From:
http://www.alabamastatetrooper.com/troopers_to_get_shoulder_radios.htm
Troopers to get shoulder radios
GINNY MacDONALD
News staff writer
Alabama state troopers are getting 400 shoulder radios aimed at eliminating transmission problems around the state and letting troopers communicate more quickly.
Now, if a trooper leaves his car, he loses his means to communicate by radio. Shoulder radios and other new transmission equipment will give troopers that means.
Radios are expected to be in operation by the end of October, thanks to a $3 million grant from federal Department of Homeland Security. The first 50 radios are being programmed at the trooper communications shop in Montgomery. They should be in operation in northwestern Alabama by the end of October, said Alabama Department of Public Safety Director Mike Coppage.
The grant also will be used to build towers for the radio system and buy signal amplifiers for patrol cars. Coppage said there are more radio towers in north than south Alabama.
"It will allow us to let a trooper get out of a car and transmit. We don't have anything like that now, and the trooper has to fight his way back to the car," Coppage said.
Some troopers have SouthernLINC communications equipment, which they bought themselves.
Two years ago, then-DPS Director Jim Alexander described the state troopers as having the poorest communications system in the nation. Thirty-five percent of the troopers across the state cannot talk to their posts, especially those in rural areas, he said.
With the towers and new base stations, troopers are projecting 95 percent coverage of the state.
The radios will mount on the shoulder, have a lapel microphone and not be handheld.
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859.4875 is the most likely the extender frequency. These M/A Comm radios will be used on the current system and will be compatable with any future system.
jm
