Sometimes the Answer Is a $15 Cable

This week, a Facebook memory reminded me that sometimes the best solution to a high-tech problem is surprisingly low-tech.

Back in 2018, I was helping support communications and technology at a three-day music festival. The fire department was doing everything it could to build a professional incident command operation with the resources available.

We had a post-9/11 FEMA-funded command vehicle that looked incredible on paper. In reality, getting all of the technology to work consistently was often a challenge. By the end of those three days, I think we used that truck closer to its full potential than it had been used in years.

Then we ran into a problem: not enough radios.

To make matters worse, the inside of the truck was practically an RF dead zone. The equipment rack generated so much interference that you could reliably trip a Motorola pager just by walking past it. This was before countywide simulcast coverage, so crews needed access to the state's 800 MHz system. Coverage outside the truck was spotty. Inside the truck, it was almost nonexistent.

Time to get creative.

I called some friends at the local radio shop and explained the situation. They built a custom jumper cable that connected a Motorola APX portable radio to a BNC connection.

That cable saved us.

What started as a quick workaround became a solution that was used for years afterward. If that command truck is still sitting somewhere today, there's a good chance those two cables are still on a shelf inside.

It's a reminder I still carry with me today: not every problem requires a million-dollar solution, a new platform, or a major technology investment.

Sometimes the answer is a $15 cable built on someone's workbench late on a Wednesday afternoon and hand-delivered to a campground.

Whether you're in public safety, IT, or leadership, don't forget to look for the simple answer first.