The Schuylkill County Communications Center counted up and down all week to test the new emergency communications system.
Countywide coverage testing on the $16 million upgrades started May 20 and will most likely finish up by Wednesday.
"We would like to have it on by the end of July," Scott Krater, communications coordinator, said Friday.
Upgrades to narrowband the county emergency communications system were mandated by the Federal Communications Commission to be operational by Dec. 31, 2013. After agreeing to a contract with Motorola Solutions Inc. for the upgrades in 2013, Schuylkill County was granted a waiver to extend the deadline to Oct. 31, 2014.
The total project cost $16,388,145 and was funded through the $21 million bond issued by the commissioners in October 2012.
Narrowbanding the radio frequencies allows a system to accommodate more radios while improving transmission quality and creating additional options for emergency communications, such as signal encryption for police and other emergency personnel.
Equipment has been installed at the 11 tower sites throughout the county, plus the master site at the communications center in Pottsville, over the course of the last two years. Testing was delayed earlier this year because it needs to be done with foliage on the trees to see how the system works when there is interference.
The difference between the new digital and old analogue radios was noticeable Friday as Krater called back to the center while out in Washington Township. In addition to being clearer, Krater was able to talk to the other team testing on the opposite side of the county.
"You wouldn't have been able to hear that on analogue," Krater said.
Two teams consisting of a driver and a navigator drove through areas of the county while calling back to the communications center in Pottsville to test both the new digital and upgraded analogue signals.
The county was divided into more than 1,100 grids, each about 3/4 of a mile by 3/4 of a mile. The teams have to make calls from each grid to complete testing.
Krater said there have been no problems yet during testing or any issues reported by the several police forces beta testing the system.
"We are certainly able to hear from areas we couldn't before," Krater said. "Those dead spots are gone."
By the end of Friday, testing was 70 percent complete.
When finished, Krater said there will be several meetings with Motorola to review the testing data. Fleet mapping also has to be done, Krater said. Fleet mapping will establish talk groups for police, fire and EMS.
Under the FCC mandates, only police and EMS radios were required to change as they use high frequencies. Firefighters can still use analogue as they use low frequencies, but that equipment may be hard to find soon.
"When they can no longer get the equipment, it is there for them," Krater said.
Federal funding has been made available for local police, fire and EMS personnel to purchase new narrowband equipment. For more information, visit the Federal Communications Commission's website at www.fcc.gov/narrowbanding.