Radio network linking emergency officials headed to Southern Indiana
A radio network that allows federal and local authorities to communicate statewide is expanding into Southern Indiana. Hoosier Safe-T (Safety Acting for Everyone - Together), was launched in 1997 but didn't gain momentum until after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that highlighted the need for better communications between law enforcement agencies. More than half of the network's 126 radio towers scheduled to be built statewide are finished, including one in Evansville at the Indiana State Police Post on U.S. 41. The towers, roughly 300 feet tall, operate on an 800 megahertz system connected through T1 lines and microwaves, said Sally Fay, communications director for the Integrated Public Safety Commission, which oversees Hoosier Safe-T. The $79 million project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2007. Once it is finished, emergency officials will be able to communicate to other agencies statewide. Since 9/11, other states have installed similar networks, including Michigan and Illinois, she said. In Indiana, the Public Safety Commission doesn't charge user fees, but each agency must purchase its own radios, Fay said. As with any new technology, there are some issues that need to be resolved before it can operate seamlessly. The network is manufactured by Motorola. Evansville-Vanderburgh County Central Dispatch's radio system is Macom. The two aren't compatible, dispatch director JoAnne Smith said. "They don't talk to one another," she said. "It's like trying to put a Chevrolet air cleaner on a Ford."
The state wanted Evansville to change to a Motorola system, but dispatch didn't have the money. The Macom system was installed in 1991 for around $1 million. A new system would cost more, Smith said, and require new radios. There are around 17,000 on the Macom system. "We wouldn't have to put up a new tower, but you would have to replace every radio in every department in Vanderburgh County that's on our system," she said. "It would be pretty costly."
Smith said she hopes to get grant money to pay for equipment that would allow the two systems to communicate.
Found this article in this weeks Courier and Press newspaper.
A radio network that allows federal and local authorities to communicate statewide is expanding into Southern Indiana. Hoosier Safe-T (Safety Acting for Everyone - Together), was launched in 1997 but didn't gain momentum until after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that highlighted the need for better communications between law enforcement agencies. More than half of the network's 126 radio towers scheduled to be built statewide are finished, including one in Evansville at the Indiana State Police Post on U.S. 41. The towers, roughly 300 feet tall, operate on an 800 megahertz system connected through T1 lines and microwaves, said Sally Fay, communications director for the Integrated Public Safety Commission, which oversees Hoosier Safe-T. The $79 million project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2007. Once it is finished, emergency officials will be able to communicate to other agencies statewide. Since 9/11, other states have installed similar networks, including Michigan and Illinois, she said. In Indiana, the Public Safety Commission doesn't charge user fees, but each agency must purchase its own radios, Fay said. As with any new technology, there are some issues that need to be resolved before it can operate seamlessly. The network is manufactured by Motorola. Evansville-Vanderburgh County Central Dispatch's radio system is Macom. The two aren't compatible, dispatch director JoAnne Smith said. "They don't talk to one another," she said. "It's like trying to put a Chevrolet air cleaner on a Ford."
The state wanted Evansville to change to a Motorola system, but dispatch didn't have the money. The Macom system was installed in 1991 for around $1 million. A new system would cost more, Smith said, and require new radios. There are around 17,000 on the Macom system. "We wouldn't have to put up a new tower, but you would have to replace every radio in every department in Vanderburgh County that's on our system," she said. "It would be pretty costly."
Smith said she hopes to get grant money to pay for equipment that would allow the two systems to communicate.
Found this article in this weeks Courier and Press newspaper.
