Delaware's 800 MHz radios fare well in storm

By D.L. Bonar, Staff writer

HARTLY - A fix to the problems with Delaware's new 800 MHz emergency radio system got a trial by fire, or perhaps a trial by water, Thursday.

Representatives of the state Office of Telecommunications and Motorola Radio Communications had just completed additions to the radio tower system in town when Hurricane Floyd swept through.

"The 800 MHz system is working well in the Hartly area," said Hartly fire chief James Fox Jr.

The area was one of five in the state that had problems with coverage due to radios that weren't able to communicate with one another or would switch automatically to radio channels in other counties, making local communication between agencies sometimes impossible.

"This system is a godsend," said Delaware National Guard Lt. Col. Edward Smith, who was among those who helped oversee and maintain communications with more than 115 guardsmen who were called up during the storm.

"During Hurricane Floyd, this radio system helped us operate much more efficiently and effectively than in the past," Lt. Col. Smith said.

In Kent County, emergency officials agreed, saying other than a few minor problems, the system worked well.

"Communications were good," said Emergency Dispatch Center chief Leroy Dear Jr.

"We had several things going on and it proved the new system will work. Our computer assisted dispatch system was down and we lost half of the frequencies due to some kind of a failure at Lums Pond but the system kept on truckin'. The radios worked, the people were able to communicate. The whole system worked."

Mr. Dear said at one point that the system was overloaded, so emergency communicators quit trying to access data information and the situation improved.

Before that happened, though, the Citizens Hose Company of Smyrna had difficulty communicating with Kent Center during an alarm.

Last week, Delaware Office of Information Services Telecommunications officials said tests in the Rehoboth Beach area showed the system was functional but more needed to be done to make improvements permanent.

The next step in the interim improvements will be to install a series of repeaters and additional towers in New Castle County to bring the system into more complete operation.

"Motorola has committed to fixing these problems and using their own money to do so," Gov. Thomas R. Carper said Friday.

"We will hold Motorola to that commitment while they continue fixing the system in other areas of the state."

The governor did not address the need for additional towers or frequencies, which technical experts have said will be needed to make the system workable indoors.

The $52 million system, which has been called a top-of-the-line network, left some emergency agencies in the state without the ability to communicate with one another when it was installed. Others communicated well, as long as they were outdoors. Designers claimed the state never contracted for a system guaranteed to work indoors and only agreed to a system that was "95 percent reliant outdoors".

The design of the communications system began more than seven years ago, during the administration of then-Gov. Michael N. Castle. During the most recent controversy, Gov. Carper stepped in to negotiate with Motorola officials, who agreed to make adjustments to the outdoors capabilities at their expense.

Indoor communications capabilities have yet to be addressed, but the most recent estimates are that the system, before it is complete, will cost taxpayers as much as $10 million more.

Motorola, while finishing the project in Delaware, is preparing to install a similar system in Philadelphia and another to link much of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Authority. Those projects are estimated to be valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, according to industry experts.

D.L. Bonar can be reached at 741-8228 or dbonar@newszap.com

Contents © 2008 by David Schoenberger