THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 23, 1996 TAG: 9608230074
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WANCHESE LENGTH: 58 lines
A 400-foot communications tower under construction at the North Carolina Seafood Industrial Park in this Roanoke Island fishing village will dramatically improve the range of some beepers, two-way radios and personal communication systems, the director of a local radio system said.
``It will give us more solid coverage for the Outer Banks,'' said John Harris, president of Commercial Radio of the Outer Banks and a stockholder in local radio stations WNHW FM and WYND FM.
Harris said he is negotiating with Primco and AT&T Wireless to provide the barrier islands with digital service - one of the newest innovations in communications.
Financed by Commercial Radio, a private company based in Norfolk, the tower will be completed within six weeks. Harris declined to reveal the cost of the steel structure. His company plans to profit by charging others to add antennas and an array of communications equipment to the tower.
The company's 220-foot tower at milepost 10.25 in Nags Head will still be used, Harris said.
Although the tower could eventually benefit a multitude of communications systems, for now only the three services owned by Commercial Radio will use the structure, said company technician Daniel Schubert.
``Just by putting a tower up, nothing is going to change,'' Schubert said. ``The question is, who puts what on the tower?''
Schubert said watermen talking from their boats to other boats and points on land could reap rewards from an improved range - but only if a VHF antennae is installed on the taller tower.
The U.S. Coast Guard requires all commercial fishermen to carry VHF transmitters on their boats. The patrol's station in Buxton has reception from five towers fed into their system.
Despite speculation that cellular phone communication would be improved by the higher tower Harris said the tower has nothing to do with cell phone reception. Cellular phones, he explained, depend on antennas that are clustered together in ``cells.''
In the last five years, most commercial watermen, charter boat captains and some recreational boaters started using cellular phones in addition to radios. But the range is notoriously unpredictable, varying from nothing to 50 miles, watermen said.
The VHF - very high frequency- radio, like cell phones, are affected by weather conditions. Good reception can range from 20 miles to 50 miles, said Butch Midgett, manager of Etheridge Fishing Supply in Wanchese.
Midgett said the barrier islands are prone to patchwork reception and blank areas. Watermen, he said, would welcome any improvement in their communications systems.
``We have a lot of spots in this area,'' Midgett said, ``especially in Hatteras and places southeast of here - and the Gulf Stream.''
Harris said mobile radio (SMR) system users - two-way radios used commonly by Outer Banks contractors and other independent businesses - will see improvement of at least 50 percent in reception and range after the new tower is completed.
Eventually, Harris said he hopes to work with Outer Banks emergency services and police departments to upgrade their communications systems. by CNB