jaymatt1978
Member
Typical Bergen County screwup:
Mahwah school radio mixup focus of funding flap - NorthJersey.com
Mahwah school radio mixup focus of funding flap - NorthJersey.com
Right, wrong, or indifferent, these days schools are top of the list. While they do need communication and have traditionally been the least-equipped, a lot of what they are doing is probably (and very hopefully)prepping for an event which will never come.Uhhh....
I've never heard of making schools interoperable with first responders before.
If schools have a resource officer, they usually get a school radio. Where I live, the schools seem to buy new radio systems each school year and despite that, the schools are not even interoperable nor are the schools and school buses. Well, they could be, but they aren't. No need apparently.
I guess the salesmen ran out of public safety agencies so they turned to the schools. School boards spend money like it grows on trees so it was a good move on their part. Kudos to the 4 board members who weren't bought. If the cops really want someone transmitting on their radios in an emergency, they should give the main office one of their radios. End of story.
Uhhh....
I've never heard of making schools interoperable with first responders before.
If schools have a resource officer, they usually get a school radio. Where I live, the schools seem to buy new radio systems each school year and despite that, the schools are not even interoperable nor are the schools and school buses. Well, they could be, but they aren't. No need apparently.
I guess the salesmen ran out of public safety agencies so they turned to the schools. School boards spend money like it grows on trees so it was a good move on their part. Kudos to the 4 board members who weren't bought. If the cops really want someone transmitting on their radios in an emergency, they should give the main office one of their radios. End of story.
B.S flag has been raised and is flying high.
There inlies the debate. The BOE in Mahwah already HAD a UHF frequency whether they used it I don't know, but I would HOPE it was in the PD and FD's radio plan. I would also have it monitored by the police desk in case anything happened to the phones it woould be a last resort. I AM NOT advocating giving the school to jump to the police channel, that spells trouble.
Except in limited cases, "educational institutions" are not eligible to be licensed on public safety frequencies. Most schools, therefore, are licensed on Industrial/Business frequencies.
John Rayfield, Jr. CETma
W0PM
You won't get the whole picture of the FCC's regulatory environment just by looking at Part 90. You HAVE TO include volumes of "Reports and Orders" that make interpretations to and modify the rules, WITHOUT always changing the material rule itself. Eventually (glacially), the Rules do change, but there are many, many, many things that are in these proceedings that are not otherwise specified. This is why there are lawyers that specialize in FCC matters, and why there is an FCC Bar association. Dealing with the FCC is the ultimate game of trivial pursuit, and how people carve niche markets for themselves by learning (and usually hoarding) specific information and using it to exploit and usually one-up someone else for the benefit of their paying clients. Schools are absolutely eligible. I should have a DA number for the group tomorrow to cite my assertion.From FCC part 90:
(Public Safety pool) 90.20(a) "Eligibility" (2)(viii) "Persons or organizations operating school buses on a regular basis over regular routes for the transmission of messages pertaining either to the efficient operation of the school bus service or the general welfare of the students they are engaged in transporting."
(Industrial/Business pool) 90.35(a) "Eligibility" (2) "The operation of educational, philathropic, or ecclesiastical institutions."
So, from a strict reading of Part 90 school buses can be licensed for Public Safety, but schools cannot.