Interference Problems—

Town Swaps Radio Frequencies

To Ensure Emergency Communications

By Andrew Gorosko

To circumvent radio interference that has hampered municipal emergency communications for the past several months, the town has swapped some of its designated radio frequencies among various town agencies to keep clear the electronic lines of communication for its firefighting, ambulance, paramedic, and scuba diving services.

Joseph DelBuono, director of emergency telecommunications, said this week that a frequency that has been used by town’s five volunteer fire companies, volunteer ambulance staffers, paramedics, and volunteer scuba divers since 2004 has been prone to intermittent radio interference for the past several months.

To get around the radio interference problems, the town has now given those agencies the use of a radio frequency that has been used since 2004 by the public works department, the parks and recreation department, and several other municipal agencies.

As a consequence, the public works, parks and recreation, and other agencies are now using the frequency formerly used by the emergency services, which has experienced interference problems.

The police department does not use the affected radio frequencies for its communications.

When the interference occurred, it resulted in spoken words or phrases being omitted from emergency radio transmissions, making it difficult to understand entire messages.

The town started using a new, nearly $2 million radio communications network in 2004 to improve the reliability and quality of radio communications for municipal agencies.

The communications problems that have occurred during the past several months do not stem from equipment problems, said Fire Marshal Bill Halstead, who oversaw the town’s radio system upgrade last year. The communications problems occur when other public service agencies elsewhere are using the same radio frequency as that used by Newtown, he said.

Mr DelBuono said that the continuing interference problems had caused a nuisance that could pose life safety issues.

The frequency that had been used by the public works department provided for a cleaner, more reliable radio signal, so it was decided to shift the fire, ambulance, paramedic, and scuba radio traffic to that frequency, he said.

Origin Of Interference

The source of the radio interference may be from New York City, from Harrison, N.Y., in Westchester County, or from Meriden, Mr DelBuono said.

Public service agencies in one of those locations may be making high-powered transmissions that cause the local radio interference.

Town officials plan to research the origin of the radio interference so that the problem can be corrected, Mr DelBuono said.

Seeking approval for a new frequency from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for Newtown would be a lengthy process, he noted. The FCC’s allocation of the limited number radio frequencies available entails lengthy paperwork and review.

Although the town’s internal swapping of radio frequencies may well solve the interference problems experienced by the fire companies, ambulances, paramedics, and scuba divers, the town will monitor whether the public works department, parks and recreation department, and other municipal agencies experience unacceptable levels of interference while they are using the frequency that has been interference-prone for the past several months, Mr DelBuono said.

Those interference problems most typically have occurred on weekdays from 3 to 9 pm and also on weekends, he said.

Town officials decided that until the interference problems could be corrected, it was more critical for the emergency-oriented fire, ambulance, paramedic, and scuba services to have reliable radio communications than the other nonemergency agencies, he said.

The quality of radio communications on the frequency now being used by public works, parks and recreation, and other nonemergency town agencies will be monitored for a ten-day period to gauge the extent of radio interference encountered and its effect on those agencies’ operations, Mr DelBuono said. The frequency changeover occurred on July 18.

If such interference poses operational problems, the town would seek ways to eliminate the interference or seek FCC approval to obtain a new frequency for town use, he said.

Mr Halstead said that because the interference has occurred in the nighttime and on weekends, it should not have much effect on public works’ operations.

The decision to swap frequencies was an expedient designed to provide emergency services radio communications with reliability, while the town researches the source of the radio interference and corrects it, he said. Eliminating the radio interference problems is expected to take some time, Mr Halstead said.

The new radio system that the town started using in 2004 includes modern equipment and multiple radio transmission and reception facilities designed to extend the reach and reliability of the municipal radio network.

The system uses five radio towers. Town antennas are located on towers at 20 Barnabas Road, 8 Ferris Road, 151 Berkshire Road, 25 Berkshire Road, and 352 South Main Street.

Handheld portable radios, which look like walkie-talkies, are in wide use by various town agencies.

Because the radio system is programmable and does not rely on radio crystals, the various agencies are able to communicate with one another by shifting frequencies. The system uses eight different radio frequencies. The radio system operates on the 150-megahertz radio band, also known as “high-band,” which is well-suited to penetrate the town’s hilly terrain.