We sat down with a representative for Camp Silver Brook, a Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast camp, to discuss how GenComm helped create a safe experience for the campers.
Camp Silver Brook is a hub for the wider Washington County community northwest of Milwaukee. From nature-based 4K programs and school field trips to partnerships with the local YMCA and other nonprofits, the camp provides a safe, inspiring space where students, Girl Scouts and others can take risks, explore, and give back.
Reliable communication is key to keeping the camp experience safe and seamless—a challenge the Camp Silver Brook team has successfully solved with GenComm. Our team replaced a broken repeater and upgraded them to a Kenwood DMR repeater. This included replacing the antenna and setting up all new Kenwood NX-1000 and 3000 series UHF radios. The camp was split into multiple repeated channels, with an all-call channel, to keep communication efficient and organized.
Why did you choose to work with GenComm?
I met GenComm at the Plant & Facilities Management Association tradeshow, already knowing that we had issues with our radios. Our batteries were dying constantly, and we had lots of spotty service areas.
When I talked with Justin Anderson, he said right away that he would visit us to see if he could troubleshoot our current system. He came back with helpful information to get the old system through until we could upgrade to digital radios and repeaters.
GenComm was able to find some radios that we could purchase at a discounted price. This was great cost saving for us and allowed us to remain within our budget.
The difference between the two systems is night and day. The GenComm system reaches the whole camp, and our radios don’t die immediately. We had such great success with the upgrade and extra features that one of our other camps in Southern Wisconsin is also upgrading their system and working with Gencomm.
What makes GenComm stand out from other communication suppliers?
It was always hard to get other vendors to take a look at our system, but GenComm was willing to come to us right away. They are very good communicators, and it never felt like they were trying to upcharge or make money off us. They wanted to do what was best for us.
First, GenComm reprogrammed our system as a temporary fix, until we were able to perform a full upgrade. They were very upfront and had good customer service all around—and a good product!
GenComm is also now installing callboxes at our camp. This will be great for our more remote locations, which sometimes have groups that don’t bring a radio with them.
Why is it important for you to be confident in your communication systems?
The biggest thing is safety for everyone on the property. Communication across the board is so important, whether calling the nurse for an injury or a larger emergency.
Big radio calls and even small radio calls are now much simpler. We can quickly communicate things like “pick me up at the trading post,” or “there’s a raccoon in the dumpster.” We have a 275-acre property around a lake. This means we do not have great cell service, and we are trying to stay off the cell phones anyway as part of the camp experience.
And sometimes, it is just fun to play games on the radio. We’ll say, “If you hear this particular word on the two-way radio, pat your head.” It’s camp, we like to have fun!
Any other comments that you’d like to add?
I’m thrilled we came across GenComm at the trade show and we are looking forward to continuing to work with them.