Original E-Comm radio system

E-Comm has begun the process of dismantling its old radio system. E-Comm officially shut down the Enhanced Digital Access Communications System (EDACS) on April 3, once police fire and ambulance agencies moved to the new radio system.

General Electric invented the EDACS in the mid-1980s. When E-Comm established the Wide Area Radio Network in the Lower Mainland in 1999, the network used EDACS equipment and technology.

With the new radio network now in place using Project 25 technology, a standard widely adopted by public safety agencies in North America, E-Comm will spend the rest of 2018 dismantling EDACS. This involves:

• Removing equipment from approximately 35 locations
• Fully decommissioning three radio sites and returning those sites to their original condition—removing E-Comm’s footprint
• Removing old antennas and cables from towers and rooftops
• Removing large cabinets, each weighing more than 270 kilograms, from each site
• Removing old batteries, each weighing more than 1,100 kilograms, from each site
• Recycling the lead from batteries, copper from cables and steel from cabinets

The electrical equipment will all be taken to an e-waste facility to be recycled or re-used.