The Clay County E-911 Board will expand the usage of analog radio for emergency personnel.
A 30-40 foot radio tower will be installed at the Mount Vernon Fire Department. Board President Jamey Allen said the added analog repeater would cover the western quarter of the county.
“Where the analog repeater is now, it does not clear a hill ridge up to 1,120 feet above sea level.” Allen said. “And that messes with the radio frequency going over that way.”
Allen said pagers across the county would receive alerts instantly with the upgrade. The project is expected to cost about $1,000 with the biggest expense being frequency levels. The county already has majority of the materials for the project.
“It is sometimes hard to get these frequency pairs from the FCC,” Allen said. “There is just so many radio frequencies in the air now. It is hard to keep them spaced out, so people are not interfering with each other.”
With the upgrade, the county would also have an analog channel for emergency situations. Over 100 pagers are used for emergency responses within the county.
“We got the digital which is working good, but on the digital DMR, you can not send a paging tune,” Allen said. “So, the analog uses a paging tone and by putting another repeater over there, it would send the signal out simultaneously from either side.”
Allen said the county already uses Kenwood radios with digital abilities, but emergency personnel do not like to bring them on calls due to the price tag.
The board also approved renaming a private road on Gainesboro Highway Rawhide Lane per request of Anna Russell White. White was married to Dewayne Rawhide before passing away. The road will remain privately owned.
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