Case Study: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Forestry achieves statewide flexibility, resilience and cost savings with Zetron's ACOM Command & Control and MT-4E repeaters

Statewide radio system upgrade delivers flexibility, resilience and savings

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Forestry faced an aging statewide analog radio system and failing repeaters that put reliable communications at risk across 54,000 square miles and 17 million acres of forestland. To modernize communications for roughly 1,800 users (wildland fire, parks, law enforcement and search & rescue) they turned to Zetron, selecting MT-4E repeaters and the ACOM Command & Control system to meet their reliability and flexibility requirements.

Zetron deployed MT-4E repeaters with Universal Interface Cards at 82 sites, ACOM Command & Control at eight dispatch centers (15 consoles and three mobile consoles), and Pathway+ gateways to integrate legacy analog repeaters and third‑party recorders. The Zetron solution delivered measurable resilience and operational flexibility: geographically diverse cores and live monitoring reduced outage impact, staff can remotely perform firmware updates and reboots (saving travel and technician time), and the statewide dispatch flexibility has produced clear time and cost savings for the Forestry Division.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Forestry

John Schrader

Radio System Network Administrator