May and June will be busy months, thanks to the long-awaited FCC approval of the West Chester license modification. This action was needed to operate their four channels on a 14-site, regional basis.
During the first quarter of 2010 (January through March), BRICS saw over 1.3 million PTTs over all talkgroups on the system.
Most users who function as an incident commander or landing zone coordinator do not always have opportunity to work with helicopters on a regular basis. This topic requires additional training to develop enough familiarity with the subject for things to work smoothly during an actual incident.
A radio dealer from the Cincinnati area has offered to provide Kenwood test units to the Communications Division of the Butler County Sheriff's Office. Kenwood Corporation, a manufacturer of portable and mobile radios, began offering a Project 25 compliant 700-800MHz product in December. The performance of the new Kenwood radios will be evaluated by BRICS technicians.
BRICS encourages all users to learn about the difference between emergency alarms and emergency calls. It is also important to understand a dispatcher's process for responding to emergency alarms and become familiar with applicable policies.
Radio towers on the BRICS 800MHz voice system receive a thorough yearly preventative maintenance check. During this process, each individual tower is taken out of service for several hours so that site equipment can be checked and calibrated.