Morning Call -- June 10, 2004
Allentown, PA
Whitehall to boost police radio signals

Businesses where transmission fails must
install devices to correct the problem.

By Kirk Beldon Jackson
Of The Morning Call
Commercial buildings in which police have
trouble using their radios will have to install
signal-boosting devices under a ordinance
passed by Whitehall Township.

''If we can't get transmissions in there they
will be required to install transmission
boosters,'' said Ken Snyder, president of
Whitehall Township's Board of
Commissioners, which adopted the law last month. ''This will have to be
paid for by the owner.''
The devices could cost from $1,500 to $10,000, said Township Executive
Glenn Solt.
The regulation pertains to at least four or five buildings, said Solt,
declining to name them. It will also cover any new commercial buildings,
including apartment complexes but not houses.
Commercial buildings tend to smother transmissions because they
frequently are large and constructed of concrete and steel, said Solt.
Chris Wrobel, president of the Whitehall Area Chamber of Commerce, said
no one in his membership has mentioned the law ''as something that was
of concern to them.'' About half of the Chamber's 320 members are in the
township.
The regulation marks the township's latest step to improve its police
radio system.
Problems developed about three years ago when the Lehigh County
Communications Center stopped using a separate dispatcher to handle
township calls.
The township upgraded a transmission site after hiring a consultant to
evaluate its radio system. Lehigh County upgraded two of its
transmission sites.
Now, if an officer has difficulty using his radio inside a building, his
supervisor will perform a cursory test, Solt said. If a problem is
found, the township will pay a communications consultant for a more
extensive test.
The business owner will have to install the device if a need is
determined, Solt said. The device will have to be evaluated to ensure it
does not interfere with township and county radio systems, he said.
Wrobel said his membership believes a good relationship with police is
important.
''If your community is known to not be safe, that's a real issue for
business, so we count on the police department to provide for public
safety here,'' he said.
[email-masked]
610-820-6527

Copyright © 2004, The Morning Call

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From: Rick Parrish <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 20:28:36 -0500

NEXTEL-1 wrote:

> *Whitehall to boost police radio signals*
>
This reeks of good intentions.  How long before one of these goes bad or 
picks up a leaky CATV signal (taking out the whole block) ? Must the 
property management use an active booster? Would a passive one do?

-rick

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