Officials work on antenna solution

Officials with the Flathead National Forest have assured Flathead County commissioners and the sheriff that they are willing to work with the county to figure out where to locate equipment to provide reliable radio communication for emergency services in the Lakeside, Somers and Bigfork areas.

County officials say the new digital radio equipment installed as part of the now-defunct Interoperability Montana program doesn’t provide reliable coverage in those parts of the county.

Sheriff Chuck Curry and Jack Spillman, public safety and communications director at the county Office of Emergency Services, have identified a site on Mount Aeneas where they’d like to place a 4-foot antenna. The spot is already home to radio towers and equipment used by Bresnan Communications. Electricity is in place.

“We can install one 4-foot antenna hidden behind the screen with all the other towers that are there already,” Curry said. “We’d put stuff in the building that’s there now. We need power and it’s there for the other equipment.”

The county already shares other sites with Bresnan, he said.

Flathead National Forest Supervisor Chip Weber said his agency relies on radio towers for communication, too, and the agency shares the county’s concerns.

Gary Danczyk, Flathead National Forest staff officer, said the agency is exploring options that could provide coverage for the county because there are always impacts to the ground and expenses incurred to put equipment on mountaintops.

One option is to put temporary repeaters in various places in the troublesome areas “to see if that solves the problem,” Danczyk said.

Forest employees are “going through various options” now, he said. Because it’s winter, most alternate locations are or soon will be covered with snow, which could slow the process.

“The site the county likes will definitely be one of our test sites,” Danczyk said.

As data is gathered and exchanged, forest officials are optimistic they’ll find a suitable site for the county’s equipment.

“I’m confident we will be able to augment an existing site to resolve this problem,” Danczyk said. “We shouldn’t need a brand-new site.”

The radio communications system used by the Forest Service has been operating effectively without equipment on Mount Aeneas, Danczyk said, “so we want to make sure there isn’t another suitable site.”

But, he said, Weber wants the issue with the county resolved. It’s a matter of meeting the forest plan, keeping it affordable and making it work, Danczyk said.

Forest officials are concerned about the impacts of a tower being next to Jewel Basin, Curry said.

Curry said the forest “has been very helpful. They’re doing what they have to do.”

Radio reception along parts of Flathead Lake has been a problem for many years, Spillman said. There are specific spots along the lakefront where radios “don’t work” he said.

“The older analog system worked marginally there. But the newer digital system has some gaps and we need more towers. We want a tower on Mount Aeneas,” Spillman said.

Curry agrees the best site is Mount Aeneas.

The county has a temporary coverage system in place, Spillman said, “but we want something permanent.”

Spillman said personnel from the Forest Service have been helpful as the county searches for tower sites. And, he said, the two entities have a good working relationship.

“They have their rules to follow,” Spillman said of the Forest Service. “They have to be very cautious.”

Sheriff Curry says the county has “pretty much explored every option open to us.”

“We thought we might be able to put a tower on private property in the Swan, but it’s not available to us and it wouldn’t solve all of our coverage issues. We’ve tried to use cell towers and have been pretty unsuccessful.

“It’s been an ongoing mess. My guys are kind of on their own when they go down there because they can’t talk on their radios,” Curry said. “There is a sense of urgency and has been for a long time.”

A couple of years ago all law enforcement and emergency services agencies in the county went to a digital radio system, Curry said. The digital system was a mandate as part of Interoperability Montana. It allows for the use of fewer base station radios. Before then, the entire Flathead Valley got its radio coverage from one tower on Big Mountain, he said. “Now we have towers all over the county.”

The trunked digital system works like a cellphone. “It finds the best signal to communicate on that tower,” Curry said. “It functions well for the three cities in Flathead County. But the Sheriff’s Office has had huge issues.

“When it functions, it functions well,” Curry said of the new system. But there are many line of sight issues in Flathead County because of the mountains. Shaded areas simply don’t get reception, he added.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.