Moreland can still hear his local public safety agencies just fine. They, like most other public safety agencies in small communities, are still using older, traditional technology. It's called analog FM for those who are interested. But Moreland, like many other newspaper editors across the state, can no longer hear most routine KSP transmissions. That is sometimes a hardship on the newsgathering process. It sometimes leaves his paper in the lurch. Trooper work schedules and weekly paper deadlines being what they are can combine to make it difficult to get timely information in the paper from KSP, he said. For that reason, Moreland often found it better to get any information he could from the scene - whatever that might be. But if you can't hear the KSP transmissions in the first place, an editor or reporter may not even know there was a scene to go to.

Others have had similar challenges in their communities. The Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer's staff hasn't been able to monitor Owensboro Police Department radio transmissions for quite some time because of the department's conversion to a high-tech system that rendered traditional radio scanners obsolete. In KSP's situation, the conversion transferred their radio system to a much higher frequency than used in the past and now makes their voice transmissions sound like packets of computer data when received on a traditional scanner.

The problem has been slowly creeping across the nation for some time. A number of newsgathering organizations - primarily in big cities - have found themselves unable to hear their local police and other public safety agencies when those organizations have converted to digital radios. There are real benefits for agencies when they go digital, i.e., greater transmission clarity, improved coverage in previously hard-to-reach isolated areas and the ability to interface with other public safety agencies they traditionally could not communicate with in the past. Kentucky State Police converted to Motorola's Astro system and have enjoyed the benefits. But the public, including journalists, have been cut out of the action because there are no off-the-shelf radio scanners available now that receive digital police transmissions.

But relief is on the way. Uniden, a consumer-electronics company and a major scanner manufacturer, plans to introduce two models of scanners capable of receiving digital transmissions. The units were announced at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Interest in the units was high. They will be offered for sale later this year - sometime after October. And they will be expensive - about $350 for the scanner and another $325-$350 for a digital card. The models will be the BC250D, a handheld unit, and the BC785D, a base/mobile unit. Each scanner will be an analog receiver but the BCi25D, an internal card, will convert digital transmissions to analog for reception purposes. In all likelihood, Uniden dealers will sell the units for a cheaper "street price" than the suggested retail price.

For additional information, visit these Web sites:

http://www.bearcat1.com/item0022.htm

http://www.snowcrest.net/marnells/uniden-digital.htm