Boise Interagency Dispatch Center received an updated Moducom radio system during the winter of 2017-18.
While troubleshooting an issue with the radio's simul-select function, a separate frequency bleed-over issue was identified.
Bleed-Over: When one dispatcher was transmitting on a BLM frequency and another transmitted on a USFS frequency, the bleed-over occurred. The mountain tops where the involved repeaters are located are hundreds of miles apart, so bleed over should be impossible. The radio tech contacted Moducum and determined that a system software issue is causing bleed-over when more than one dispatch pod transmits at a time. Moducom indicated that a software fix for the problem would take up to a week to write.
Simul-select: Dispatchers are not able to select multiple frequencies to tone out fires, read the weather, tone out alerts, or extend staffing.
As a result, dispatchers are only able to transmit on one frequency at a time. The dispatch center monitors 10 frequencies for emergency traffic, with a dispatcher at each of 6 pods. Currently only one dispatcher can transmit at a time. This is a huge potential safety issue if more than one incident is occurring. |