This was in the Kansan last Saturday, but they never posted anything from that edition online. And yes, I'm writing it here exactly as the Kansan staff printed it...despite attempts to make corrections:
Officials support Upgrade
Radio system revamp planned for emergency responders
By Jeff Guy
Newton Kansan 9/14/2013
A planned overhaul of Harvey County's emergency radio system is estimated to cost into the millions, but police and fire officials agree that the change, while costly, is needed.
The Harvey County Communications Center is looking to revamp to an 800 MHz radio system, a project that would allow for better communications between emergency responders. Under the current VFW system, emergency responders run into "dead spots" where radio communications is impossible.
"It's not going to be easy to do, but the need is there," said Merlyn Johnson, chief of Walton's volunteer fire department. "It's a huge safety issue."
Courtney Becker, director of the Harvey County Communications Center, said the project would cost between $3.3 and $5.1 million. The project is only in the early planning stages and Becker does not plan to ask the Harvey County Commission for help funding it until 2014 when its planning the 2015 budget.
Johnson said the upgrade will be a financial strain, but he and other public safety workers support it. Most Kansas Counties have upgraded to 800 MHz in the past decade.
Recently, Johnson said, firefighters from Harvey, Butler and Reno counties worked together, putting out a grass fire near Whitewater. However, Harvey County's radio system was incompatible with the 800 MHz system the other counties were using. Harvey County emergency workers were unable to communicate with their counterparts from other counties.
Last July, a SWAT team from the Newton Police Dept. assisted Wichita police in a standoff with a man who had barricaded himself in an apartment building. Newton Police Chief James Daily said his department borrowed radios from the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Dept. to allow for communications between departments.
Becker said for emergency responders, the ability to communicate quickly is "mission critical.This is life and death to them."
In the past year, radio communication has been further hampered, Becker said. In order to free more bandwidth, the Federal Communications Commission ordered jurisdictions using the VHF system to switch to a "narrowband" system. An unforseen result has been that radio sometimes won't carry messages between emergency responders in the same city.
"Narrowband has created a nightmare," he said. It has "made analog-VHF a poor option for public safety."
That is what prompted the need to switch to 800 MHz. Even without narrowband, the county would have made the change eventually, Becker said. VHF was designed to work within counties. To communicate with their counterparts from other counties, emergency workers have had to send messages to a dispatcher who then communicates it to the recipient. That creates delays and the potential for miscommunication.
Narrowband created communication problem that hastened the need to update, he said.
"We're moving the project up sooner," Becker said. "We would've been looking at this in a number of years, but it wouldn't have been near this soon."
Daily said, "VHF has outlived itself." Dick Gehring, battalion chief for the Newton Fire Dept. called the analogue system "antiquated."
"It's run its course," Gehring said. "We're backed into a corner and we have to do something different."