Lineboro may get its emergency radio tower

Property owner interested in plan for communications

Lineboro could still get its own emergency communications tower, now that a property owner has expressed interest in allowing one on land off Alesia to Lineboro Road, where fire officials say a tower would help most.

Ever since July of 1997, when the county switched to the 800 megahertz radio frequency system, Lineboro fire company officials have said they have virtually nonexistent emergency communications on the scene in some areas.

``If we really need to talk, we use the 40-year-old radio,'' Lineboro Volunteer Fire Department President John Warner said.

The county has been trying to set up an additional antenna in the Lineboro area, in order to help re-establish radio coverage there. But county officials have run into dead-ends with property owners. Earlier this month, county officials said they were considering putting an antenna on a proposed Sprint PCS tower in Melrose, a site several fire officials thought wouldn't improve service because of the area's topography.

But Warner said that since last week, a property owner on high ground near Alesia to Lineboro Road has expressed an interest in allowing an emergency communications tower on property that is about 900 feet above sea level.

``I believe we've gotten people's attention,'' Warner said. ``We've identified another potential site.''

Because the proposed Melrose tower would be on the opposite side of a ridge in the area, former Lineboro fire company President Linas Saurusaitis and other fire officials have said it wouldn't solve the coverage problem.

Buddy Redman, director of the Carroll County Office of Public Safety, said he also heard recently about the interested landowner on Alesia to Lineboro Road.  And he's put the wheels in motion by asking Motorola - which helped develop the county's 800 megahertz system - to test whether a tower would work from the site's coordinates.

Some of the areas that will be the biggest test for any radio system, according to fire company officials, are those in the valleys around Lineboro.

Mike Valentine, a county communications technical assistant, said radio coverage is inconsistent around Lineboro, although he said he thinks that affects only a small number of the area's emergency calls. He said the worst places are around River Valley Ranch, a summer camp in the area.

``I know it's a tough area,'' Valentine said. ``It's such a hit-or-miss area.  It depends on where the calls are.''

A River Valley Ranch camp administrator said the facility has not experienced any major medical or fire emergencies since the 800 MHz system became operational. But he said he knows communication is not good in the area and could pose a problem for emergency crews if they were ever needed.

``I definitely see that as an issue,'' River Valley Ranch Executive Director Jon Bisset said. ``I could see a day where we would need to be in contact with some type of emergency services.''

Bisset said the 550-acre camp serves about 225 kids per week in the summers, with numbers reaching 800 to 1,000 on Saturdays. He said the camp does not have CB radio or cellular telephone service in many of the camp's valley areas.

Contents © 2008 by David Schoenberger