County looks to service firm to solve communication problems
State Electronics has given county officials a list of recommendations which could clear up interference problems that have been occurring with radio equipment used by emergency personnel. A July 15 meeting was attended by commissioners Don Field and Mike Darga, along with sheriff Terry Flewelling and undersheriff Bob Paschke. Representing State Electronics were president Dean Hull and a company technician.
Some of the recommendations include replacing consoles, the tower at the sheriff?s department, old phone lines and equipment, and increased maintenance and training.
THERE ARE a number of reasons why Presque Isle County has experienced problems with the communication system, Hull said, and most of them fall back on the lightning strike of June 2002, which ?fried? many of the components of the console. When the system was hit, the county?s insurance carrier requested the units be fixed, rather than replaced. Hull believes the units should have been replaced, with the old ones being fixed and used as backups. He said his company is taking some of the blame for not pressing the issue further.
?We needed to advise our customer right away that this is a very poor decision to make, to try to repair this equipment,? Hull said. ?It?s too important to repair.?
The insurance company is not accepting any more claims from the lightning strike. One of the other major issues is the portable units are receiving messages from central dispatch, but they cannot transmit back to the base. The reason for that is a lack of ba
HULL ALSO said there may be a lack of knowledge about the radios? ability to perform, and the age of some of the units. The next step is to conduct a meeting with all the county fire departments and set up the radios where each community has its own channels, and to be sure they know the mutual aid channels from all neighboring counties and townships.
?We want to get everybody on the same page, so they can talk back and forth to each other,? said Paschke. ?If they are called in on a fire, they should be able to call in on a fire channel, so it?s not plugging up dispatch.?
State Electronics has offered to provide a training seminar on the proper use of the radios, including how to charge the battery correctly. Poorly maintained batteries are the number one reason for poor performance with portable units, Hull said.