News - pcgazette.com

News

Communications need upgrade

By BRIAN LEAHY
of The Gazette
Replacing Sheriff's Department communications equipment on the verge of obsolescence and adding mobile digital data capabilities to squad cars could cost about $1.5 million, the county Public Safety/Emergency Management Committee learned Wednesday.

Upgrading the analog radio system to a digital system would cost just over $1 million, while creating a mobile digital data network and installing computer terminals in 20 squad cars would cost about $425,000, officials from Motorola said. Each mobile digital terminal would cost between $9,000 and $10,000.

Portage County Sheriff Stan Potocki suggested the county revisit the idea of having a joint dispatch center with Stevens Point and possibly combining with other counties for the mobile digital system to help spread out the cost.

"The item of joint dispatch comes up again and again," Potocki said.

Some of the advantages of digital radios are they have a little better range, better audio quality, more frequencies and offer private communications, said Larry Sharp of Motorola.

Codes in the digital radios also allow dispatchers to "turn off" a radio, so if one becomes lost communication security is not compromised, Sharp said. They also have caller identification, so the dispatcher knows immediately which radio is transmitting. Groups can also be set up on the network, allowing private communications between selected individuals within the network.

The digital radio still needs to be able to transmit in an analog mode for compatibility with those having older radios, like fire and EMS personnel, he said.

A complete inventory of Sheriff's Department communications equipment, including the dispatch center console, showed many of the niches need to be replaced, Sharp said. The equipment is no longer produced and Motorola stops maintaining a parts inventory seven years after the last date of manufacture. Some parts may become available as other agencies replace their old equipment.

The dispatch center console, the "heart and soul" of the system, uses buttons and switches on several panels. A new system would have all the controls on a computer screen and save space. The Stevens Point Police Department recently upgraded its dispatch centers' console to a computer-controlled model.

Whatever upgrades the county would make would need to involve the village of Plover, since it uses the county dispatch center, Supervisor Don Jankowski said.

The communication network is getting increasingly complex. A telephone call no longer notifies volunteer firefighters of an emergency, they are paged. The advent of the first responder system added more users to the system. Whereas deputies used to be tied to the mobile radios in their squad cars, they now carry portable units. With their higher power and better antennas, mobile units have a greater range than portable units - the smaller units' antennas run up the side of officers, so their bodies can block transmissions. Other agencies, especially first responders, rely on the portable units.

When the Sheriff's Department upgraded its communication equipment in the 1980s, it was told two repeater stations were necessary to cover the county for mobile units, but eight would be needed to reach portable units in all parts of the county. There are now five in the county - the north repeater off Highway X, the south repeater at Almond, plus ones in Custer, Rosholt and Amherst. The town of Stockton will soon build the sixth one.

Not having enough towers results in dead space, particularly for portable units and pagers. Parts of Amherst, Rosholt, Stockton and Buena Vista are without coverage.

Of 43 emergency calls paged to Rosholt so far this year, only 17 were heard, said Linda Dobbe, president of the Rosholt First Responders. The paging tones were heard, but the voice part of the messages were only static.

The problem started a couple of years ago after the county dispatch center started to page off its local tower first and then the Rosholt tower, Rosholt Fire Chief Gordon Krogwold said. The Rosholt Fire Department will move its tower to the central part of its district to improve its radio coverage.

Simultaneously paging would cause the signal to cancel out in areas covered by both towers.

If the county were to install a mobile data system, it would need a separate radio network from its voice network to carry its computer traffic, so deputies monitoring one network wouldn't miss messages on the other.

Basic applications of the mobile data system would allow deputies to run license plate numbers, search Sheriff's Department records and send text messages to other cars. Some of the more advanced applications would send and receive images, automatically relay squad cars' locations to other units and allow reports to be filed from the field. As features are added, more bandwidth is needed to transmit the information. To save space in the squad car, the portable terminal (a laptop with a Pentium II processor) could control the siren, radar and radio.

The mobile data system can handle 28,000 messages per hour per channel, Motorola officials said. Outagamie and Calumet counties have a joint system. The Dane County system has almost 400 units used by numerous public safety agencies in that county.

The Public Safety/Emergency Management Committee will discuss upgrading the countywide communication system when it meets at 4 p.m. Wednesday.



