Quorum Court Discusses Need For Digital Repeaters

RISON - Establishing a network of digital repeaters in the county for local fire departments to communicate with one another, and an update on the leaking roofs on county buildings were among the topics addressed by the Cleveland County Quorum Court during its regular monthly meeting Monday night. The need for digital repeaters came up after the quorum court approved a resolution supporting the Woodlawn Fire Department's grant application for nearly $11,300 to replace analog radios with new digital radios. Shortly after that, Pansy Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jerry Pennington addressed the court about the need for some digital radio repeaters to be placed in the county. A radio repeater is a piece of electronic equipment that extends the range of a radio signal. Pennington explained that the repeaters are needed to allow the various fire departments within the county to communicate with one another. Pennington said the analog radios currently used by most fire departments have very limited range, and fire departments often cannot communicate with one another during a widespread emergency situation. He said he and Owen Rushing, the Woodlawn Fire Chief who is also a justice of the peace on the quorum court, recently conducted an experiment to test the range of digital radios. He said they were able to reach one another with one being at the Country Store along Hwy. 63 in the northern part of the county and the other at the Broken Spoke at Rye, a distance of about 22 miles. County Judge Jimmy Cummings and the members of the quorum court seemed to be open to the idea, though Cummings pointed out that finding space within the Cleveland County Sheriff's office to place a base station plus finding places to mount the repeaters could be an issue. Pennington and Rushing said the base station needs to be placed at the sheriff's office since that is where the emergency calls are answered and dispatches are made...