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911 chief: Old emergency scanners will work after county goes digital
Folks who like to listen in on police and fire calls won't have to get rid of their police scanners just yet.
By Rusty Marks - Staff writer
Folks who like to listen in on police and fire calls won't have to get rid of their police scanners just yet.
Although Kanawha County emergency agencies will be switching to a new digital radio system within the next few years, county officials said police, fire departments and ambulances will continue to send radio traffic over their old analog frequencies for at least the next year.
County officials recently got a $1 million federal grant to buy new digital radios for all volunteer fire departments in Kanawha County. The Charleston Fire Department began using the new digital system this week, and the Charleston Police Department has been using the digital system for routine traffic calls for months.
County officials hope to have all county fire departments on the new digital system within a year, and all emergency service agencies in the county online within three years.
The digital radios use frequencies much higher than analog radios usually use, and the digital signals cannot be picked up on a conventional police scanner. Local hobbyists who like to listen to emergency radio traffic and newspapers and radio and television stations who rely on police scanners for breaking news would have to buy new scanners to hear the digital signals.
Prices for the digital police scanners start at about $500.
County officials had intended to stop using the old analog frequencies because of problems synchronizing the analog and digital systems to broadcast at the same time. However, 911 director Carolyn Karr Charnock said the problems have been worked out and emergency agencies will be able to broadcast on both systems simultaneously.
Charnock said some local media representatives complained about the costs of buying new scanners.
"I understand that the media would be concerned about not being able to hear the radio traffic," she said Thursday.
Eventually, as equipment wears out or breaks, county emergency service agencies will quit using the old analog frequencies.
However, police and fire departments will continue to broadcast over both systems for the near future.
"Our plan is to keep it as transparent to the scanner fans as possible," Charnock said.
