By P.J. Reilly, Intelligencer Journal
Original publication date: Feb. 25, 2011

Lancaster, Pa. — Lancaster County’s stalled efforts to build a new emergency radio system are up and running again.

The commissioners on Thursday announced the Federal Communications Commission has granted the county’s request to take over a television communications band (T-band) for its emergency system.

“This is a big step forward for the future of public safety in Lancaster County,” said Commissioner Scott Martin.

The T-band system is expected to have greater capacity, more flexibility and provide better service to all parts of the county than the 1960s-era VHF system the county currently operates.

“I’m happy,” said Penn Township police Chief Larry Snavely, a member of the county’s emergency radio system steering committee. “It will allow us to function much more efficiently.”

According to Martin, the county got access to the band it wanted when WGAL agreed to drop its plans to take control of it.

Paul Quinn, president and general manager of WGAL, said his station already had won FCC permission to use the band to expand its operations, but backed away after learning it was the best option for a new, countywide emergency communications system.

“When we did the research and realized that was one of the only options that the county had – and we had other less-desirable options – we were glad to do this,” Quinn said.

Lancaster County has been trying for more than a decade to replace its outdated VHF emergency radio system with new and improved technology.

The present system often gets overcrowded if too many people are using it at the same time; it has dead spots where radios don’t work; and it doesn’t allow police, firefighters and ambulance crews to talk directly to each other.

Prior to 2008, the county had spent much of the previous 11 years – and about $14 million – on an open-sky, 800 MHz system like the one state police use across Pennsylvania.

In 2008, however, the commissioners, acting on the recommendation of the county’s emergency radio steering committee, backed out of its contract with the company that was building the 800 MHz system.

The system was rife with problems, and the portable units individual police, fire and ambulance departments would have needed were expensive, officials said.

Mike Weaver, director of Lancaster County-Wide Communications, said the steering committee felt T-band was the best way to go, so the county applied to the FCC for use of an available band.

For three years, the county communicated back and forth with the FCC.

“It was extremely frustrating not being able to get anywhere,” Martin said.

The commissioners eventually called on U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts for help.

Martin credited Pitts for dogging the FCC until the agency finally granted the county permission to use the T-band.

According to Weaver, the T-band system will:

• Never be overcrowded.
• Allow police fire and ambulance crews to talk to one another, or among themselves, simply by turning a dial on their radios.
• Have better “penetration” into areas where radio communications frequently drop off, such as basements of tall buildings and the bottoms of ravines in hills along rivers.

Weaver also expects the new system to cost less than the 800 MHz system.

He declined to put a price tag on the system or the portable radios every police officer, firefighter and medic will need because the county is expected to solicit bids soon for both.

“We don’t want to give anyone any ideas on what to bid,” he said.

Weaver expects the communications towers the county spent $14 million building all over Lancaster County to be incorporated into the T-band system.

“And we don’t anticipate needing any more towers,” he said.

The T-band system is expected to “go live” in 2012, Weaver said.

There are portable scanners that monitor T-band systems, according to Weaver, so private citizens who listen to emergency communications will not be left in the dark.

Also, Weaver said the county is considering streaming some communications live.

“So your computer could be your scanner,” he said.

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