By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Friday, March 9, 2007, 11 p.m. -- For many University of Kentucky basketball fans, today's SEC game against Mississippi State was nearly as important as a Final Four game.

At Bloomfield Middle School, students reported that part of the game was played over the intercom. For the Nelson County School District's bus drivers keeping tabs on the game was more difficult -- but thanks to their 2-way radios, not entirely impossible.

The game was winding down as most bus drivers were already driving their buses to their schools. School-related communications on the school district's bus frequency were interspersed with frequent game related questions: "What's the score now?", "How much time is left?", and "Is it in overtime?"

Each school district bus and each school is equipped with a two-way radio that operates on a UHF frequency. The school system operates a repeater system in order to extend the range of the bus radios. The system allows buses in New Haven to talk with any school or any other district school bus operating in the county. The school radios are located in the office at each school and the radio is usually operated by one of the secretaries.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, game reports -- score and time remaining -- were fast and frequent as the regulation time expired.

Most of the reports apparently were broadcast by a male voice that was either a school administrator or a bus garage employee.

"It's tied and going into overtime," the male voice announced. More updates followed during the next tense minutes before the final report came: "84-82, Kentucky loses in overtime," followed by the silence of disappointment.

ABOUT THE SCHOOL BOARD'S BUS RADIO SYSTEM. The school system's bus radios are typically used to communicate between buses and the schools. Bus drivers also use them to communicate with the bus garage and report problems with their buses, and to summon help when needed.

According to the school system's FCC license for the bus radio system, the district is licensed for as many as 95 buses. In order to cover the entire county with a UHF frequency, the radio system transmitter has an effective radiated power of 350 watts.

Readers who own a scanner can monitor the county's bus communications by programming in the frequency of 855.375 MHz.