Subject: [NEXTEL-1] New River Valley Current, VA. Communications upgrade approved

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 16:39:16 -0400

Communications upgrade approved
New River Valley Current, VA

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Communications upgrade approved
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and Longshop-McCoy Fire and
Rescue to be changed to a 400 megahertz UHF system.
By Greg Esposito
981-3341
The New River Current

CHRISTIANSBURG - After listening to Sheriff Tommy Whitt describe
problems his office has had with its outdated communications system, the
Montgomery County Board of Supervisors approved an estimated $400,000
upgrade Monday.
The sheriff's office and Longshop-McCoy Fire and Rescue are the only
emergency services in the county that use a low-band, 37.22 megahertz
system. They will both be changed to a 400 megahertz UHF system that
will provide more consistent communication between officers and
dispatch. The board unanimously approved a resolution to begin the
bidding process on the project. New equipment will include 40-watt car
radios, 4-watt hand-held radios, antennas, repeaters to amplify signals
and a new console for dispatchers. The sheriff's department purchased
its current equipment used in 1988. The Motorola equipment is 25 years
old.

"Any time you have equipment of that age ... it just continuously loses
its ability to perform," Whitt said.
When lightning struck an antenna at the sheriff's office in May, it
damaged the phone system as well as the console used by dispatch. The
sheriff's office had to rely on spare parts given to it by the
Blacksburg Police Department because Motorola had stopped producing
replacements for the county's equipment seven years ago. If equipment is
further damaged, the sheriff's office would be hard-pressed to find
replacement parts.

"I think that we're in a pretty drastic situation with the possibility
of equipment going down," Whitt said. The current equipment is causing
problems that hinder communication "in a very dangerous way," he said.
To prove his point, Whitt gave the supervisors a packet with 17 letters
from officers who have experienced problems with the equipment over the
past several years.  Complaints ranged from having trouble communicating
over the radios when directing traffic to physical confrontations in
which officers could not reach dispatch to call for backup. A common
complaint was the difficulty that officers have sending and receiving
signals indoors.

The low-band system sends signals with longer wavelengths than higher
megahertz systems. Low band is useful for wide-area coverage but is
limited by terrain and buildings, while higher megahertz systems
penetrate walls and other objects. The Blacksburg Police Department uses
a system with twice the megahertz as the UHF system that the county will
have. That signal penetrates buildings easier but is limited in range to
towers in line of sight, like a cellphone.  The UHF system favored by
the county can be used to cover a large area and is able to penetrate
walls better than the low-band system.
The system that the county plans to buy is the same one used by
Christiansburg and will allow for easier communication between the two
jurisdictions.

The board passed Monday's resolution with little discussion. After
Whitt's presentation, Supervisor Steve Spradlin recommended the board
set the project in motion. Supervisor Gary Creed agreed and made a
motion to "appropriate whatever funds necessary" for the upgrade. That
was changed to simply authorize the beginning of the bid process for the
new equipment. Whitt estimated that the upgrade would take anywhere from
eight to 18 months, once bids are approved. Funding for the upgrade will
come from the county's general fund. There are also grants available
that could help pay for the project.
Whitt said Tuesday that he was very pleased that the board saw the
importance of the issue and took action.
"With the antiquated system we have now, it has been built upon to the
point where, I think, changes need to be made," he said.
The New River Current
© Copyright 2004

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv%5C7210.html

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar.
Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/61FxlB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

-- 
    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address 
Subscribe to Nextel-1: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL-1

  "NEXTEL2 FOR iDEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS"
Subscribe to Nextel2: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL2

  "WIRELESS FORUM HOMELAND SECURITY GROUP"
     The Complete Resource for Wireless Homeland Security.
Subscribe to WFHSG:  http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/WFHSG

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEXTEL-1/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     [email-masked]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/