New Emergency Communications System Should Be in Place in ’07
By Robert Igoe
The Winchester Star
BERRYVILLE — Clarke County officials expect to have a new emergency communications system in place by this time next year.
Representatives of Motorola, which is installing the system, met with emergency management officials Wednesday to discuss the new system. It is targeted to be installed by June 2007.
The meeting had a festive atmosphere, with refreshments served to announce the specifics of the new digital system, which will replace the current analog system.
Clarke County dispatchers Bob Wilkerson (front) and Danielle Shaffer work Tuesday afternoon at the Sheriff’s Office in Berryville.
(Photo by Scott Mason)
“We want a satisfied customer at the end of the day,” said spokesman Steve Garver. “We’ve been there before with counties such as this one and we know how to create a system you need within your budget.”
The system has a projected cost of just over $1 million, with $900,000 raised through grants and other federal and state funding.
While the county’s topography prevents a radio system from covering all areas, Garner said the system will cover more than 95 percent of the county, including all populated areas, an improvement over the previous system.
“With this new system, you won’t get the popping and the cracking and the background mess,” he said. “We won’t guarantee this system will cover 100 percent of the county, but it will cover everything we promised.”
The system will put a main transmission site on Springsbury Road, which will direct emergency communications from the county’s emergency communications center to law enforcement, fire departments and ambulance services, as well as send communications to a receive-only site at Mount Weather.
The Mount Weather site is a receive-only station to avoid possible interference with FEMA operations located at the facility.
“Anytime you deal with radio transmissions, there is the risk of interference,” said FEMA Engineer Craig Gallagher. “We do a lot of transmitting from the mountain, but this system should be able to take care of Clarke County’s needs without interference between the county and FEMA.”
The communications system, which is scheduled to be installed by March, will give a digital communication channel each to fire and police departments, along with an analog channel for more than 120 pagers for firefighters.
Once the primary system is installed, Motorola will begin work on the mobile system, which will consist of 28 encrypted mobiles for law enforcement and 45 non-encrypted mobiles for fire and rescue. Seventy-nine mobile radios will also be provided as backups.
Motorola officials said the system can be altered during the installation and construction process for county preferences, such as in-unit headsets and chargers.
Project Manager Jim Robb said such flexibility will be available during the process.
“In any good project, you have to have a plan,” he said. “But at some point, you may find it isn’t proper to implement a step when you originally planned to. We can adjust the schedule if need be.”
The county will continue to use the current system until all testing is complete and the system is found to be working to the county’s satisfaction. At that point, the switch will be made to the new system, though the county can keep the old system to use as a backup.
Should a component of the system become faulty, Customer Service Representative Tej Parikh said such components would be immediately replaced while awaiting repair. Motorola has contracted Valley Two-Way as the local service provider.
The company has proposed biweekly meetings to update the county on the project’s progress and to hear suggestions from the county on possible changes to the system.”
“This was a good overall summary of the project,” said C. Wayne Armbrust, chairman of the Clarke County Communications Committee. “I hope that we can get it in sooner, but June was consistent with what we had forecast. We’re pleased with what has been accomplished.”
By Robert Igoe
The Winchester Star
BERRYVILLE — Clarke County officials expect to have a new emergency communications system in place by this time next year.
Representatives of Motorola, which is installing the system, met with emergency management officials Wednesday to discuss the new system. It is targeted to be installed by June 2007.
The meeting had a festive atmosphere, with refreshments served to announce the specifics of the new digital system, which will replace the current analog system.
Clarke County dispatchers Bob Wilkerson (front) and Danielle Shaffer work Tuesday afternoon at the Sheriff’s Office in Berryville.
(Photo by Scott Mason)
“We want a satisfied customer at the end of the day,” said spokesman Steve Garver. “We’ve been there before with counties such as this one and we know how to create a system you need within your budget.”
The system has a projected cost of just over $1 million, with $900,000 raised through grants and other federal and state funding.
While the county’s topography prevents a radio system from covering all areas, Garner said the system will cover more than 95 percent of the county, including all populated areas, an improvement over the previous system.
“With this new system, you won’t get the popping and the cracking and the background mess,” he said. “We won’t guarantee this system will cover 100 percent of the county, but it will cover everything we promised.”
The system will put a main transmission site on Springsbury Road, which will direct emergency communications from the county’s emergency communications center to law enforcement, fire departments and ambulance services, as well as send communications to a receive-only site at Mount Weather.
The Mount Weather site is a receive-only station to avoid possible interference with FEMA operations located at the facility.
“Anytime you deal with radio transmissions, there is the risk of interference,” said FEMA Engineer Craig Gallagher. “We do a lot of transmitting from the mountain, but this system should be able to take care of Clarke County’s needs without interference between the county and FEMA.”
The communications system, which is scheduled to be installed by March, will give a digital communication channel each to fire and police departments, along with an analog channel for more than 120 pagers for firefighters.
Once the primary system is installed, Motorola will begin work on the mobile system, which will consist of 28 encrypted mobiles for law enforcement and 45 non-encrypted mobiles for fire and rescue. Seventy-nine mobile radios will also be provided as backups.
Motorola officials said the system can be altered during the installation and construction process for county preferences, such as in-unit headsets and chargers.
Project Manager Jim Robb said such flexibility will be available during the process.
“In any good project, you have to have a plan,” he said. “But at some point, you may find it isn’t proper to implement a step when you originally planned to. We can adjust the schedule if need be.”
The county will continue to use the current system until all testing is complete and the system is found to be working to the county’s satisfaction. At that point, the switch will be made to the new system, though the county can keep the old system to use as a backup.
Should a component of the system become faulty, Customer Service Representative Tej Parikh said such components would be immediately replaced while awaiting repair. Motorola has contracted Valley Two-Way as the local service provider.
The company has proposed biweekly meetings to update the county on the project’s progress and to hear suggestions from the county on possible changes to the system.”
“This was a good overall summary of the project,” said C. Wayne Armbrust, chairman of the Clarke County Communications Committee. “I hope that we can get it in sooner, but June was consistent with what we had forecast. We’re pleased with what has been accomplished.”
