In this episode we chat with Jason Simmons, a subscriber radio tech from Michigan's Public Safety Communications System. He covers the Lansing Radio shop in 11 Michigan counties, stretching from Gratiot down to Barry County, across to Livingston.

Subscriber radio techs maintain and repair the radio network and communications equipment for various first responder State of Michigan agencies, such as the Michigan State Police, Department of Natural Resources, Department of Transportation, and even the National Guard.

Some of the equipment include 800MHz radios, modems, cameras, and radars. You will also learn what some of the tones of the radio mean.

Transcript is available here: https://cms.michigan.gov/mpscs/-/media/Project/Websites/MPSCS/Social_Media/Transcripts/MPSCS-Radio-Tech-Podcast-Transcript-FINAL.pdf

The NCC or Network Communications Center is available 24 hours a day to assist public safety members with issues regarding system problems and maintenance. They are a lifeline to dispatchers and agencies that rely on the system that supports first responders.

Public safety members include state agencies, local, federal, tribal, county and private public safety first responders.

What is the day like in the NCC and how did it start? We talk with Marty Gillis who has worked in the NCC since its origins to answer those questions.

Transcript is available here: https://cms.michigan.gov/mpscs/-/media/Project/Websites/MPSCS/Social_Media/Transcripts/MPSCS-NCC-Podcast-Transcript-V4.pdf

In this episode we chat with Nate Salziger. He's a steeplejack and Tower Tech from Michigan's Public Safety Communications System who covers the west side of Michigan.

Steeplejacks scale the MPSCS towers up to 485’ tall to do installation and maintenance work on the towers, such as repairing or installing lights or other components such as antennas, microwave dishes or cabling mounted on towers.

Transcript is available here: https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mpscs/Tune_In_Hanging_with_Steeplejacks_with_Nate_Salziger_Transcript_717789_7.pdf