[Scan-DC] Kanawha Co, WV: Nitro, St. Albans switching to digital radios

[Alan Henney]

Charleston Gazette (West Virginia)

June 7, 2011, Tuesday

EMERGENCY SERVICES; 
Nitro, St. Albans switching to digital radios

BYLINE: Rusty Marks, Staff writer

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. P5A

LENGTH: 316 words

Nitro and St. Albans will be the first Kanawha County emergency agencies outside the city of Charleston to make the switch from analog to digital emergency radios.

The Charleston Fire Department and several other Charleston-based agencies have been using digital radios for more than a year. Dave Erwin, coordinator of the Kanawha County Emergency Operations Center, said local officials are now getting ready to switch emergency traffic for other agencies in the county. 

Fire departments in Nitro and St. Albans are scheduled to stop using their analog radio systems this week and start using digital broadcast frequencies. Erwin said the switch is necessary because both towns have poor reception on their existing frequencies.

"With their current radio systems, there are a lot of dead spots," Erwin said. He said most of the old analog emergency frequencies are full, leaving Nitro and St. Albans nowhere to go to get a better signal.

State and local officials are setting up a statewide digital radio network. Many emergency agencies in the county have already bought digital radio equipment with state and federal grant money.

Erwin hopes to have most of the county switched over to digital radios within a year. "Every month we'll move more and more and more [agencies to digital frequencies]," he said.

Erwin said it will not be possible to keep broadcasting on the old analog system once the new digital frequencies are in place.

"There's a problem trying to mix analog and digital [signals]," he said. Analog frequencies will go dead one by one as fire and police departments switch to the new system.

Erwin said the new digital frequencies can't be picked up on existing analog police scanners. He said anyone used to listening to emergency radio traffic will have to buy a new digital scanner. "They start at about 400 bucks," he said.

Reach Rusty Marks at rustymarks at wvgazette.com

or 304-348-1215.