[Scanner] hams help Collinsville

Tue, 15 Jan 2002 00:11:08 -0500

This article is from Mobile Radio Technology Magazine (www.mrtmag.com)

Tulsa radio amateurs restore police, fire  dispatching
 Mark Conklin, N7XYO, Oklahoma ARRL public information coordinator

 Mobile Radio Technology magazine, www.mrtmag.com, Online Special, Dec
20 2001

 Volunteers from the Tulsa Amateur Radio Club helped to restore police
and fire dispatching
 service in Collinsville, Oklahoma, after flames destroyed the city's
radio gear and disrupted
 9-1-1 service on Dec. 1, 2001. The early-morning fire badly damaged the
88-year-old
 Collinsville City Hall, which housed the community's police and fire
departments and other
 offices.

 The city's communication system was functioning, but 9-1-1 calls were
re-routed to a nearby
 city, because all the dispatch equipment was lost in the fire. Even the
antenna was lost. As a
 result, the city had to find a temporary home for police and fire
dispatch.

 Collinsville, a community of some 4,000 people, is located about 12
miles north of Tulsa.

 Collinsville arranged to set up its dispatching center in the
Collinsville Rural Fire Station.

 Area radio amateurs alerted to the devastating fire quickly responded
to help, and Tim Diehl,
 KB5ZVC, notified American Radio Relay League Oklahoma Section Manager
Charlie Calhoun,
 K5TTT. TARC Public Service Liaison Dan Lamoreaux, WG5Z, rounded up
Gregg Wonderly,
 W5GGW; Dave Smith, KD5OIJ; and Tom Roininen, KB5HMZ; as additional
volunteers. The
 volunteers brought the club's portable repeater system, which had been
built using commercial
 radio equipment converted for amateur use.

 The amateurs reprogrammed the repeater for the police and fire
departments to use as an
 emergency dispatch radio. By 9 p.m., all systems were totally
operational, and police and fire
 dispatching was being handled though the club's loaned radio equipment.

 Established in 1924, the Tulsa Amateur Radio Club is the state's oldest
ham radio club. It
 operates the W5IAS linked repeater system, and its members are active
in public service.

 �ARRL Letter and American Radio Relay League