[BC] What is left for the industry to do?

[Harold Hallikainen]

> Its not the lack of spectrum, it's the lack of a unified coordination.
>
>  In a disaster Public Safety people show up from all over the place to
> help
> but their radios are not programmed to operate on the allocated
> interoperability channels. The radios often are not programmed to operate
> direct without a proper repeater system.
>
> There are a couple of dozen channels allocated for interoperability but I
> have never seen a public service agency program those into there radios.
> Most
> only have the half dozen channels they use in there radios even though the
> radios is a 128 channel radio.
>
> So you wind up with people from 27 different agencies on 27 different
> channels and the person you need to coordinate with via radio can't talk
> to
> you.
>
>  The other issue in public safety is interference, the FCC did a lousy job
> or allocating frequencies in the 800 Mhz band and we now have severe
> interference between Nextel, Public Safety and Cell phones. The mess is so
> bad the only way to fix it is to move users, Public Safety to 700 Mhz and
> Nextel to 1900 Mhz.
>
>  Ron
>


Meanwhile, we have stuff like that below appearing (from Benton
Communications Headlines, http://www.benton.org) saying the problem is
lack of spectrum. All their radios really otta be set to operate on some
common simplex channels. You really can't count on repeaters, trunk
systems, etc. to be there during flooding, wind storms, and extended power
outages. Failing that, give 'em CB radios!

Harold


------from http://www.benton.org------
SHARING THE AIRWAVES
[SOURCE: TomPaine.com, AUTHOR: Dawn Holian, Common Cause]
[Commentary] Radio frequencies were jammed.  Cell phone towers were wiped
out.  Government officials had to resort to sending runners back and forth
in order to share information. These are just a few of the communication
failures that left police and first responders throughout the Gulf Coast
deaf, dumb and blind in those critical hours and days following Hurricane
Katrina.  And the blame for the communication breakdowns rests squarely at
the feet of our legislators in Congress, who have capitulated to the
broadcast industry on spectrum issues for far too long. So what do
television broadcasters have to do with emergency communication? They both
use the airwaves?also known as spectrum?to operate. Those airwaves are
public property just like our national parks and forests.  Congress
originally gave TV broadcasters licenses to use the best airwaves: what
former Federal Communications Chairman Reed Hundt called the ?beachfront
property on the Cyber Sea.? But technological advances now allow more
efficient use of the airwaves, and giving the ?beachfront property? to
television broadcasters no longer makes sense.  So in 1996, Congress gave
each television station a second license in order to facilitate the
transition to digital broadcasting.  The plan was that, within a short
time, they would switch over to digital broadcasting entirely and return
their ?beachfront property? so that those airwaves could be reallocated for
other purposes -- including public safety. Congress has an opportunity this
week to undo some of its previous damage when they once again take up
legislation dealing with the digital television transition.  Insiders
expect that Congress will set a so-called hard deadline for the return of
the ?beachfront? airwaves -- but many questions remain about how those
airwaves will then be used.  Clearly, one priority must be fulfilling the
promise made to our first responders nearly a decade ago to give them
increased access to the airwaves. Another priority should be to ensure that
some airwaves are set aside for public use.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20051019/sharing_the_airwaves.php

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