County hopes to boost emergency radio signals soon

Officials say fiber optics proposal will fix dead zones in western Bowie County

Dead zones for emergency radio traffic soon may be a thing of the past in western Bowie County.

County officials hope to upgrade radio tower equipment in the county's west end with fiber optics by the end of summer, said Lance Hall, an investigator with the Bowie County District Attorney's Office.

"The west end has always had its dead spots. We are trying to correct that. The goal of this is to clean up a lot of that. It does take a little more time, but it's closer than it's ever been. In the long run, it's going to be a lot better," Hall said.

Bowie County's current radio system is part digital and part analog. The goal is to be entirely digital and for west-end radio communication to improve.

"We are negotiating a couple of contract bids for fiber optics. We have been going back and forth between a couple of contracts," Hall said.

"The Commissioner's Court has not approved anything yet. Hopefully, by mid-summer communications are going to be better than they have in a long time."

A $1.5 million upgrade to the public safety radio system in Texarkana, Texas, which has its primary tower at the Texarkana Water Utilities plant on New Boston Road, was completed in August 2016, making Texarkana the first city in Texas to connect with the Texas Department of Public Safety system used by troopers. The much-needed upgrade was the first in 15 years.

DPS previously pledged $85,000 in digital radio equipment to be used in various upgrades to the tower, which provides radio coverage for the police and fire departments in Texarkana, Nash, Wake Village and the east end of Bowie County. It also is connected to the Arkansas Wireless Information Network, which is used by Texarkana, Ark.

Bowie County also uses a repeater on a privately owned tower near New Boston, Texas.

The Bowie County Commissioners Court will have to approve additional funding from the county when a contract is approved.

Hall said the issue should go before the Commissioners Court by the end of April.

Radio resources have been shared between Texarkana, Ark., Texarkana, Texas, and Bowie County since 1985, when the agencies moved to Bi-State Justice Center in downtown Texarkana.

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