LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Tippecanoe County is taking part in a federal project to make the two-way radios used by police, fire and emergency responders safe from electronic interference from cellular phone frequencies.
The county was chosen for the government's $2.5 billion pilot project because it already has a superior communication system, said Mark Kirby, the county's emergency management director.
The project aims to change the frequencies for the two-way radios used by thousands of police, fire and other public agencies across the nation. Nextel has agreed to pay for the switch.
County agencies using two-way radios in the 800 megahertz range have spent the past few weeks temporarily turning over their equipment on a day-by-day basis to be inventoried.
"We're inventorying almost 2,000 radios," said Phil Lehman, who co-owns Lafayette-based RA-COMM, which is doing the work.
Nextel will fund the shipment of software for radios that can be reprogrammed and fund the shipment of new radios to replace ones that can't, said Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Capt. Charlie Williams, who's overseeing the project for the county.