	Communications need upgrade By BRIAN LEAHY of The Gazette Replacing Sheriff's Department communications equipment on the verge of obsolescence and adding mobile digital data capabilities to squad cars could cost about $1.5 million, the county Public Safety/Emergency Management Committee learned Wednesday. Upgrading the analog radio system to a digital system would cost just over $1 million, while creating a mobile digital data network and installing computer terminals in 20 squad cars would cost about $425,000, officials from Motorola said. Each mobile digital terminal would cost between $9,000 and $10,000. Portage County Sheriff Stan Potocki suggested the county revisit the idea of having a joint dispatch center with Stevens Point and possibly combining with other counties for the mobile digital system to help spread out the cost. "The item of joint dispatch comes up again and again," Potocki said. Some of the advantages of digital radios are they have a little better range, better audio quality, more frequencies and offer private communications, said Larry Sharp of Motorola. Codes in the digital radios also allow dispatchers to "turn off" a radio, so if one becomes lost communication security is not compromised, Sharp said. They also have caller identification, so the dispatcher knows immediately which radio is transmitting. Groups can also be set up on the network, allowing private communications between selected individuals within the network. The digital radio still needs to be able to transmit in an analog mode for compatibility with those having older radios, like fire and EMS personnel, he said. A complete inventory of Sheriff's Department communications equipment, including the dispatch center console, showed many of the niches need to be replaced, Sharp said. The equipment is no longer produced and Motorola stops maintaining a parts inventory seven years after the last date of manufacture. Some parts may become available as other agencies replace their old equipment. The dispatch center console, the "heart and soul" of the system, uses buttons and switches on several panels. A new system would have all the controls on a computer screen and save space. The Stevens Point Police Department recently upgraded its dispatch centers' console to a computer-controlled model. Whatever upgrades the county would make would need to involve the village of Plover, since it uses the county dispatch center, Supervisor Don Jankowski said. The communication network is getting increasingly complex. A telephone call no longer notifies volunteer firefighters of an emergency, they are paged. The advent of the first responder system added more users to the system. Whereas deputies used to be tied to the mobile radios in their squad cars, they now carry portable units. With their higher power and better antennas, mobile units have a greater range than portable units - the smaller units' antennas run up the side of officers, so their bodies can block transmissions. Other agencies, especially first responders, rely on the portable units. When the Sheriff's Department upgraded its communication equipment in the 1980s, it was told two repeater stations were necessary to cover the county for mobile units, but eight would be needed to reach portable units in all parts of the county. There are now five in the county - the north repeater off Highway X, the south repeater at Almond, plus ones in Custer, Rosholt and Amherst. The town of Stockton will soon build the sixth one. Not having enough towers results in dead space, particularly for portable units and pagers. Parts of Amherst, Rosholt, Stockton and Buena Vista are without coverage. Of 43 emergency calls paged to Rosholt so far this year, only 17 were heard, said Linda Dobbe, president of the Rosholt First Responders. The paging tones were heard, but the voice part of the messages were only static. The problem started a couple of years ago after the county dispatch center started to page off its local tower first and then the Rosholt tower, Rosholt Fire Chief Gordon Krogwold said. The Rosholt Fire Department will move its tower to the central part of its district to improve its radio coverage. Simultaneously paging would cause the signal to cancel out in areas covered by both towers. If the county were to install a mobile data system, it would need a separate radio network from its voice network to carry its computer traffic, so deputies monitoring one network wouldn't miss messages on the other. Basic applications of the mobile data system would allow deputies to run license plate numbers, search Sheriff's Department records and send text messages to other cars. Some of the more advanced applications would send and receive images, automatically relay squad cars' locations to other units and allow reports to be filed from the field. As features are added, more bandwidth is needed to transmit the information. To save space in the squad car, the portable terminal (a laptop with a Pentium II processor) could control the siren, radar and radio. The mobile data system can handle 28,000 messages per hour per channel, Motorola officials said. Outagamie and Calumet counties have a joint system. The Dane County system has almost 400 units used by numerous public safety agencies in that county. The Public Safety/Emergency Management Committee will discuss upgrading the countywide communication system when it meets at 4 p.m. Wednesday.