Airport to Get New Radio System Other Public Agencies to Be Easier to Reach
Posted on: Wednesday, 20 July 2005, 00:00 CDT
BURBANK - Prone to interference, the aging radio system serving Bob Hope Airport will be replaced with a $900,420 digital system compatible with radios in place in Burbank, Glendale and Los Angeles.
The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority approved the new system Monday. The current system - wide-band analog very high frequency or VHF - is about 30 years old, overburdened and not compatible with neighboring cities, officials said.
Currently, airport police are equipped with several handheld digital radios that have allowed status-quo communications with Burbank police. But the new system - conventional digital ultra- high frequency or UHF radio - would improve communications across the region, especially in an emergency, officials said. The new system could be in place within two years, officials said.
"The commission's action today to upgrade its radio system at Bob Hope Airport represents the authority's strong commitment to maintaining the highest levels of cooperation with other public safety agencies in the region," Scott Smith, the airport's director of administrative services, said in a printed statement.
Although there have been no reports of emergencies in the past few years at the airport, Burbank Fire Marshal Dave Starr believes the new system would help his agency and others respond more quickly to back up airport personnel if a disaster occurred.
"It's essential in terms of safety," he said. "The current system is cumbersome." Mistakes will be less likely with the new system, he added.
The airport agency will pay for the system with $1.5 million earmarked in the fiscal 2005-06 budget. The money comes from airport capital improvement accounts, passenger facility charges and public safety grants. A consultant will be paid $50,000 to help recommend new equipment.
The system will be used by the airport's police, fire, operations, maintenance and parking departments, as well as surrounding city agencies.
The new system will bring the airport up to Federal Communications Commission standards, which call for emergency agencies to make their radio communications systems interoperable across regional jurisdictions by 2011.
"Radio interoperability is the future of radio communications within emergency services," said Los Angeles Fire Department Assistant Chief Tim Manning, the chief of staff. "It was highlighted after 9-11. It really showed the different agencies were having a difficult time communicating with each other. It's important for emergency services to have radio systems that are interoperable."
Jason Kandel, (818) 546-3306
jason.kandel(at)dailynews.com
Source: Daily News; Los Angeles, Calif.
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