Local News

Narrowband Compliance Update Hits Snag

A project in conjunction with the DeWitt County Sheriff's Department, the Clinton Police Department, DeWitt County's 9-1-1 and DeWitt County EMA has been delayed for a couple of weeks.

The various departments have been working to get themselves in compliance with the new Narrowband Compliance mandated by the FCC. 9-1-1 Coordinator for DeWitt County, Tony Harris explains the deadline has been extended numerous times by the FCC, but they recently put a hard deadline of 2013 for the departments to be in compliance. He explains the changes are focused at allowing more users on a larger channel capacity.

[audio:notificationdelay1.mp3] [/audio]

The project has hit a small bump in the road recently. Harris says despite the roadblock, the project should be completed in the next few weeks, and will be done in plenty of time ahead of the mandated FCC deadline. He explains their problem was with the signal for constant communication between Clinton and Farmer City, which is currently being worked out.

[audio:notificationdelay2.mp3] [/audio]

Harris explains this project will enable the various departments to communicate with other departments, such as Farmer City. He adds the transmitters that were recently donated to the Clinton Fire Department and others around the area will help improve their communications as well. Harris says this mandate by the FCC is all about improving the communication systems.

[audio:notificationdelay3.mp3] [/audio]

Including the Narrowband Compliance Update, the 9-1-1 office continues to work towards a county wide mass notification system for emergencies. They are working to fix mapping issues involving GPS units. They are also working to incorporate what is called "Next Generation 9-1-1" which is several years away from full completion, but early stages of preparation for that are underway.

Townhall Top of the Hour News

Local Weather - Sponsored By:

CLINTON WEATHER

Local News

DeWittDN on Facebook