Crews high in the air placed a radio signal repeater to be used by the Civil Air Patrol above the Leflore County Courthouse Wednesday.
The repeater will boost emergency radio communications within a 30- to 50-mile radius of Greenwood. Richard Albee, commander of the Northwest Mississippi Squadron of CAP, said the organization would improve the patrol’s capability to respond to disaster and search-and-rescue missions.
The equipment was installed by Diamond K Towers of Greenville. The Leflore County Board of Supervisors approved a request from CAP to put the repeater in place a few months ago.
Supervisor Phil Wolfe said the addition would resolve communication issues CAP had encountered.
“This is so they can interface and talk with everyone,” Wolfe said. “They were having a problem with that.”
The repeater put in place over the courthouse is compatible with narrow-band frequencies, the technology mandated by the FCC. The FCC mandated a switch to narrow-band communication by 2013.
Members of CAP are volunteers. “We do it because we want to help the country and the county,” Albee said.
He said about 95 percent of airplane search-and-rescue missions, aside from passenger jets, involve the Civil Air Patrol. The CAP provides multiple services during disasters, such as aerial photography for assisting ground crews.
“In the event we have a disaster we will be able to communicate with each other and direct people to where they are needed,” Greenwood-Leflore Squadron Commander David Danehower said. “People on the ground can look at (an aerial) photo and see where help needs to be sent.”
The patrol also has the capability to set up portable antennae and provide communications within the field within minutes of a disaster.
Recently, CAP has been providing aerial photography of the oil leak along the Gulf Coast.
CAP is an auxiliary organization of the Air Force. The members also conduct an aerospace program for youth.
• Contact Taylor Kuykendall at tkuykendall@gwcommonwealth.com.
