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« on: October 06, 2008, 05:44:40 pm » |
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Putting into effect a new radio system for emergency-services personnel in Adams County could take about three years, a county commissioner said Wednesday.
The county plans to begin in January the first phase of its plan to upgrade the radio system 911 dispatchers and emergency-services workers use, Commissioner George Weikert said. The new system could take three years to realize, meaning it might not be in place until January 2012, he said.
"The preliminary work would be 18 months, and then, after the bids are awarded, it would be another 18 months until it was built and tested for service," Weikert said.
Estimates for the new system's cost range between $15 million and $30 million and are based on the number of towers the county would build or share with others, said John Eline, director of the county's emergency-services department.
The county uses a low-band, or analog, frequency system in a region where other counties have or are in the process of using high-band or digital systems. Digital systems would give the county more capabilities, such as transmitting voice and data over the frequencies, Eline said, and finding replacement parts for it is difficult because they are not made anymore. He said the system's age - between 40 and 50 years - is driving the upgrade.
"The system has been patched together for the last two decades or more just to get it up and running," Eline said.
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