Mercer County will soon have a wireless communications network that officials say will enable emergency responders to stay in constant communication without worrying about losing signals, will save money on the county's phone bill and will speed the arraignment process at district court offices.

Thursday, commissioners approved annual lease agreements totaling nearly $32,000 for microwave dishes, antennae and towers, paving the way for the new high-speed wireless network.

Receivers will be placed around the county, including in the Shenango Valley, Jefferson Township, Sandy Lake and Greenville. A main switching station will be installed at the courthouse.

The receivers and antennae will be installed on towers up to 465 feet high, commissioners said.

The system will save money on the county's long-distance phone bill, commissioners said.

An outgoing call from the courthouse to Greenville Fire Department, for example, will be sent to a receiver in District Justice William Fagley's office in Greenville, and then be dialed to the fire department from his office, making it a local call costing pennies instead of dollars, Director of Public Safety James R. Thompson told commissioners.

"Long distance charges for just one of the district justice offices can cost up to $800 per month," he said.

Another reason for installing the system has to do with the location of the proposed new county jail. The jail will be in a service area between two phone companies, and "neither company wanted us," Thompson said, explaining the jail site is not near enough to either company's main lines.

The network "is incredibly secure," Thompson said. "It will be virtually impossible to hack into," he said, and even if a signal were intercepted, the data is encrypted.

"If a conversation were intercepted," he said, "All the interceptor would hear would be 'blip, blip, blip.' "

The high-bandwidth, high-speed data line will also lower the cost for the court's new video arraignment system. Video arraignments are done over high-speed Internet connections.

The county will lease most of the equipment from Cattron Communications Inc. of Sharpsville. The county will lease four receivers and four shared antennae at a cost of $15,900.

A fourth tower in Jefferson Township will be leased from a Texas-based company, SpectraSite Broadcast Towers, at a yearly cost of $15,900. It will have three receivers, facing three directions.

Commissioner Olivia A. Lazor said commissioners are "piggy-backing" some of the project's cost on a $50,000 state grant to set up the video arraignment system.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Amanda Smith-Teutsch at: ateutsch@sharonherald.com