State Radio System
From SAFECOM Newsletter,
South Dakota: Radio System Brings Interoperability to Mount Rushmore State
South Dakota is a state with fewer than 800,000 residents. Sioux Falls is its only city with a population of more than 100,000.The average community in the state is home to about 500 people. In spite of this low population density – or perhaps even because of it – South Dakota is a leader in establishing truly interoperable public safety radio systems. It was the forces of nature rather than terrorism that gave South Dakota leaders their first-wakeup call about the need to improve interoperability. In May 1998, a fierce tornado touched down in city of Spencer. According to a National Weather Service report, the storm center “damaged or destroyed
beyond repair” nearly all structures in the area. First responders from neighboring communities flocked to Spencer. When they arrived on the scene, no one could communicate via radio, according to Otto Doll, Commissioner of the South Dakota Bureau of Information and Telecommunications. South Dakota firefighters faced similar challenges during a series of widespread fires in the Black Hills. In the process of battling those fires, many of them on federal land, firefighters realized that in some instances they could not communicate among one another, much less with medical personnel or federal officials responding to the emergency. Faced with challenges like these as well as more routine incidents such as snow storms, South Dakota officials devised a plan that would lead them toward complete interoperability. The overall
goal was to get more than 10,000 public safety officials from the local, state, and federal levels onto a system that would allow them to communicate seamlessly in a crisis. In 1999, the state legislature approved a bill requiring eight state agencies to integrate their telecommunications
functions into a single network. The state allocated $4 million for the work, and secured
funding from a variety of additional sources. These included a $7 million grant from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) within the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) plus a $1 million grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The new system, called State Radio, would incorporate a minimum of four trunked channels – one to run the system, and three to handle radio calls. Each of the trunked channels can support between 75 to 100 radio users. The system also incorporates “talk groups or agency groupings established with the cooperation of local users. These talk groups allow for private conversations within a group and operate like a dedicated channel. Up to 256 talk groups can be programmed into the system; not all are in use, but the additional capability allows for future growth. The new system was phased in, beginning with the Black Hills/Western South Dakota region, followed by the eastern and central parts of the state. State Radio is now fully operable, and South Dakota has
been recognized as one of the leading states in creating an interoperable public safety radio system. The system today links more than 10,000 firefighters, law enforcement officials, emergency medical personnel, transportation providers and federal public safety officials. It also serves all hospitals, emergency rooms and clinics in the state as well as ambulances that service those facilities. The system is valuable not only in situations that would be found in every state, but also in situations that are unique to South Dakota. For instance, each year thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts converge on Sturgis, South Dakota for an annual rally in the Black Hills. The event, the largest of its kind in the world, presents its own public safety challenges—
doubling the population within that part of the state for about two weeks each summer and causing serious traffic congestion. This obviously requires an increase in the number of law enforcement and medical personnel serving the area. Now, State Radio is available to link all public safety personnel that support this event, ensuring the safety of the participants, organizers and the local community. Otto Doll oversaw the process of implementing South Dakota’s interoperability plan. His first step was to survey everyone in the state who used radio communications for public safety purposes. The survey yielded information about what equipment was currently in use, what localities had recently upgraded their technology, and who was using outdated equipment. Doll says the greatest challenge in getting the system up and running was securing adequate spectrum to support the increased communications activity. According to Doll, South Dakota is the only state to have secured frequency by participating in a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction. “You can never underestimate the challenge you are going to have with spectrum. You really have to take it on because if you are waiting for the Federal government to fix it and for things to just somehow magically align, I don’t think it’s necessarily going to happen. You’re going to have to take that bull by the horns and wrestle it to the ground and get what you need
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