System working despite glitch
By Steve Herring
Published in News on May 7, 2015 1:46 PM
Despite a glitch a week ago, Wayne County's new emergency radio system is working as it should, said Mel Powers, emergency management and security director with the county Office of Emergency Services.
"We did have an issue Friday," Powers told county commissioners at their meeting Tuesday. "It was isolated. What we found out, we started getting some complaints of coverage issues. RCC (the company working on the radio system) was already in the county and they started working on it.
"(The problem) was coming from some of the older portable radios that we have out there."
What was discovered was that some type of interference was affecting some of the radio channels, particularly in the Hood Swamp area, he said.
"It was causing the control channel to switch," Powers said. "When I say switch that control channel is the channel that says, 'Hey, you talk on this channel.' So when it sees interference it is going to roll to another channel. They were seeing that change four and five times in three and four minutes.
"Most of the newer portables could keep up with it, and it was not an issue. The older portables that had a minute or two minutes to try register on the system, that is where we were seeing the issue."
Basically, by the time the older radios could lock onto the new channel, it changed again, he said. The solution was to change the system's parameters so that the control channel would not "roll over like it was," Powers said.
"Once they did that, the system stabilized, and we did not see any more issues," he said. "But we are still investigating what happened Friday."
The majority of the older radios are in the Goldsboro Police Department and city Fire Department, he said.
The Police Department was the last agency to be switched over to the new system because of its size, Powers said
County Manager George Wood asked if those departments had been made aware of the issue.
"No sir," Powers said. "We are still investigating. We want to look at all avenues and then make a report we can submit to the commissioners and the city."
Commissioner Ray Mayo said it is even more imperative and more of an emergency than ever before to ensure the system is operating as it should because of the recent shooting at Wayne Community College.
Mayo asked if the county had made any effort to switch from VHF to an 800 MHz system like has been done in Wake and Johnston counties.
Mayo said it his understanding that the 800 MHz system is better equipped to handle weather issues like fog and clouds that can cause more problems with a VHF system.
All radio bands, including 800 MHz, experience some type of weather-related interference, Powers said.
Both Chairman Wayne Aycock, a veteran firefighter, and Commissioner Joe Gurley, retired OES director, agreed there is no perfect radio system and that all of them, including those in Wake and Johnston counties, can suffer from some type of interference.
Also, the 800 MHz signal does not penetrate buildings as well as the VHF system Wayne County has, Powers pointed out.
The county's system has been tested and did well in a variety of buildings across the county, he said.
Weather problems happen sporadically, while being able to communicate with emergency personnel inside a building is ever day, he noted. That was a deciding factor in selecting the VHF system, Powers said.
Another factor is the interoperability between different types of radio systems, something the county has never had before, Powers said.
During the response to the Wayne Community College shooting, the system was able to communicate with all of the different systems being used by responders, including the Highway Patrol's VIPER system, he said.
The interoperability even extends to the UHF system used on Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, Powers said.
For example, during the upcoming Wings Over Wayne Air Show law enforcement will be on one band and fire and EMS on another, he said.
"Then we have the capability to patch everybody in together," Powers said.
Commissioner Joe Daughtery said that under the old radio system there had been a lot of complaints.
"I can assure that if it (new system) wasn't working I would continue to have those," he said. "I am not having those calls. So evidently my section of the county seems very pleased with the new system."
People who experience problems with the system are still being told to let the county know so that the issue can be resolved, Powers said.