The Haines Borough is working on plans to improve radio communication between dispatch and emergency responders travelling outside of town. New equipment and a connection to a fiber optic line may provide a more reliable signal. 

Local policemen, firemen and paramedics often have trouble communicating over radio once they get about 7 miles outside the Haines townsite. 

Public Facilities Director Ed Coffland says that is because the radio repeater near milepost 26 on the Haines Highway is not working the way it should. 

“The intent of it is to pick up the signal from when our officers are out in that area and then send the signal back to the base station back here at the townsite. It works not very good most of the time, sometimes not at all, and once in a while it’ll work okay. It really hasn’t worked properly since it was installed many years ago,” Coffland says.

The mountainous terrain of the Chilkat Valley and snowy weather have always made it difficult to pick up a signal on the highway.

Coffland says there have been efforts to improve the signal by making adjustments to the repeater. 

“Last fall we put in a new antenna out there at mile 26, but that didn’t solve the problem. The antenna needed to be replaced but it wasn’t the root of the problem,” Coffland says.

The borough recently hired Addcom Engineering to come up with some options for improving radio communication out the highway. The engineering firm recommended installing a new radio base station at mile 26 that is compatible with other state radios.  Coffland says the borough is also looking into hooking up the repeater to an existing fiber optic line. 

“Then the signal won’t have to travel through the air it’ll travel through the fiber optic back and forth between town,” Coffland says.

Addcom estimates that the improvements would cost $176,000. Haines Borough Contracts and Grants Coordinator Carolann Wooton has applied for a grant from the State of Alaska to cover the entire cost of the project. 

Coffland says the borough will not know until August whether that money is available.