Michigan State Police happy with Branch County 911 radio fixes

Don Reid, Coldwater Daily Reporter
·2 min read

BRANCH COUNTY — Operability issues between Michigan State Police radios and the new Branch County central dispatch are repaired.

District 5 Region 4 commander First Lt. Barry Schrader told the 911 communication board Wednesday after recent work by contractor J&K Communications, “I have no issues. I am very satisfied. I am very happy.”

Jim Bowers of J&K said a new software patch allowed the Kenwood system to eliminate delays between Central Dispatch and MSP radios which had created a problem.

“It sounds like it works really well,” he said.

First Lt. Barry Schrader talks with ACD Telcom consultant Ali Shahnami on ZOOM while J&K engineer Jim Bowers listens at the 911 board meeting Wednesday.
First Lt. Barry Schrader talks with ACD Telcom consultant Ali Shahnami on ZOOM while J&K engineer Jim Bowers listens at the 911 board meeting Wednesday.

Since the new radios were put into service last fall, troopers reported being unable to contact central dispatch with their radios that operate on the Michigan Public Safety Communications System. There were delays in signals so radios talked over each other.

Troopers, staff from 911, and J&K along with consultants from ACD Telcom drove around the county testing the software fix.

“It was safe and I was satisfied. There was virtually no delay,” Lt. Schrader said.

The commander ended plans to reprogram MSP Motorola radios to work on the Kenwood system. The 18 portable radios would have allowed for each of the three detachment sergeants, all local troopers, to carry a second portable radio just for Branch County.  Modification and programming would have been $948 a unit or $17,077.

A second issue where the emergency response alert on troopers' radios would not work in Branch County was also fixed.

“The people of Branch County should be very happy with the way this was handled,” Schrader said.

Bowers said during testing, the coax cable which served the Union City tower was faulty and replaced improving service to the northwest area of the county.

Prior story State Police radios don't work on Branch County's new 911 radio system

An issue with fire pagers developed with the software upgrade. That was addressed this week.

Sheriff John Pollack said the public had a lot of misinformation “on how terrible the new m was.” He said issues ways develop when there is a change.

“Based on portable, there is 97% coverage in Branch County,” Pollack said. Branch County 911 began planning to replace its 1992 analog radio system in 2018 because there were large gaps in service in the rural areas of the county even with more powerful in-car units.

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Branch County awarded the low-bid contract to J&K Communications for $8.2 million. The state Motorola system used by MSP would cost nearly $2 million more using outdated technology on the digital 800 MHz system.

Bowers said J&K staff are already in the county providing the first semi-annual preventive maintenance under its bid.

— Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DReidTDR.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Michigan State Police happy with Branch County 911 radio fixes