Primghar, Iowa — While some northwest Iowa counties are switching to a new radio system with a focus on interoperability with other agencies, others are not. When O’Brien County’s communication system gets an update, if they go with what is proposed, some equipment will be new, but the bulk of the technology will remain the same.
This week, O’Brien County Emergency Management Director Jared Johnson met with the O’Brien County Supervisors to review a project proposal for new radio repeaters. Johnson says he’s asking for up to $185,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to replace up to seven fire/ems repeaters and three law enforcement repeaters.
Johnson explains that local first responders (law enforcement, fire departments, ambulance services, and emergency management) use the repeaters to talk to their own responders, the other departments, and the O’Brien County Communications Center in Primghar.
Johnson says the current VHF repeaters need to be replaced as they are aging and it is becoming more difficult to find replacement parts, and he says it will be beneficial countywide to update them.
He clarifies that at this point in time, O’Brien County does not have plans to switch over to the statewide system (ISICS). But he says the county does have some operational capabilities right now to talk on the ISICS system via an APX consolette that the county received from the state. He says it allows the county dispatcher to monitor and talk to state radio and also patch channels if needed.
Johnson tells us if the county were to switch over to the ISICS system, there would need to be an extensive investment in new infrastructure including new portable and in-car radios, connection to ISICS towers, and possible new tower sites in order to have adequate portable and mobile coverage.
More info on ISICS system (the system that is NOT being proposed for O’Brien County) (story is from January 2019):
https://kiwaradio.com/local-news/new-statewide-public-safety-radio-system-almost-ready/
