While OPSCAN will link agencies across the North Olympic Peninsula, it won”t resemble an electronic party line with responders sharing one frequency.
Rather, OPSCAN will eliminate about 85 percent of the “dead spots’ in existing frequencies by using cross-band repeaters.
Once the system is running, technicians will locate and cover the remaining 15 percent.
The network also will carry five or six channels that multiple agencies will be able to access.
For instance, a search team in the mountains could talk directly to the crew of a Coast Guard helicopter on its way to a rescue.
Presently, the team would contact its dispatcher, who would relay the message to the Coast Guard, and the Coast Guard would respond through the dispatcher.
OPSCAN dispatchers also will be able to link agencies with the “drag and drop” technique of moving icons on their computer screens.
Dispatchers even will be able to link cell phones to radios — although this won’t apply to civilians. The network will include the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service/Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES/RACES) volunteer radio operators
Eventually, OPSCAN will send mobile data to computer-equipped patrol cars.
Other possibilities are emerging as people prepare the system to go “live.”
“I don’t think we’ve thought of everything that can be done,” said Clallam County Sheriff Joe Martin.