| Beginning 06/29/19 the Southern Forest Net for the Inyo National Forest and Bishop BLM field office began experiencing intermittent feedback issues. The feedback issues prevented OVCC's "Moducom" Radio consoles from transmitting and receiving over the South Forest Net. The feedback issues ranged from a day to roughly ten minutes in duration. Per our Forest Radio Technician the issue appears to be related to our "Moducom" Radio Consoles and how they communicate back to the equipment in our Radio room. Each time the issue came up, announcements were made and a mass text was sent out directing the field resources to switch over to our backup radio system "Service Net". On 07/07/19 the feedback issue arose several times throughout the day prompting the Fire District Duty Officers (based on Safety) to discontinue the use of the South Forest Net until the issue was resolved. Although we have our Service Net as a backup system the coverage is limited when compared with the coverage we get with the South Forest Net. This limited coverage could pose a serious safety problem if/when a Fire/Natural Disaster or a significant Law Enforcement event were to occur in an area that the backup system does not cover. The broader potential issue lies with the aging "Moducom" based consoles within the Dispatch center. "Moducom" has declared bankrupty leaving our Radio Technician little to no technical support when "Moducom" based issues arise. When the system fails the Inyo National Forest and Bishop Field Office will be left out to dry until a new system is identified. |
