[ScanIndiana] Vigo County, Terre Haute

[KC9EPY at aol.com]

Greetings.

The EDACS system listed as Vigo County was owned by the
Commercial Radio Service and was licensed by the Vigo
County Civil Defense. The city of Terre Haute took it over
and switched their PD and FD communications to it.
The main reason was for security of the PD transmissions.

Vigo County had/has very little invested in that system.
The city encountered coverage problems and Commercial
offered to fix them. A new license was issued by the FCC,
but to date those frequencies remain vacant while the
city has a consulting firm working on the problems of the
system. If the city continues with the Commercial
solution, then the WPIR776 license may be vacated.
Everything would move to the city's new license.

As far as dispatching goes...Vigo County is a mess.
Some agencies still use VHF only. Others use the
EDACS system. Still others use SAFE-T. The problem is that
most agencies don't have the equipment to talk to
the others. When THPD upgraded, instead of
just placing the EDACS radios in cars with the old
VHF ones, the VHF radios were removed entirely.
(So much for interoperability.)

Here is the rundown: [Hold on its gets bumpy :-) ]

The Vigo County Sheriff is dispatched via SAFE-T, but the
VHF channel (155.565) is used for backup (and units that do not
have 800MHz).

Vigo County fire is dispatched via VHF (154.310) for most departments
and by SAFE-T for others [Sugar Creek, Honey Creek, and Riley].

West Terre Haute PD is dispatched on the City TRS (analog), but
is also dispatched by the sheriff on VHF. The old WTHPD VHF frequency
is used as backup.

Terre Haute PD is dispatched on the City TRS. All transmissions are
ProVoice digital and are encrypted. A "select" simulcast of the dispatch
side for the public is maintained on their old VHF frequency.

Terre Haute FD is dispatched on the City TRS. Their transmissions
are analog. On occasion traffic is heard on the old VHF frequency.

ISUPD is dispatched on VHF.

Trans Care is dispatched on VHF.


There it is. 
This county needs to get together on something.