From Chippewa County Local Emergency Planning meeting minutes (2/23/15).
Chippewa County has chosen PSC Alliance to conduct a radio study to determine how to
proceed with the radio upgrade. They have done a lot of work in this area and were
chosen from a field of seven proposals. They will conduct the study this Spring. Our
goal is to build a system that has the capability of being converted to digital in the
future. The county wants agency involvement, because the majority of agencies now
are analog users such as Fire Departments. We are hoping to avoid the major problems
that have occurred in other counties. The strategy is to have an overall plan that works
into the future. We also need to make users aware of the price of this new technology,
so that they can prepare for it. The FCC has set aside a block of 700 megahertz for
Public Safety. Going digital down the road will provide benefits: it’s easily encrypted,
there are dedicated talk groups, it can transfer data and pictures, and it can handle
many different users. The new radio update will have broadband capability to send data
and pictures.