Boulder County in the News

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From today's Longmont Daily Times-Call

Publish Date: 12/7/2005

County beefs up airwaves
Antennas will make emergency workers more compatible with neighboring counties

By Brad Turner
The Daily Times-Call

BOULDER — Emergency officials will install two antennas in Boulder County to help outside agencies

communicate with dispatchers during a large-scale emergency, following a decision Tuesday by county

commissioners.

Two antennas planned for construction at Gunbarrel and the Betasso water treatment plant west of

Boulder will broadcast at 800 MHz, the digital frequency used by several surrounding counties,

Boulder County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Chuck Pringle said.

A $655,548 grant from the state Department of Local Affairs, which the commissioners accepted

Tuesday, will fund the antennas.

“It’s a first step toward establishing interoperability with other agencies, should the need

arise,” Pringle said Tuesday. “The network would be here for them to use their equipment.”

Emergency workers in Boulder County use a VHF dispatch network, but their counterparts in Weld,

Adams, Broomfield and Jefferson counties use the 800 MHz system.

The 800 MHz system became the preference for many emergency groups in Colorado after the Columbine

massacre in 1999, Department of Local Affairs regional manager Don Sandoval said.

During that incident, the emergency crews on scene struggled to communicate with one another

because the system they used offered a limited number of frequencies. The 800 MHz digital systems

offer more frequencies and allow smaller groups or responders to talk simultaneously, Sandoval

said.

Officials are not ready to pursue a costly full conversion to the 800 MHz system, which would cost

between $12 million and $50 million in grant money to implement, Pringle said.

With the county’s current dispatch system, emergency workers carry police radios that cost about

$400 each, Pringle said. A comparable 800 MHz police radio costs between $1,200 and $4,000, he

said.

And the newer system’s coverage can be particularly spotty in the mountains, he said.

“Eight hundred is a shorter wavelength,” Pringle said. “The qualities of its abilities to penetrate

glass windows and bounce in canyons are different, and you need to compensate for that.”

 

[SCPD]

Man those are some expensive antennas. I hope they remember to install the rest of the equipment too.

DTRS could use the coverage up there, but I'm also glad to see Chuck hasn't changed his VHF opinion.

 

[Steve2003]

A different article in today's Colorado Daily:

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - A more than $655,000 state grant awarded to Boulder County Tuesday will be used to help law enforcement and rescue agencies communicate with one another during large-scale emergencies.

Two antennas will be built to broadcast at 800 MHz, which is the digital frequency used by the surrounding counties of Weld, Adams, Broomfield and Jefferson. The sheriff's office now uses a VHF dispatch network and will continue to do so unless a wile-scale emergency occurs.

"It's a first step toward establishing interoperability with other agencies, should the need arise," Chuck Pringle, a captain with the sheriff's office, said. "The network would be here for them to use their equipment."

Regional manager Don Sandoval with the Department of Local Affairs, which provided the grant, said the 800 MHz system became the preference for many emergency groups in Colorado after the Columbine massacre in 1999.

 

[epbernstein]

A different article in today's Colorado Daily:

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - A more than $655,000 state grant awarded to Boulder County Tuesday will be used to help law enforcement and rescue agencies communicate with one another during large-scale emergencies.

Two antennas will be built to broadcast at 800 MHz, which is the digital frequency used by the surrounding counties of Weld, Adams, Broomfield and Jefferson. The sheriff's office now uses a VHF dispatch network and will continue to do so unless a wile-scale emergency occurs.

"It's a first step toward establishing interoperability with other agencies, should the need arise," Chuck Pringle, a captain with the sheriff's office, said. "The network would be here for them to use their equipment."

Regional manager Don Sandoval with the Department of Local Affairs, which provided the grant, said the 800 MHz system became the preference for many emergency groups in Colorado after the Columbine massacre in 1999.

Great--maybe it will improve reception in my office...

 

[Steve2003]

Anyone know when the two new sites are suppost to be up and running?

 

[scanlist]

Sometime next year. Maybe spring/Summer at the earliest.

Phil.