MONROE — Green County recently approved the beginning stages of overhauling its emergency radio system after a presentation by Elert & Associates Technology Consultants of Iowa at the board of supervisors meeting Dec. 11. 

Sheriff Mark Rohloff looked to receive approval from the board to send out requests for proposals for improvements to the radio system during the meeting.

“Our back is against the wall,” Rohloff said. “We have a failing system. The technology is old, it’s hard to maintain. … It’s time now.”

He was referring the system currently in place, which he said has a normal lifespan of 15 to 20 years. But some of it is already failing, he noted in his address to supervisors. Part of the problem came from a mandate by the Federal Communications Commission that began January 2013. It required that all public safety licensees using 25 kHz radio systems change to 12.5 kHz, which is commonly referred to as “narrowbanding.”

Elert Technology Consultant Mike Day told supervisors to imagine a radio frequency as traveling along a tube. When the numbers drop and narrowbanding occurs, the tube’s circumference shrinks, making less room for messages to travel through on a system like Green County’s, which operates on a VHF frequency band operation last updated in 2006. 

Chief Deputy Tom Moczynski said when consideration for a change first began, the county formed a committee designated to put together a plan in “early 2017.” The group sought the help of Elert in July 2017. That’s when Day and colleague John Thompson began studying the system to make recommendations for an outlined request for proposal. 

Once sent out, companies will submit plans for the work, outlining the best options for Green County. Plans could include a change to a digital system which would depend on simulcast, or multiple transmissions on a number of towers, which Day said is “how you overcome some of the shortcomings” of the use of a single command tower as the county does now. 

While being spearheaded by officials within the Green County Sheriff’s Office, the radio project will benefit all emergency personnel which use dispatch through the county, Moczynski said. That includes the sheriff’s deputies, EMTs, the county Highway Department, firefighters and all municipal police departments with the exception of Monroe and Brodhead.

There are still questions about how to proceed with equipment updates. In response to questions during the meeting, Day said the county may require taller towers to have better signals. There are issues with monitoring equipment to ensure functionality in the face of dead batteries and failing materials, he added. 

Moczynski said that emergency workers have been able to make up for connection issues by using cellphones if they are out in the field or walking outside with portable radios to get better frequencies, but they are temporary. The county wants to find out, through the request process, what equipment and work needs to be done to make their emergency system modern and reliable.

“Now is the time to find out what’s needed,” he said.

The impetus for now is due to already failing equipment, Rohloff said at the meeting. Plus, the process to have a new system in place will likely take years.

“Two to four years is not uncommon,” Moczynski said, echoing Rohloff’s assertion that the lengthy process should begin in order to avoid complete failure.

Rohloff told supervisors that any fixes the county has attempted are essentially patchwork and they are limited. He added that getting funding before bringing the process to RFP took nearly two years and said he expects putting the system in place will require another two. 

Moczynski said examples from other places have shown that the main benefit of digital systems is that the coverage lost by narrowbanding can generally be regained through the upgrade.