New Towers on Edge of BWCA?

[Celly]

Cell phone tower locations under discussion
Karin Smith, Lake County News Chronicle
Published Thursday, October 09, 2008

Cell phone service in the BWCA? At the Oct. 7 board meeting, the commissioners discussed a proposed resolution to allow a cell phone tower in the Fernberg Corridor on tax forfeit land four miles east of Winton. Even if the resolution is approved, the tower would not be built until 2009.

Commissioner Scott Larson said it was important to consider how any proposed tower would fit into the rest of the communication system, as there is a federal engineering study being done on signal propagation.

Tower height is a separate issue and will be taken up by the planning commission. With higher towers, there is a possibility fewer would be needed. Larson said that is not necessarily the case, since there is a limit to how far some signals will travel.

The minutes of the Oct. 10 tower committee stated the goal is to "encourage the establishment of better cell phone communication within the interior portions of Lake County and coordinate this with existing and planned emergency communications, while being cognizant of the aesthetic issues of the towers which may degrade the visual impact of our beautiful county."

[PaddlerJimmy]

More communication towers planned
Jane Howard, Cook County Star, 11/3/08

Within the next several years, new towers will be popping up around the county that will enable police officers, fire departments, ambulance crews, state troopers, med-evac helicopters and other emergency personnel to communicate with each other. On October 21, 2008, the county board signed a joint powers agreement with 10 counties and four cities to form the Northeast Minnesota Regional Radio Board.
A Minnesota Department of Public Safety publication states, “After the Oklahoma City bombing, firefighters and police officers used runners to carry messages from one command center to another. In New Orleans, responders were limited to a handful of CB-like ‘mutual aid’ radio channels that were inadequate and overwhelmed by emergency traffic. At the World Trade Center, police received a radio message to evacuate; firefighters did not. In all of these cases, their radios, the very lifeline of public safety professionals, were incompatible.”
During last year’s Ham Lake fire, Cook County ham radio operators were instrumental in maintaining a flow of information up and down the Gunflint Trail.
“To achieve seamless interoperable communications within Minnesota and with our neighboring states and Canada,” the Department of Public Safety publication says, “Minnesota has invested in the Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response (ARMER) 800 MHz communications system.” The state plans to have 95% of the system’s backbone in place by the end of 2012. Individual counties will incur costs related to equipment, increased coverage, and additional infrastructure, but federal grants are available.
William Bernhjelm and Tom Hannon, consultants with the ARMER program, explained the system to the county board at its October 21 meeting. Bernhjelm explained that with conventional radio, each channel is given a dedicated frequency that is assigned to a group of users. People cannot talk and listen at the same time. The conventional radio system tends to create havoc during emergencies – one group could inadvertently tie up a frequency that is badly needed by another group.
The ARMER system will operate more like cell phones, with the ARMER program assigned to the highest frequencies (around 800 MHz). Higher frequencies are more powerful, but they can travel less distance, which is why more towers will needed for the system to work throughout Cook County.
When a user makes a call on the ARMER system, a computer will find a frequency that is available. Narrow bands will be required, making the system more efficient and enabling more communication overall. Bernhjelm said demand currently exceeds available frequencies.
Plans are to have 98.5% of Cook County usable by vehicle-mounted ARMER units.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) will be seeking cooperation with both public and private entities. Bernhjelm thinks MnDOT might have some challenges in Cook County due to the variety of state and national governmental landowners and the presence of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW).
A computer program has identified the best places for towers throughout Cook County based on topography and distance between towers that already exist. The tallest towers are effective within an 18-20 mile range. In metropolitan areas, towers tend to be shorter but closer together, and some transmitters are camouflaged by being wired onto water towers.
Regional boards have the authority to acquire property, administer grants, collect user fees, hold licenses, and adopt technical standards compatible with the statewide system.
The state will be requiring 20% local matching funds for implementation of the ARMER system. Ongoing operating costs will be the responsibility of volunteer regional boards. Sheriff Mark Falk pointed out that the proposed 2009 county budget already has a radio communications line item of about $70,000.
According to Bernhjelm, the northeast region is the last in the state to create a regional radio board, but a lot of the groundwork has already been done. “Thank you for inventing the wheel!” Commissioner Jim Johnson said.
Bob Fenwick will be the county board representative to the Northeast Minnesota Regional Radio Board, with Commissioner Jan Hall the alternate. Fenwick stated that he was pleased the state is putting so much responsibility into local hands.
Seventy-five percent of the towers that will be needed throughout the state are expected to be in place by the end of 2009.