Communication Study Committee
Minutes for 2004-05-04
Subject: Meeting #4 Minutes
The Lyme Communications Study Committee Meeting #4 was held at the Lyme Fire Station, May 4, at 8AM. Chairman David Avery called the meeting to order.
Present: Pauline Field, Michael Hinsley, John Sanders, Wally Ragan, Pete Bleyler, George Hartmann
Absent: Mike Prince
Invited Guests: Lieutenant Douglas R. Dutile, Grafton County Sheriff's
Department
E. Douglas Hackett, Communications Coordinator, Town of Hanover
1. The minutes of Meeting #3, April 27, were approved without change.
2. Messrs. Dutile and Hackett briefed the Committee on the emergency communications operations of the Grafton County Sheriff's Department and the Town of Hanover Dispatch. These two organizations essentially take care of dispatching for the entire Upper Valley, on both sides of the Connecticut River. Significant points made were:
a) Grafton County has a $2.2 million grant to fund interoperability improvements for Grafton and any community for whom they dispatch. The Town of Lyme can be included at no cost to the Town.
b) Hanover is 1 and 1/2 years into a study which, along with approximately $300,000 in grants from the State, will result in improved communications systems for both police and firefighting operations. It appears that Lyme can benefit from this program.
c) Currently, mobile (vehicle) radio communications between Lyme and Hanover are quite good; portable (handheld) radio communications are only bout 30%; pagers are worse yet. Improvement of portable and pager coverage is clearly an issue. Installation of In-Band repeaters, which enable portables to use mobiles as higher powered relay stations, should be investigated.
d) It was suggested that Lyme might consider installing a receiver at the fire station; no license is required and first cost is relatively low. However, there would be an ongoing expense of approximately $250 per month to lease a telephone line into Hanover. A better solution might be to put in a base station, perhaps available from Hanover, and start the licensing process now. Either option - receiver or base station - would be tied into the Hanover Dispatch comparator.
e) Towers were discussed. The range of topics included potential difficulties in working with tower companies; reliability problems with solar powered stations; possible locations in and around Lyme; the need for Canadian as well as U.S. approval for a high tower, such as a Winslow location; and the possibility of the Town building a tower for its own needs, then renting antenna space to a cellular provider.
f) It was emphasized that any tower contract must guarantee access for public emergency communications; and, the insurance aspects of any tower constructed in Lyme need to be checked out beforehand.
3. Action Items:
a) Mike Hinsley will reprogram his pager as part of a coverage survey for the Moose Mountain antenna.
b) Pauline Field will get quotes on two In-Band repeaters.
c) Doug Hackett will check the feasibility of moving a base station from Hanover to the Lyme Fire Station; and, will initiate the license application process.
d) Dave Avery, who unfortunately had to leave the meeting early, is requested to invite a representative of Independent Wireless Corp. to attend our next meeting, which is two weeks from now.
4. The Committee thanked Doug Dutile and Doug Hackett for the wealth of information they provided, and for the helpful cooperation they have
extended.
5. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 18, 7AM, at the Lyme Fire Station. Please note that this is one hour earlier; and skips a week, in order to allow time for people to accomplish their action items.
George Hartmann
Recorder
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