Lea County Electric Cooperative started back in 1949 with 8 employees, a powerplant with 3 diesel electric generating units, an output capacity of 600KW and approx. 136 miles of electrical distributing lines serving 1250 customers. It was created by the community for the community and has been locally owned by its members. The system now serves more than 7,000 residential, commercial, irrigation, oilfield and industrial consumers. It comprises of 32 substations, 10 switch stations, 5 transmission interchange stations and has over 80 full-time employees and has been used as a showcase to foreign countries interested in learning about the US utility system and rural electrification.

The Omnitronics dispatch solution integrates with the Tait DMR Tier 3 network via the standard Application Interface Specification (AIS), providing a number of business benefits:

• Simple installation and setup

• Flexibility to adapt to future needs

• Easy to use

• Increased safety with duress and emergency communications

The Challenge

In their mission to provide safe, reliable, and affordable power, LCEC was looking to cost effectively upgrade their existing Tait DMR Tier 3 AIS radio dispatch system to ensure they had clear and efficient communication across their radio network. To identify which solution would best suit their needs, they turned to Tait and Omnitronics partner, Advanced Communications and Electronics, Inc.

• Interoperability – Connect technologies, protocols and vendors

• Easy to Use – Clean and customizable user interface

• Flexibility – Use the power of IP to connect & unify anywhere

• Duress & Emergency – See who calls where and when

• Geofencing – Easily set up zones & alerts to monitor movements

• Radio Linking/Patching – Connect groups of radios in real time

• Telephony – Receive and make calls and patch to radios

• Location Services – Advanced people and asset tracking

The Radio Dispatch Solution

Essential features that Lea County Electric required to optimize their operation included radio linking/patching, geo fencing and historical tracking from within their 2 radio dispatch consoles, communicating across 6 channels. The solution not only needed to be simple to install but also small enough to fit snugly into their office.

RediTALK-Flex has now been installed on the existing PC at their Dispatch Facility and provides enhanced dispatch functions across the 6 channels. Using DRG200i gateways into the Tait repeaters, voice and GPS data is sent out to repair, home and new installation teams and allows emergencies to be reported and responded to quickly.