By: Charles Romans
Carter County Times
“We are so thankful to have a health department that is concerned enough about the community that they have done something special,” Grayson Emergency Management Director Roger Dunfee said at a gathering on September 18.
Dunfee was referring to new communication equipment that would aid the fire department in staying connected and relaying information during their first response efforts where they often face communication challenges.
Health Department Public Health Educator J.C. Perkins spoke to the assembled first responders. Perkins said that he also has become involved in emergency preparedness and was there in that capacity.
“We are here today to share a resource we have invested in,” Perkins said.
The technology resource Perkins present was the Plum Case remote communication device. Some of the benefits shown on the company’s website include enabling high-speed connectivity even in challenging scenarios such as damaged cellular infrastructure, remote locations, and congested networks, as well as its ability to receive signals from extreme distances and provide powerful wi-fi broadcast capabilities.
“A Plum Case is basically a mobile piece of technology that allows you to have internet access and cell phone service and wi-fi service even in areas where there is no cell service or electricity,” Perkins said. “The mobile version is meant to be taken on the go and can power itself up to seventy hours. Or it can be plugged into a power source like a generator and be powered indefinitely.”
“We serve a county where we don’t always have cell service or electricity,” Perkins said. “But we still have work to do. And what this (the Plum Case) will do is allow the agency and staff members to all be connected to the internet and to use cell phones.”
“These devices in and of themselves come with sim cards just like cell phones,” he explained. “And those sim cards can be activated and essentially you have a large cell phone everyone can connect to. But since we don’t always have access to cell service, we have chosen to connect it with a Starlink satellite internet and communications.”
In the field the Plum Case can be connected to the Starlink satellite, Perkins explained, and have access where there normally is no access.
“As long as you have an unobstructed view of the sky, it will connect to the Starlink satellites. Once you turn it on, it is just like connecting to a mobile hotspot at a hotel or restaurant,” Perkins said.
In addition to local communications, the Plum Case also facilitates communication at a regional or state level, whereas a standard radio might not.
“We wanted to make this available to you all,” Perkins said. “It can be picked up at the Health Department, and any of our neighboring agencies are welcome to use it.”
The Health Department pays a monthly maintenance fee for the Plum Case, and the service can be activated/deactivated on a monthly basis so that service fees are not incurred if the device is not being used that month.
Regional Preparedness Coordinator Brandon Stacey said Carter County was the first county on the eastern side of the state to use Starlink in conjunction with the Plum Case.
“Anyone knows that in eastern Kentucky with our hills and valleys that you’re not going to get cell service anywhere,” Stacey said. “But with this setup (Starlink/Plum Case) if you can see the sky then you are going to get service.”
Stacey said that he knew firsthand that the setup ran a meeting with eighty individuals participating. The only problem, he said, was that they were inside a steel building and the satellite receiver had to be placed in an open doorway. He also pointed out another advantage to the setup, which was that the Starlink satellite was designed to be in the weather and the cell version of the Plum Case was not. So, for this reason the satellite was superior in his opinion to the sim card setup. And the setup yielded two ‘bars’ of service at a range of at least 300 feet, which was the maximum range he had tested.
The Plum Case/Starlink combination could be used for more than emergency situations as well, he said. An example he gave was the popular Court Days in Mount Sterling, where it could be used when the sheer volume of users could potentially overwork cell towers and slow service.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
