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BERRIEN COUNTY
County plans $1.1 million radio fix
By SCOTT AIKEN
H-PStaff Writer
ST. JOSEPH — Berrien County commissioners are ready to spend $ 1.1 million to fix a twoway radio system problem that creates communications headaches for police in the New Buffalo area.
The county board is expected to vote next week on a resolution to add another transmitter-receiver to the high-frequency 800 megahertz radio system.
The equipment will use antennas mounted on top of the Grand Beach water tower, and county officials are hoping the addition will correct system reliability problems in southwest Berrien.
The 800 Mhz system uses three other towers in the county. A tower in Sawyer is the one closest to New Buffalo.
Dead spots and other problems have persisted in the New Buffalo area since the system went into operation in 2000. The hilly, forested dune land blocks signals, officials said.
Also, radio signals cannot be so strong that they interfere with communications in Indiana to the south and Chicago to the west, said David Agens, county 911 director.
Earlier, the county spent $45,000 to try to cure the problem without success.
Members of the county board’s Administration Committee said Thursday the problems must be addressed.
“Definitely, this should improve the mobile (radio) coverage,” said committee Chairwoman Jeanette Leahey.
Motorola Communications and Electronics would provide equipment for the Grand Beach tower. The transmitter-receiver and other equipment would be in a climatecontrolled building at the site.
The equipment, like other towers in the county, will be part of the Michigan Public Safety Communications System.
Begun in the early 1990s, MPSCS uses a system of about 200 towers to transmit 800 Mhz radios systems. The system was designed to provide clear communications for police, firefighters and ambulance crews, replacing 1940s technology.
The digital system eliminates the problems of limited, crowded frequencies that interfere with two-way radios communications among emergency responders.
People who use the system are organized as talk groups, which gives access to others according to need.
When a police officer or firefighter picks up the microphone to talk, the system automatically selects an available radio channel. Agens said Motorola, after installing the new equipment, will guarantee 95 percent coverage for radio communications in the New Buffalo area. That level of coverage would reach north along the Lake Michigan shoreline to John Beers Road in Stevensville.
“We will have a hands-on role in testing,” Agens told the Administration Committee.
About $ 500,000 of the $ 1.1 million cost would be reimbursed by the state.
The county in 1999 spent $1.3 million to equip the sheriff ’s department with 800 Mhz radios. The decision was made after voters rejected a property tax millage request to pay for the radios for every police and fire department in the county.
Since then, a number of other police departments have made the conversion. A grant awarded early this year will cover the cost of upgrading fire department radios and providing 800 Mhz radios.
BERRIEN COUNTY
County plans $1.1 million radio fix
By SCOTT AIKEN
H-PStaff Writer
ST. JOSEPH — Berrien County commissioners are ready to spend $ 1.1 million to fix a twoway radio system problem that creates communications headaches for police in the New Buffalo area.
The county board is expected to vote next week on a resolution to add another transmitter-receiver to the high-frequency 800 megahertz radio system.
The equipment will use antennas mounted on top of the Grand Beach water tower, and county officials are hoping the addition will correct system reliability problems in southwest Berrien.
The 800 Mhz system uses three other towers in the county. A tower in Sawyer is the one closest to New Buffalo.
Dead spots and other problems have persisted in the New Buffalo area since the system went into operation in 2000. The hilly, forested dune land blocks signals, officials said.
Also, radio signals cannot be so strong that they interfere with communications in Indiana to the south and Chicago to the west, said David Agens, county 911 director.
Earlier, the county spent $45,000 to try to cure the problem without success.
Members of the county board’s Administration Committee said Thursday the problems must be addressed.
“Definitely, this should improve the mobile (radio) coverage,” said committee Chairwoman Jeanette Leahey.
Motorola Communications and Electronics would provide equipment for the Grand Beach tower. The transmitter-receiver and other equipment would be in a climatecontrolled building at the site.
The equipment, like other towers in the county, will be part of the Michigan Public Safety Communications System.
Begun in the early 1990s, MPSCS uses a system of about 200 towers to transmit 800 Mhz radios systems. The system was designed to provide clear communications for police, firefighters and ambulance crews, replacing 1940s technology.
The digital system eliminates the problems of limited, crowded frequencies that interfere with two-way radios communications among emergency responders.
People who use the system are organized as talk groups, which gives access to others according to need.
When a police officer or firefighter picks up the microphone to talk, the system automatically selects an available radio channel. Agens said Motorola, after installing the new equipment, will guarantee 95 percent coverage for radio communications in the New Buffalo area. That level of coverage would reach north along the Lake Michigan shoreline to John Beers Road in Stevensville.
“We will have a hands-on role in testing,” Agens told the Administration Committee.
About $ 500,000 of the $ 1.1 million cost would be reimbursed by the state.
The county in 1999 spent $1.3 million to equip the sheriff ’s department with 800 Mhz radios. The decision was made after voters rejected a property tax millage request to pay for the radios for every police and fire department in the county.
Since then, a number of other police departments have made the conversion. A grant awarded early this year will cover the cost of upgrading fire department radios and providing 800 Mhz radios.
