Local authorities in Botetourt County, Virginia, USA have found their Tait Quasi-Sync system has vastly improved coverage across their rugged territory.

With the Blue Ridge Mountains stretching up to 1200m (4000ft) in the east, and National Forests making up over 22% of the country, Botetourt is an outdoors paradise, but paradise comes at a price for communcations.

"As you can imagine, the same environment which attracts people to the area makes it a demanding place to provide radio communications. There are lots of hills and valleys, and in winter, extreme weather conditions like rain, snow, heavy ice and lightning," says Wes Podboy, Project Manager for System Intergrator Durham Communications.

Botetourt County was using a low band conventional system, but the rugged landscape meant that upgrading a conventional system, or moving to a trunked system was always going to require a lot of sites and be expensive to install to get real coverage. Fortunately, Durham Communications had another option, Tait Quasi-Sync.

Tait Quasi-Sync is a clever variation of standard simulcast technology. It provides high quality audio in areas where coverage overlaps and virtually eliminates the expensive maintenance normally associated with simulcast systems.

"As a systems integrator from Arizona, being asked to install a system in Virginia, some 2800 miles away meant we had to establish credibility. We had to prove we were the right people, and that we had the best equipment."

"Areas like Botetourt are an example of where Quasi-Sync comes into its own. We estimate we improved coverage from about 50% of the county to over 97%," says Wes.

This four-site, seven-channel system is used by three main agencies in the county, including the sheriffs department, fire and rescue ambulance, and the school district, which has radios in their 90 buses.

"Because Quasi-Sync is a shared medium, it is important that the groups do not overlap," says Wes. "By giving each group their own channels, we have ensured privacy and availability of channel space. At the same time we made sure that there is one channel common to all radios on the system. This means that in an emergency, the groups can work together to co-ordinate their efforts."

Botetourt County has now been using the Tait Quasi-Sync system for the last eighteen months, and has been impressed with the system, as have the system integrators.

"The Tait equipment has held up very well," says Wes. "It worked from the day we plugged it in, and while not quite 'plug and play', the equipment was a pleasure to work with."

Read this case study about the Tait solution for Botetourt County.