Jefferson County works on 911 updates
Ten years ago, Jeffrson County changed its 911 system to narrow-band digital communications; and, now it's time for a new system. The provider of the current and new system is Motorola.
"The company is no longer servicing old equipment." said Jefferson County Administrator Jerry Coalson. The cost of the new system is $1.5 million.
"This is a whole new system. We are adding new antennas. The project is a Tier 1 project under SPLOST 22. We are collecting the $1.5 million on the front end. Currently, the cities and county are not getting money to fund other projects. We should be finished collecting the $1.5 million in two-and-a-half months. We started collecting in February."
The current antennas will continue to be used; and, all the repeaters will be replaced with other repeaters added. Coalson said the new radios will work on the old system; and, the transition will be by department.
"The new system is an upgraded software platform of the current system," explained Jefferson County Emergency Management / Homeland Security Director Jim Anderson. "As to clarity and better range, it is our expectations with the addition of two new tower sites that the reception/transmission will improve.
"There are periods of time that we will have issues with coverage (mainly the same areas that we have issues with cell phone coverage and it is not consistent. Some of this is due to terrain and some due to atmospheric conditions as the system currently connects tower to tower with microwave technology. With the new system we anticipate that primary connection will be via fiber connection which will reduce the atmospheric interruptions."
Anderson said the radios that are being upgraded look like the ones currently being used and will be programmed the same but just on a different platform.
Coalson said the new equipment should arrive within a few months; but, a lot will depend on availability.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Jefferson County works on 911 updates
