Ben Holycross - Bio
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Ben Holycross has been the Radio Systems Manager for Polk County
Florida for the last 12 years. He has over 30 years in the Public Safety world
including Law Enforcement and Emergency Management with the last 18 years in
communications.
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In his current position he was involved in the final design,
construction , implementation and ongoing management of the Polk County
Motorola 800 MHz SmartZone radio system. This system provides county-wide
portable radio coverage in a county the size of the States of Rhode Island or
Delaware, some 2,200 square miles. Currently Polk County is completing a
transition plan to migrate the radio system to an IP based P-25 system.
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In addition to local operations he has developed a Disaster
Communications Response unit capable of deploying to a disaster area and
establishing full spectrum communications capability from HF to Sat-Com
including a Land Mobile Radio 800 MHz Trunked radio system, VHF and UHF
conventional radio system repeaters, Military radio Re-Trans capability,
Telephone Key System, WiFi Hot Spot Access Point, Tactical LAN and a Mobile
Radio Shop with programming and repair capability.
·
Prior to coming to Polk County Ben was the Communications
Director for Lee County and oversaw the Radio System, E-9-1-1 system, Fire and
EMS Dispatch Center, County Telephone systems, and a Data Network. covering the
five counties of the Judicial District and Cable TV franchises.
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During his time in Lee County he built one of the first
multi-agency trunked radio systems in the country, a new dispatch center and
did Alpha and Beta testing before becoming the first Intergraph Computer Aided
Dispatch system customer
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Ben has been a member of the F.C.C. Region 9 800 MHz Committee
since its inception sitting as Vice Chairman for the first seven years of the
committees existence and is currently Chairman of Sub-Region 5 and serves a
similar capacity on the F.C.C. Region 9 700 MHz Committee..
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He has the distinction of being the only Radio System Manager to
have had his system hit by 3 Hurricanes in one hurricane season. The Motorola
SmartZone system which was hit three times in a six week period did not fail
during any of the 3 Hurricanes.
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During his communications career he has been involved in disaster
responses on fires, tornado damage, flooding, as well as during:
o
Hurricane Andrew
o
Hurricane Opal
o
Hurricane Charlie
o
Hurricane Frances
o
Hurricane Ivan
o
Hurricane Jeanne
o
Hurricane Dennis
o
Hurricane Katrina
o
Hurricane Wilma
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Ben is a member of:
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The Motorola Trunked Users Group (MTUG)
o
The Association of Public Safety Communications Officers
(A.P.C.O.)
o
The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association
(AFCEA)
o
Air Force Association (AFA)
o
The Florida Emergency Preparedness
Association (FEPA)
o
U.S.A.F./CAP
o
Aircraft Owners and Pilots
Association (AOPA)
o
Mensa.