Chicago Granted a 2 Year Narrowbanding Wavier by FCC

[GTR8000]

The city applied for an 2 year narrowbanding waiver in May, which was granted by the FCC. The waiver affects numerous VHF and UHF frequencies throughout the city used by Medical response teams, Street and Sanitation, and VHF conventional stand-alone systems. They now have until January 1, 2015 to narrowband the affected frequencies. The full text of the waiver, including the specific frequencies covered by it, can be found here in PDF format:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-12-2079A1.pdf

 

[redneckcellphone]

I thought the FCC was very clear that they gave enough time for people to narrowband?


Sent from my iPhone yes iPhone using Tapatalk app thingy

 

[garys]

I thought the FCC was very clear that they gave enough time for people to narrowband?

It helps if your Mayor is the former Chief of Staff for the President of the United States.

 

[mmckenna]

It also helped that they put their waiver in back in May, rather than waiting until December. FCC made it clear that they would consider waivers on a case by case basis if they were submitted in a reasonable amount of time. They also made it clear that filing for a waiver at the last minute wasn't going to fly.

If you read the FCC document:
"The record shows that Chicago has taken concrete steps to meet the commission's January 1, 2013 narrowbanding deadline, including narrowbanding a large portion of its current system and securing funding of the remainder of the transition process."

It also states that the city of Chicago only employs 16 radio techs, and due to economic downturn, they cannot hire more.

These sorts of situations are exactly what the waiver process is for. It isn't because Chicago was lazy and waited until the last minute, which the FCC is clearly targeting, but constricted by system size, complexity and economic hardship.

 

[oemctx4]

I'm sure that the Mayor of Chicago was Chief of Staff has nothing to do with it.

 

[mancow]

"Too big to fail"

 

[rdale]

I'm sure that the Mayor of Chicago was Chief of Staff has nothing to do with it.

Correct. Too many conspiracy theories out there. Reality must be too boring

 

[Confuzzled]

I've often wondered what would happen if the bigger systems like New York, LA and Chicago had told the FCC to take a flying leap.

 

[rdale]

They'd be paying up the wazoo, and would eventually have the courts forcing them to dismantle their equipment.

That would be tough for their mayors to explain to their residents. Lots of local politicians would be looking for new jobs!

 

[brey1234]

City gets FCC waiver

Peoria granted federal extension as it nears launch of new emergency dispatch system - Peoria, IL - pjstar.com

 

[Confuzzled]

They'd be paying up the wazoo, and would eventually have the courts forcing them to dismantle their equipment.

That would be tough for their mayors to explain to their residents. Lots of local politicians would be looking for new jobs!

I doubt that. If you had cities combined representing 20 or 30 million people or more standing up to them, the FCC would have some 'splainin' to do trying to justify forcing agencies to spend millions of dollars so bandwidth could be sold to private companies.

Might even cost some of the Commissioners their jobs.

 

[rdale]

But that's not the only reason for the narrowbanding move. It's better for everyone in the long run.

 

[N9JIG]

The FCC has been very clear about it's narrow band waiver process. Given that there was over a decade's worth of warning and a multitude of notices put out the waivers they have issued have been very specific and relatively few in number.

The applicants must have a specific timeline, compliance plan and background reasoning to obtain these waivers and each was scrutinized individually by both the FCC and coordinators before they were approved.

Many more were denied, usually because there was not sufficient reasons for the delay or no specific plans to move forward.