By Steve Marroni, The Evening Sun
Hanover, Pa. — Adams County will soon be upgrading its 30-plus-year-old analog radio system with a new, digital one to update the county’s emergency services system.

County commissioners on Wednesday approved putting out requests for proposals for the new system.

County director of emergency services John Eline said a link with an extensive document containing the specifications for what the county is looking will be on the county’s Web site, www.adamscounty.us.

A pre-bid conference is set for 10 a.m. Nov. 3 at the Emergency Management Services Center, 230 Greenamyer Lane, Gettysburg. Bid proposals are due Jan. 18.

Eline said it took about 18 months to research the system that would work best in Adams County, and to get together the lengthy document of specifications.

The county will likely have over 20 sites for possible transmitter or tower locations.

The system will better connect 9-1-1 emergency services with all fire, ambulance and police services.

The transition from analog to digital is needed, Eline said previously, because the last major upgrade to the system came in 1979, and some parts of the system date back to the 1950s.

York County transitioned to a similar type of digital system, which is becoming a standard across the country. The transition in York County came with its share of problems from dropped pages to an inability to communicate. Eline previously said he was watching those problems closely in order to avoid making the same mistakes.

The Federal Communications Commission mandated that by 2013, all non-federal public safety licenses within a certain frequency must make the change to a narrow band, such as the digital system the county plans to transfer to.

Throughout the process, firefighters, police officers, EMTs and 9-1-1 operators have been consulted to make sure the new system is something they need.

Early estimates on the cost of the system ranged from $17 million to $30 million.

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Contact Steve Marroni at smarroni@eveningsun.com.

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