Motorola to improve 800 MHz radios in Delaware

By D.L. Bonar, Staff writer

DOVER - Delaware's much heralded - and much maligned - 800 MHz radio system is about to be fixed.

Motorola Radio Communications has agreed to fix what has turned out to be a less than satisfactory communications system at no additional cost to the state.

The system had been under fire for months after police and fire officials found it did not perform as well as Motorola had promised.

When the new system was unveiled, it was hailed as top of the line in radio communications. Officials said it would enable fire officials in southern Delaware to communicate with police officials or other emergency authorities in northern portions of the state with clarity.

The problems arose when the $50 million system was found to leave gaps over some areas of the state.

At one point, tests were performed with New Castle County Police and fire service vehicles adjacent to one another. Neither could talk to one another.

"Dead spots" or areas in which communications are impossible, were also found in Claymont, Hartly and along the Delaware coast in Rehoboth Beach.

In an agreement worked out only after significant publicity and after months in which no one wanted to take the blame, Motorola proposed a fix for each of five areas of concern at "no cost to the state for Motorola-supplied equipment and services for each of the five areas," according to James Widick, a regional representative of Motorola.

The new equipment will include Intellirepeater sites in Claymont, Brandywine, Hockessin, Hartly and Rehoboth Beach. It will provide additional signal strength in areas that have been poorly covered with the previously installed repeaters.

According to technologists, the Intellirepeater takes a radio signal, increases it where needed and sends it on to another location.

In addition to the repeating units, Motorola has offered to provide what is called a SmartZone Controller for remote areas of the state where radios often switch from one dispatching center to another.

Hartly was one such area in which fire-line officers were unable to talk with their base station because their hand-held mobile units were automatically switched to the New Castle County Emergency Reporting Center through digital signaling.

Radio communications testing was done over a period of several weeks in all of the locations before the parties could reach an agreement over what was causing the lack of signal.

"I hope this will solve the problems we have encountered with our emergency radio system," said Rep. Bruce C. Ennis, D-Smyrna.

Rep. Ennis, along with Rep. Clifford G. "Biff" Lee, R-Laurel, Rep. Charles P. West, D-Gumboro, and Secretary of Public Safety Brian J. Bushweller worked for months in seeking some sort of relief from Motorola.

The final solution came after Gov. Thomas R. Carper contacted Robert Barnet, Motorola's president of commercial, government and industrial sector Monday to discuss the issue.

In announcing the Motorola offer, the governor was happy to have found a resolution to the 800 MHz mess.

"After spending more than $50 million on this project, Delaware taxpayers should expect no less," Gov. Carper said.

The 800 MHz radio system was installed in Delaware during the past year and is described as the best that money can buy. A similar system is being prepared by Motorola for installation in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. Officials from the Delaware Office of Information Services hinted earlier the firm may wish to put the Delaware problems behind them at a time when bad publicity might hurt them.

"The Delaware Volunteer Fireman's Association has been very concerned about these outage areas," said Michael H. Vincent, DVFA president.

"After our meeting Monday night, however, it appears the state and Motorola have come up with a plan that should solve the problems. We look forward to the implementation of the plan and the finalization of a fully operational statewide system."

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

Contents © 2008 by David Schoenberger