By Jim Hook, Public Opinion
Original publication date: Jan. 11

Chambersburg, Pa. — Franklin County’s $6.9 million 911 dispatch system has passed muster, and will see use later this month.

Police departments will be the first agencies to switch to the new emergency communications system, according to county Emergency Services Director David Donahue. Municipalities will follow later this month. Fire and ambulance companies will begin moving over in February. The transition will continue over the course of a year.

The county tested the ultra-high-frequency system in November and found that a responder can communicate with a handheld radio in 99 percent of the county. The current low-band system has just 82 percent coverage. Mountains and buildings can block radio transmission and reception.

The system will allow first responders from various agencies to communicate directly with each other at the scene of an emergency. The system also passed tests patching communications between police officers and volunteer responders and between Franklin County first responders with first responders from neighboring counties.

“The new system has greatly improved our ability to communicate with responders in the field,” said Bryan Stevenson, Franklin County Communications Center coordinator, “and will greatly improve the safety of emergency responders and the community.”

The county will broadcast off frequencies between 450 and 512 megahertz, Stevenson said.

Citizens wanting to listen to fire and police calls will still hear the original dispatch on their old scanners, but will need equipment with digital trunking to follow the action, according to Stevenson. A compatible scanner costs about $500.

The county has also prepared trainers from local agencies to train their own personnel in the use of the radios, according to Donahue. Training is to be conducted annually.

The new radios are more akin to the latest cell phones than old-style walkie-talkies, according to Donahue. The radios can access the Internet and have appointment calendars.

“The ultimate measure of the project’s success will be in lives saved,” Commissioner Bob Ziobrowski said. “Our citizens are safer because of their investment in this radio system.”

The coverage area exceeded the performance standards in all areas of the contract with Motorola.

About a dozen county employees traveled across the county to test reception in a grid of blocks, ranging in size from a square mile in rural areas to 1/16 square mile in towns. They were able to access and test in 84 percent of the blocks (7,575 of 9,029 blocks). The others were too remote.

Of the blocks tested, 99.8 percent have acceptable coverage using hand-held radio. Just nine blocks failed, notably one in the Borough of Waynesboro and three in the mountains — one at the Maryland line in Warren Township and two at the far north end of Fannett Township.

More powerful radios in fire trucks and other vehicles have coverage in those dead zones where hand-held units failed, according to Commissioner Robert Thomas.

Local agencies were invited to witness the testing, Donahue said.

The county began the project in 2003 to improve 911 communications. Commissioners borrowed $4 million in 2004 to finance it. The Federal Communications Commission was overrun with requests for use of ultra-high frequencies. The county had counted on a UHF signal, but eventually was assigned to former television broadcast frequencies.

The cost of the system jumped from $2.7 million to $6.9 million, even after Motorola, the county’s contractor, offered the county a special deal in making the change.

Many police, fire and rescue agencies spent millions of dollars to purchase radios programmed to operate on UHF. Commissioners agreed in September to compensate them for $415,000 to reprogram 383 radios for use on the final system.

The county also moved the 911 center from the courthouse basement to a renovated building in the Cumberland Valley Business Park. Five towers were constructed, bringing the total to seven.

The successful completion of the system is “a testament to the hard work, planning and cooperation of numerous public and private organizations,” Commissioner David Keller said.

About the Author
Jim Hook can be reached at 262-4759 and jhook@publicopinionnews.com. 

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