New Equipment Helps First Responders To Communicate
Emergency officials throughout the Harlingen, Texas, area report that difficulties in communications have been fixed with the installation of the new ACU-1000 interoperable radio system into a fire department mobile command unit. A regional communications committee made up of local emergency personnel recommended the technology.
Harlingen Fire Department Chief Sig Cantu stated that the new equipment will help local, state, and federal emergency responders communicate regardless of compatibility concerns.
“The ACU-1000 is a piece of radio equipment that takes different frequencies and patches them from one to another,” he explained. We took the state-approved channels listed in the state plan of approved frequencies and put them all in this unit.”
The ACU-1000 in Harlingen coupled with units in nearby Pharr, Weslaco, and Willacy counties will provide blanket coverage for Texas’ entire Lower Rio Grande Valley, according to Ken Jones of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Valley Morning Star (Texas) (12/15/05); Lynch, Matt .