[Scan-DC] Rehoboth Radios

[Shawnerz]

Blair (and all),
The problem actually goes back to 1999.  Here's a copy
of articles that's I've kept.
Alan actually posted this one almost 4 years ago
exactly!
Enjoy,
-Shawn
(I have two other articles from the same time period
but they basically say the same thing.  If anyone is
interested, I can post them or email them directly to
you.)


Subject: [Scan-DC] The Delaware saga continues
Date: Fri, 3 Sep 1999 13:27:56 -0400
From: "Alan Henney" <henney@magpage.com>
To: <scan-dc@qth.net>

(Wilmington) News Journal

Radio fix for NCCo elusive
Frequencies needed to fill dead zones

By STEVEN CHURCH
Staff reporter
09/03/99

The governor's first choice to fix Delaware's
emergency radio network
problems in New Castle County hit static this week
because consultants were
unable to get the new frequencies needed to repair the
system.

The setback means state radio officials must pick from
among several
alternatives, each with its own drawbacks.

The $52 million radio system was designed to allow
police officers and
firefighters to communicate with one another from any
outdoor spot in
Delaware.

But the computer-dependent radios often go dead in
five areas of the state.

The system does not work at all inside large buildings
such as malls,
hospitals and apartment complexes. The designers never
intended the radios
to work indoors.

Gov. Tom Carper announced last month that the system's
builder, Motorola
Inc., would give the state equipment called
"intellirepeaters" to fill in
dead zones.

The equipment, however, must have additional
frequencies to work.

In Rehoboth that hasn't been a problem. But in New
Castle County, which has
three of the five dead zones, state radio officials
say no frequencies are
available.

Motorola should be finished installing the equipment
in Rehoboth Beach this
morning. State officials plan to test the system this
afternoon. If it
works, the intellirepeaters also will be installed in
Hartly.

But that fix won't work in New Castle County if
officials can't find
frequencies for the equipment. Carper could not be
reached Thursday for
comment. His spokesman, Anthony Farina, repeated the
administration's
assertion that Motorola would fix the problems at no
cost to the state.

The governor will hold Motorola to its commitment to
fix the problems,
Farina said.

But the governor's solutions don't go far enough for
Harry Warner, chairman
of New Castle County's Committee for Public Safety
Communications.

"All they want to do is put a Band-Aid on this thing,"
said Warner, who has
pushed for an 800-megahertz radio system since the
late 1980s. "What's the
point of putting a Band-Aid on this thing when they
are just going to have
to come back and fix it again later? I'm tired of lip
service on this."

Carper's solutions are designed only to improve
coverage outdoors. Once
Motorola has done that, the state will look at
expanding the system so the
radios, which cost about $3,800 each, will work
indoors.

"At this point spending more state dollars before
Motorola fixes all the
problems would be foolishly spending state dollars,"
Farina said. "First
things first."

Officials found out this week that no frequencies are
available, said
Richard Reynolds, the state's top radio expert, who
oversaw installation of
the system and is leading efforts to repair it.

"Right now the search is coming up kind of empty," he
said.

State officials had hoped to use frequencies
previously set aside for
Maryland, but that option appears dead.

Maryland had reserved 47 frequencies from the Federal
Communications
Commission to use in its own statewide radio system.
But the state scaled
back its plans and returned about 35 of those
frequencies, said Stephen H.
Souder, chairman of an FCC regional committee that
regulates radio signals
in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and part of Virginia.

When Delaware officials heard about the returned
signals, they thought they
had found the answer to their problem.

Souder effectively killed that hope Thursday. Souder's
committee oversees
frequency assignment in the area known as FCC Region
20, which is made up of
Maryland, Washington and part of Virginia.

He said Region 20 had 12 applications to use the
signals within its borders,
and those agencies get first choice. Delaware belongs
to Region 28, which
includes southern New Jersey and southeastern
Pennsylvania. Each region got
the same number of frequencies and there is no trading
between regions,
Souder said.

Delaware used its fair share of frequencies and
shouldn't go looking outside
its borders just because the state's radio system has
problems, Souder said.

"I've been in this business my whole life, and I've
never heard anything
remotely like this," he said.

The state may try to simultaneously use the same radio
signals in Sussex and
New Castle counties, but that will require Motorola to
redesign the
intellirepeaters, Reynolds said. If it doesn't work,
each county's use could
interfere with the other's.

In that case, state officials may try a solution that
failed once already in
Claymont, where county police officers and paramedics
have some of the worst
reception.

Earlier this year the state put in an amplifier
designed to boost radio
signals in the area. But it didn't work, Reynolds
said.

A new type of amplifier linked to a fiber-optic cable
might work, Reynolds
said. If it doesn't work, the state can insist that
Motorola install new
radio towers, which cost about $1 million each,
Reynolds said.

Motorola has never promised to put in new towers,
considered the most
expensive and difficult of the solutions.

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--- b_thom@juno.com wrote:
> 
> 
> On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 19:21:13 -0700 (PDT) Punworg
> <punworg@yahoo.com>
> writes:
> > Rehoboth to upgrade radio system
> > Federal grant will help eliminate dead spots in
> some
> > areas of city 
> 
> How in the world could there be dead spots in
> Rehoboth? Tall buildings?
> Mountain ranges?
> _______________________________________________
> Scan-DC mailing list
> Scan-DC@mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/scan-dc


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