Deschutes County set to add three 911 radio towers, antennas in first phase of 5-year upgrade project
(Update: Comments from Director of Deschutes County 911 Sara Crosswhite, CDX Wireless, Inc. principal consultant Steve Surwillo)
Enhanced coverage for emergency responders
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Deschutes County commissioners on Monday approved the first phase of improvements to the 911 radio system, with will add three new radio towers and antennas around the county to improve coverage for police and fire agencies.
“We will enhance our coverage in the Sisters area, the Camp Sherman area and Redmond area, between Bend and Redmond," county 911 Director Sara Crosswhite said.
It's the first on-the-ground stage in a five year enhancement project for the county's law enforcement's 911 radio system, crucial for emergency and police communications.
The general proposed locations for the new antennas are in the west part of the county, between Bend and Redmond and a third at the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District station.
As part of the installation at the Camp Sherman location, a 60-foot wooden pole will be added. The other two locations already have existing towers.
“We’re really making no significant structural changes to anything that’s at these sites already," said Steve Surwillo, principal consultant at CDX Wireless, Inc.
The only difference will be the addition of more antennas.
Currently there are five 911 radio sites around the county, along with five interoperability sites in coordination with the state of Oregon.
One contract approved Monday, with L3 Harris, focused on the antenna systems. The total cost for the three new sites is nearly $450,000, including testing and factory-to-field optimization support.
A second document was a statement of work for a second firm, RACOM, which will be the project manager for tower installation and configuration, site testing and coverage analysis, including system optimization. That cost totals nearly $260,000.
"Our goal would have this done by June 30th of next year," Crosswhite said.
