SCAD communications update complete

Technician Keith Fierket with Motorola Solutions was putting the finishing touches on new communications equipment at the Stoddard County Ambulance District (SCAD) this week. The installation of the Motorola Astro 25 Radio System is only the third such system to be used in Southeast Missouri, and the first by an outside agency in the entire state. The other two digital systems are at the Troop E Headquarters of the Missouri Highway Patrol in Poplar Bluff and the Sikeston Department of Public Safety, which was a pilot program.

"The sound quality is amazing," said SCAD Manager Dave Cooper. "The system allows us to patch responding agencies directly to each other, which eliminates having the dispatcher relay messages to different responding agencies."

The system is part of the Missouri Statewide Interoperability Network (MOSWIN), which was developed for the Highway Patrol. The Patrol took bids on the digital system and Motorola Solutions received the contract.

The communication features of the system resemble something from a science fiction novel.

The high speed connection is provided by a t1 line.

The system has consoles for up to three dispatchers working at the same time. The dispatchers have full access to all eight of the old analog frequencies, while adding three local digital dispatch channels, five channels used by the Highway Patrol in Region E and links to major event channels with the Highway Patrol and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).

Cooper says the system will allow dispatchers and emergency personnel to each have their own channel for up to three major events going on simultaneously.

Dispatcher Misti Lilly wears one of the new wireless headsets which gives the dispatcher mobility in answering calls.

SCAD Communications Director Jamie Holcomb is impressed with how the system can integrate the older analog radios with the new digital channels.

"We can now bridge the communication gap," said Holcomb.

She gives an example of how the system can integrate communications during an emergency. Highway Patrolmen and ambulance personnel at the scene are communicating through the new system, while a first responder or fire department calls the dispatch center on radio equipment. The software can convert the analog signal to a digital signal and allow the first responder to talk directly to the Highway Patrol or SCAD team at the scene.

The result is better response times to emergencies and better organization at the scene to deal with the emergency.

Holcomb also has high praise for the digital headsets that allow the dispatcher to communicate on the move and from any location in the SCAD building.

"They are awesome," said Holcomb.

Feirket has installed 30 of these systems for Motorola, 25 of which have been in Missouri. The system has been installed at all Highway Patrol headquarters and the St. Louis area is now digital. He says the t1 line opens all kinds of doors for communication.

"Most of us are familiar with a normal business or residential line from the phone company. A normal phone line like this is delivered on a pair of copper wires that transmit your voice as an analog signal. When you use a normal modem on a line like this, it can transmit data at perhaps 30 kilobits per second (30,000 bits per second)," says the website How Stuff Works. "The phone company moves nearly all voice traffic as digital rather than analog signals. Your analog line gets converted to a digital signal by sampling it 8,000 times per second at 8-bit resolution (64,000 bits per second). Nearly all digital data now flows over fiber optic lines, and the phone company uses different designations to talk about the capacity of a fiber optic line."

A T1 line can carry 24 digitized voice channels, or it can carry data at a rate of 1.544 megabits per second.

The master site for the Motorola systems in Southeast Missouri is in Weldon Springs, says Feirket. All communications go through that office.

Feirket says that the system was designed to provide simultaneous communications for a three-state area: Illinois, Missouri and Kansas.

Cooper says Feirket was able to customize the system for the SCAD communications staff.

SCAD staff trained in the new equipment and then offered input into how they wanted the monitor screens set up. Feirket then worked with them to meet their requests.

"He configured them like we wanted them," said Holcomb.

The SCAD dispatch center has been a backup for the Sikeston Department of Public Safety and Sikeston does the same for SCAD. The fact that both agencies are now using the same system makes that even easier.

Feirket explains that Sikeston DPS could now come to Dexter and access their own system through SCAD's equipment in the event a problem. The same holds true for SCAD at Sikeston.

"By entering their security codes, they could pull up their own system with their own configurations," said Feirket.

While the system is state-of-the-art, it is not inexpensive. The cost was $257,470 for the system to Motorola, in addition to adding at t1 line and additional wiring in the building.