County meets federal narrow-banding deadline

Barrow County Emergency Services has met the federal narrow-banding deadline with a few days to spare. The county’s new $4 million communications system is now up and running, according to Chief Dennis Merrifield. The Federal Communications Commission required all public safety agencies to switch to narrower radio bandwidths on New Year’s Day, or face fines. The county’s entirely new system went online Dec. 28.
“We cut over Friday morning, making the transition from the old system to the new system,” Merrifield said in a Jan. 1 email to the newspaper. “Because we are no longer transmitting on the old system, we have successfully met the narrowband deadline.”
For the full story, see the Jan. 2 issue of the Barrow Journal.