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

[DHultsman5@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/20/2005 2:07:10 PM Central Standard Time,  
dpuopolo at usa.net writes:

> Is  a spectrum shortage really what the public safety people have? It  SEEMS
> that in an extreme emergency, they suffer mostly from the use of  modern
> communications techniques that require repeating through some  facility
> that either doesn't have power, got blown down, or got  flooded. Maybe they
> all otta get CB radios... No repeater  needed.
>
> Harold



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The biggest problem in public safety radio,   ie police fire CD,  ema etc.    
is TURF.   They have more than enough  frequencies. With today modern 
trunking systems it is a foolish waste of money  for evry borough, community,  
village, city, county, police, fire dept,  ambulance service to all have their own 
systems.
 
It is always a turf  battelte and the police and state police have  APCO a 
very large lobby.
 
The feds need to mandate that all funding must include interoperability  
between systems which would allow backups in case of a small sgement  failed.  The 
911 should have been a lesson as based on the report.   Why shoudl a city the 
size of NY not be able to cross communicate between  services when necessary 
without having to have a dispatcher do some plugging or  switching.   
 
Many local police Chiefs would kill before they would share a trunking  
system with their own channels that was set up for the county sheriff and vice  
versa..
 
Prime example was the airline crash into a Ramada Inn in Indianapolis years  
back and all of the multiple services, fire, police ambulance etc for several  
area couldn't communicate without displatchers dialing the telphone to 
another  dispatcher.   The building was burning and no one could talk to each  
other.  WHat a waste of taxpayers money and valuable time of the victims  who pay 
for this equipment. The majority is usually FED grants.
 
They got together and now have an intergrated inter operable system  allowing 
walkie talkies of one group to talk to the other while still monitoring  
their bosses dispatch frequency.
 
It is again too much poilitical turf and they way to get past it is to tie  
all funding to the best for all based on the 911.
 
I'm Flying off the handle because of APCO and John McLane  and the  other 
senator inferring that the tV broadcasters on Chans 50-55 were the cause  of the 
Katrina/FEMA communications problems.  
 
As if just by turn off the TV stations the infrastructure for the 911  
Commission report would then grow out of the ground.  How stupid.
 
Rant mode off.
 
Dave