Delaware was warned about 800 MHz radios

By D.L. Bonar, Staff writer

DOVER - Delaware emergency communications officials and representatives of the Office of Telecommunications in the Office of Information Services have installed a new 800 MHz radio system, despite warnings it would interfere with surrounding states' capability to communicate.

The new communications system, hailed as the most modern available and installed at a cost to taxpayers of more than $50 million does not, to this day, work properly in all areas of the state.

The bid work and construction of the towers to support the project came despite repeated questions raised before the Federal Communications Commission dating back to Dec. 26, 1996.

"The state of Delaware appears to have been sold a lot of bells and whistles, when they were not able to use them properly," said Dr. Michael C. Trahos, a member of the Public Safety Review Committee, an oversight group which reports to the Federal Communications Commission.

According to Dr. Trahos, almost the entire 800 MHz radio system in Delaware was designed and constructed in a flawed manner, "based solely on computer models and with very little, if any practical examination".

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the whole thing was designed incorrectly," the review official said.

Dr. Trahos said his interest lies not only in the fact he is on the review committee, but that he and his family own property in the Rehoboth Beach area and his elderly mother lives there.

"It's insanity," the Georgetown University professor said. "Indirectly, the state of Delaware has admitted to violations of FCC rules of interference in other jurisdictions. Now the question comes, how many millions of dollars of additional tax money will be spent to correct the situation?"

Specifically, Steve Souder, chairman of the Public Safety Review Committee in Region 20, comprised of portions of Maryland's Eastern Shore and the Philadelphia region, complained to officials representing the interests of the state of Delaware that the state's emergency radio transmission would interfere with emergency communications in the areas his region makes up.

Two injunctive requests were filed with the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C., trying to prevent the construction of the system until problems were resolved.

According to Mr. Souder, Delaware continued with its plan to construct the 800 MHz system, knowing those problems existed and had not been resolved.

The problem is exacerbated by the allegation that Richard Reynolds, an employee of the Delaware Office of Information Services and chair of the Plan Update Committee, was fully aware these problems existed. The telecommunications official is project director for the 800 MHz development program.

Mr. Reynolds was in Germany on reserve military duty and unavailable for comment. But the director of OIS, John J. Nold, has repeatedly said the telecommunications group was working to correct transmission problems to give emergency workers better communications.

Mr. Nold and Mr. Reynolds, during public meetings with legislators, said the group was working with Motorola Communications to solve the problems. Motorola eventually said it would fix the "dead zones" at no cost to the state.

Legislators said they never learned about the overlap problems or the requests for the Federal Communications Commission to halt the program.

To date, none of the encroachment problems have been addressed, according to Dr. Trahos, despite technical evidence that the system encroaches as much as 50 miles into the state of Maryland's airspace.

"I've certainly never heard about this before," said Rep. Bruce C. Ennis, D-Smyrna, a member of the House Communications Committee and longtime participant in the development of emergency services and communications. "It troubles me that while we have addressed 'dead zone' problems only after lots of pressure from emergency communications users. Now we learn there are more problems with an apparent overlap. How much will this costs us?"

A legislative initiative, awaiting action in the Delaware Senate, would address some of the problems, according to the sponsor.

"This is exactly why we developed HB 329," said Rep. Nancy H. Wagner, R-Dover. "With the proliferation of high-tech systems today, we need competent, knowledgeable people in place to oversee their development and installation."

The bill would require that each agency have a qualified expert in place to supervise any high-tech state project priced in excess of $500,000. It would also prohibit the payment of any vendor for construction of the project, until that stage is completed to the state's and contractual satisfaction.

"These projects are only going to become more plentiful," Rep. Wagner said last week. "State government has to begin running as a business and we are sure a long way away from that."

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

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