Work to upgrade Warren County’s network of emergency communication towers is nearly complete, putting first responders one major step away from having clearer and stronger communications throughout the area.

Wright City Police Chief Matt Eskew, one of the coordinators for the $2.4 million joint communications upgrades, said new antenna equipment has been installed on the radio towers that allow responders throughout the county to communicate with each other. Radio equipment vendor A&W Communications is now preparing to install the hardware at the base of each tower that will bring the upgraded communication system online, Eskew said.

The county-wide radio upgrades are being paid for by $2.4 million in COVID-19 response funding that Warren County received as part of the federal CARES Act.

Eskew currently anticipates that the transition to the new system will happen in early May, and said the heads of each emergency agency will meet on May 3 to confirm the date.

911 Dispatch Administrator Amy Ellard said the department heads and the radio vendor are currently finalizing plans for how that switchover will take place. She said dispatch and responders will still be able to communicate during the transition.

“We will not go offline for the switch. We will have communication with the responders, but the communication signal will not be as strong while the new equipment is being installed and connected to the tower sites,” Ellard said. “Our intent is to utilize the backup communication system, which is the system we used prior to the 2008 microwave communication upgrade.”

Ellard commented that she’s eager to see the improved capabilities and expanded coverage area of the new system.

“It’s been 13 years since we’ve had an update on radio communications infrastructure. That doesn’t seem like a long time, but with technology evolving as quickly as it does, and being near end of life with our existing microwave system, this funding comes at the right time to upgrade the equipment.”

Chief Eskew commented that the need for the backup communication system had caused a short delay in bringing the new system online.

“There was some equipment in the southern half of the county that wasn’t functioning properly, so the vendor, A&W Communications, are coming in and repairing that equipment at zero cost to make sure the county has communications (during the transition),” Eskew explained. “ That was not originally figured into the project, so that’s a huge benefit and we appreciate that.”

First responder agencies received upgraded handheld and vehicle-mounted radio equipment last year to function with the new system.

Once all the upgrades are done and the new system is online, first responders anticipate a vast improvement in their communication capabilities. When the project was announced last year, Sheriff Kevin Harrison explained that deputies responding to accidents on parts of Interstate 70, as well as police officers inside school buildings, often can’t get a signal to the nearest radio tower with their existing equipment. That difficulty becomes even more concerning when responders are dispatched to remote, heavily wooded parts of the county.