Radio Changeover Goes Smoothly

State Faces Next Bandwidth Change

— Fears about a change in radio bands for county and city agencies turned out to be similar to those related to the millennium and computer problems — fear, but few problems.

At A Glance

The Arkansas Wireless Information Network

The Federal Communications Commission is requiring the network to reduce the radio bandwidth the network is using.

The network provides a reliable, statewide means of communication for the state’s first responders. The system consists of more than 100 tower sites scattered throughout the state. There are more than 20,000 radios authorized for use on the system. Every county in the state has access to the system through their county emergency managers, but most counties have several other authorized users such as the county sheriff or local police departments.

Source: The Arkansas Wireless Information Network Website

The Federal Communications Commission required as of Jan. 1 agencies with radio licenses within certain bands to cut in half the frequencies they used. The move, called narrowbanding, freed up space for other radio usage.

The need for more radio bands will increase as more people use wireless communications, said John Luther, director of Washington County Department of Emergency Management.

“There is only so much space for radio usage,” Luther said. “Cutting the bandwidth is like a lot split. Where you once had one big lot, you now have two smaller ones.”

Like the millennium scare — when people thought the year change from 1999 to 2000 would cause problems with the world’s computers — agencies had years to prepare for the band switch. Local governments started purchasing equipment that would comply well before the change over.

The Springdale Fire Department only needed to replace a couple of radio repeaters, said Kevin McDonald, assistant chief.

“We ended up replacing a third repeater that went bad last year,” McDonald said. “All in all, we spent about $50,000 for the change.”

Some of the repeaters were 20 years old and overdue replacement, McDonald said. Newer equipment only needed reprogramming.

A radio repeater receives a weak signal and transmits it at a higher power to allow coverage of a larger area.

The Springdale Police Department and its dispatch center switched to the new narrowband in December, said Chief Kathy O’Kelley.

“We wanted to work out any bugs before hand,” O’Kelley said. “When the deadline came, we wanted to be compliant.”

The only problem experienced, said Capt. Mike Peters, was a little static. Some adjustments cleared that up.

Washington County updated its system several years ago, Luther said. That equipment was compliant with narrowbanding and only required switching to the new standards, he said.

Benton County also had equipment in place that complied with the requirements, said Marshal Watson, county administrator of public safety.

“About 99 percent of our equipment was ready for the narrowbanding,” Watson said. “We were ready about six months ago.”

Some agencies did have problems. Signals did not carry as well in rough terrain, said Gary Hull, chief of the Nob Hill Fire Department.

“Sometimes a bluff would shadow us from the tower,” Hull said. “We’ve worked around the problems.”

Nob Hill started its compliance drive more than two years ago, Hull said.

This deadline has been known for many years, Watson said.

“They extended the deadline once,” Watson said. “Everybody knew they wouldn’t do that again.”

Another deadline looms for the state, said Luther. The FCC is requiring radio license holders in the 700 megahertz band to go to narrowbanding by Jan. 1, 2017. The Arkansas Wireless Information Network uses those frequencies, he said.

Luther is a member of the Arkansas Interoperable Communications executive committee, which oversees the network.

“This has the potential of costing the state millions of dollars,” Luther said. “There is probably 20,000 (radios) affected across the state.”

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