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New public-safety radio tower near Deschutes County road shop will expand local coverage, staff say
Summary
At the Jan. 27 retreat county 911 staff gave commissioners a tour and timeline for a new public-safety radio tower at the road department site; work aims to improve signal density for Bend and fill gaps as growth continues.
Deschutes County 911 staff briefed commissioners and toured a planned new public-safety radio tower site at the county road department during the Jan. 27 retreat, saying the site will expand coverage density as the urban area grows.
Emily Van Sarabel, the county's new technical systems manager, introduced the project: "My name is Emily Van Sarabel. I just started with 911... in the technical systems manager role." Emily and lead radio engineer Nick told the board the new 50-foot tower will become part of a simulcast cluster that improves coverage and redundancy across Bend and nearby areas.
Nick described the engineering rationale: "The existing 3 radio sites cover the core of Bend. However, as we see more growth, especially on this side of town, this seemed like a great place to basically add more service, or signal, if you will... the building and the tower work is scheduled about the 1st April." Staff said the site includes an equipment shelter with batteries and a generator backed by a propane tank; the design emphasizes redundancy to maintain operations in extended outages.
The nut graf: county staff said the project is a near-term addition to the existing P25 public-safety radio system, designed to add capacity and signal redundancy as development increases; a separate Redmond simulcast cell is also expanding with a Kingwood site. Staff noted that changes in building construction and materials can affect indoor coverage and that building-specific bi-directional amplifiers (BDAs) remain an option for critical facilities.
Commissioners asked about schedule, costs, and how new construction might affect RF propagation; staff said the site is scheduled for completion and tenant equipment installation within months and that ongoing maintenance and battery-generator refresh cycles will follow. The project requires coordination with utilities and county facilities.
Ending: County 911 staff recommended partners and stakeholders be kept informed as tower work proceeds; commissioners accepted the briefing and will receive follow-up budget and schedule details as work advances.
