http://www.monroenews.com/articles/2005/07/14/news/news03.txt
What a way to run a web site! :evil:
Links should be as stable as posible.
I hope news03 does not change, but I am sure it will. :roll:
Also try th eseach results
http://www.monroenews.com/shared-content/search/index.php?search=go&o=0&l=&s=&r=&q=radio
This is the CORRECT article referenced
800 MHz complaints - 07/13/2005
County commissioners listen to details of radio problems
By ANDY ROGERS
arogers@monroenews.com
Monroe County officials say they plan to hold Motorola, the company that designed, built and tested a new $9 million emergency radio system, accountable for apparent problems in the system's performance.
A host of area officials Tuesday night told the Monroe County Board of Commissioners that there are real and significant flaws with the design and performance of the new digital 800 MHz emergency radio system as well as the upgraded fire department paging system. Some even renewed their efforts to have the county hire an outside consultant to go over Motorola's work.
A meeting between county officials and Motorola is scheduled for this week.
Some of the worse coverage problems appear to be in the City of Monroe. Portable radios - the units that are actually carried by officers - cannot emit a strong enough signal to overcome weak coverage, according to police Chief John Michrina.
"This has been a huge step backwards," Chief Michrina said. "We went from a system that was clear and consistent that could almost be heard anywhere, anytime. I have trouble thinking of instances when this regular system failed us to a system where as soon as you go into virtually any of the buildings downtown, any houses - it's not just the courthouse, it's not just the jail - it's all over the place, you are out of communication.
"It's wonderful that we can go to Pontiac and call here, but the problem is our police officers don't call for help from Pontiac. They call for help inside someone's house or maybe in a basement or a building downtown to get that emergency assistance and its just not working."
The system works fine with more powerful car-based mobile radios, Chief Michrina said.
The countywide system passed a coverage test performed by Motorola last winter, meeting statistical contractual obligations. The problem, however, is that while some failure is acceptable under the contract between the county and the communications firm, it seems all of the system's failures are in concentrated areas, county board Chairman Jerry Oley said.
"The biggest problem with this entire system is that where the shortfalls are at, they're all together in one pile," Mr. Oley said. "So, when you have a problem in the City of Monroe, it affects substantially the City of Monroe … and when you have five officers in the area and you can't hear them, that's a problem. We were never told by Motorola that that's what we were going to discover."
Monroe County Sheriff's Office Lt. David Thompson, who has coordinated the entire radio system project, said he is aware of the coverage issues in Monroe and also in southern Monroe County along Lewis Ave.
County officials are scheduled to meet with high-level Motorola representatives today to talk about the performance issues.
Options to boost the 800 MHz system's performance may include the use of repeater devices in emergency vehicles, construction of at least one more radio tower or partnering with Lucas County, Ohio, to place Monroe County equipment on one of its towers.
Monroe County Fire Chiefs Association Chief Jerry Welton also addressed the board, testifying to the poor performance of the VHF paging system that is meant to be used in conjunction with the 800 MHz communications system. Paging performance has been especially poor in the western and southern portions of the county, Mr. Welton, Luna Pier fire chief, said. He attributes the problem to the unplanned shutdown of a VHF tower in Ida.
Lt. Thompson confirmed the tower is not being used. The county does not have the appropriate Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license to operate it at optimal levels, he said. Attempts to get the appropriate licensing have brought objections from neighboring municipalities, including Lenawee County.
Monroe County Central Dispatch Director Ronald Berns said he would explore the possibility of operating the Ida tower within the limits of the county's current FCC license while Lt. Thompson searches for a frequency that will not spur objections.
Mr. Welton, however, urged the board to consider hiring a consultant to look at the paging problems and propose possible solutions - something he had asked the board to do before the system was even designed.
"I'm sorry but that did fall on deaf ears because some of the tings that we were trying to explain to the board at that time was speculation, I agree, but now the proof is in the pudding," he said. "The same things that we asked you to be concerned about are happening with the system now, whether it be VHF or the 800."
The VHF paging performance is a separate issue from the 800 MHz coverage issues, Lt. Thompson said. Options to fix the VHF problem include finding a new paging radio frequency or convincing other municipalities to drop their objections, he said.
Using a new frequency, however, would add even more cost to the paging system because some fire department use pagers that cannot be reprogrammed, Mr. Welton argued. Those firefighters would need new pagers that cost about $360 each, according to Lt. Thompson.
Mr. Oley said the county will work as diligently and quickly to solve the problems, saying the system has performed well in some areas, but has not met expectations in others.
"I hold Motorola accountable for the system and I'll be part of the meeting (Wednesday)," Mr. Oley said. "We've taken a lot of comments from people here and those comments are going to be addressed right back to Motorola with the expectations that they fix the project that they put together, that they sold to us, that they assured that it would work."
Commissioner Dale Zorn, however, is in favor of hiring a consultant to review Motorola's work, but did not press the board to take action Tuesday, saying that it appeared he would not have enough support to push it through.
"We've already spent $8 million or more to the vendor to give us this system and obviously there's some problems and I believe that we would be better off to have a consultant tell us what the fix is going to be rather than the vendor that sold us the system that knows they are going to sell us some more equipment," he said.
Lt. Thompson reminded the board that the system is new and that there are always issues when new radio systems are first put into service.
"It's not going to get solved overnight," Lt. Thompson said. "All of this stuff takes time."
