Emergency radio system down briefly this morning

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trace1

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http://www.annistonstar.com/breaking/2008/as-localupdate-0508-0-8e08j0356.htm

The radio system used by most Calhoun County law enforcement and emergency agencies was offline for about 30 minutes this morning, leaving dispatchers unable to contact officers in the field.

The system is now working again, according to Shay Cook, public information officer for the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency.

County EMA Director Dan Long said a power problem caused the county’s 800 megahertz radio system to go off-line this morning. The system, which allows most agencies in the region to communicate with each other, was in-stalled in the run-up to destruction of chemical weapons at the Anniston Army Depot. Federal money from the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program paid for the installation and for a series of upgrades.

During the outage, tone alert radios designed to alert residents of accidents at the chemical weapons incinerator also were not working, Cook said.

The tone alert radios and radios used by emergency responders now are operating again, Cook said.

An employee at McCord Communications, which holds the contract for the system, said the outage began around 8 a.m. Another McCord employee referred further questions to the EMA.

Matt Wade, chief deputy for the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, said during the outage that dispatchers could not call officers over the system, but that the county still keeps and maintains its old radio system as a backup.
 

smithw14

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"County EMA Director Dan Long said a power problem caused the county’s 800 megahertz radio system to go off-line this morning."

What about the problem with the backup power system? And what about the problem with the backup backup power system? Why didn’t those systems work?? Don't have them!? Well, invest! Redundancy is the key. Ha!
 

oldranger

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In Sylacauga,all public service agencies have held on to their VHF assets.Policemen I know have told me the 800 mhz Handheld units won't work in WalMart,Home Depot,etc.They say there are still some dead spots despite the fact a new tower is in place.The firemen have told me the same thing.
 

713

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Fireground / Tactical

Do you know how they are planning to handle fire ground comms after they migrate to the 800 MHz radios? The database lists talkgroups for incident command and fire tactical. I don't see any talkaround frequencies listed. Surely they won't use a digital trunked system for working structure fire interior-command communications!?!
 

SAR923

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You think that's bad? Autauga County S.O. just moved into their "state of the art" facilities in a remodeled section of the courthouse. Nice new radios and computers and all that stuff. The trouble was no one checked the roof, even though the painters pointed out signs of leakage all over the walls. Sure enough, the storm last week caused a cascade of water through the roof right onto...the radio equipment cabinet and the server rack. The department had to go back to using their old radios (that couldn't hit the new repeaters) until they could get replacements and the computer system is still not functioning. They've got the leak patched up (they think) and Sheriff Herbie is "looking into the situation". I feel better already. :)
 
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