OES/E-911 Director Wood takes GPS on Cabbage Knob, a
high peak in northern Calhoun being considered for a tower
A 480 foot WV STEMS microwave radio tower could become part of Calhoun's OES/911 plan to improve communication for the county's emergency responders, according to OES/E-911 Director Kathy Wood.
The State Trauma and Emergency Medical system is proposing 24 additional tower sites in the Mountain State to improve broadband access for state agencies and responders. Eighty sites are already in operation.
Wood said she is working with the state to secure an ideal site in northern Calhoun which would serve a multi-county area, but could also be used to install 911 communications equipment to improve radio service to that area which sometimes has spotty communications.
Map showing proposed state-wide towers
Officials have visited Cabbage Knob along Nobe Road as a possible location, a peak that is 1,241 feet in elevation.
"We had already been looking for sites to construct a new radio tower in northern Calhoun, before this opportunity came along," said Wood.
Wood said after the northern Calhoun tower is erected, another tower would likely be erected in the Letherbark-Richardson area to improve radio coverage.
Just how the proposed STEMS tower could provide broadband service to the region is not clear, but there is a continuing effort to improve cell phone service in the area.
There has been an ongoing effort to entice cell phone companies to the county, offering free tower use, facilities and electric. So far, there has been little interest.
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