Purcell, Ok Police, fire in line for state's radio system

[PolarBear25]

http://www.purcellregister.com/article-display.asp?idnum=4555

Police, fire in line for state�s radio system
Susie Williams-Allen (405) 527-2126

Purcell, Ok -- An interoperability plan to get emergency providers along side state agencies is being initiated by the Oklahoma Department of Homeland Security.
The Purcell Fire Department and police department will soon be hooked into the state�s 800 megahertz system.
This is part of the Oklahoma Department of Homeland Security�s plan to move agencies onto that system. The system will allow for better communication for agencies in a footprint of sorts with other major agencies.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol�s Troop A based in Oklahoma City and covering McClain County has been on the 800 system for sometime.
Purcell Fire Chief Mike Clifton said other agencies on the system include Norman police and fire, Moore fire and Noble fire.
�This will help us to better communicate with these agencies in an emergency statewide situation,� Clifton said.
Clifton said when his department assisted Apache in a wildland fire last year, most of the agencies involved were on the 800 system. This made it hard for ones like Purcell to communicate.
At this point, the 800 system will be totally funded through the state Department of Homeland Security at a cost of about $400.
Next year, officials are predicting that cities like Purcell will have to provide matching funds to participate in the system.
Officials with the Department of Homeland Security are the ones that have assessed the situation.
Clifton said that it was better to apply for the system now than to wait when the city will be required to match funds with the state.
Other agencies that are being allowed to apply this year are Goldsby, Lexington, Wayne, Rosedale and Byars, Clifton said.
It has been several months since fire departments in McClain County and Purcell Police went to a new digital communication system.
�The 800 system will not disrupt this very proven means of communicating, but will enhance the digital system that is in place,� Clifton said.
Clifton said the 800 system would be tied into the digital system and be used only when needed to communicate with other departments on the system.

http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=117928

 

[boyledad]

A cost of $400?

How many digits did they lose? That's not even one radio.

And what's with this?

"800 system would be tied into the digital system and be used only when needed to communicate with other departments on the system."

Are they keeping their current system and adding another radio to dispatch and each car? Or just building a dispatch initiated patch?

Inquiring minds are scratching their heads out here.

 

[SABRE46]

The sad thing about that post is that it is taken right out of the newspaper. Who is doing the editing in Purcell paper?

 

[boyledad]

The sad thing about that post is that it is taken right out of the newspaper. Who is doing the editing in Purcell paper?

We’ve all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.

Journalism majors aren't what they used to be - they're all youngsters who have grown up with the internet and texting. And the days of editiors like Lou Grant proofing everything are long gone.