FCC cites Paterson based taxi company for interfering with public safety communications

[railtrailbiker]

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-356553A1.pdf

 

[665_NJ]

IMHO a programing Typo? Their "radio person" or "Radio Shop" was in a rush , forgot their glasses/contacts or more likely just not paying attention when they programed the radios. Gotta double check and make sure the frequency information is correct berfore putting the radio into service and on the air. !!!

 

[ht396jm]

Do you have any background info on this? Who/What they were interfering with?

 

[railtrailbiker]

I suspect they were interfering with an agency, or agencies, using 154.800. The County of Bergen, the Borough of Bergenfield, and/or one or more Monmouth County agencies, perhaps. They could have also been interfering with a NY State based agency using 154.800.

 

[GTR8000]

Bergenfield seems the most likely candidate.

 

[buddrousa]

With all the cheap junk on the market today it could be a do it yourself job.

 

[665_NJ]

What that said, Their "radio person" was in a rush , forgot their glasses/contacts or more likely just not paying attention when they programed the radios. !!!

 

[railtrailbiker]

FCC records indicate that they've been licensed since at least March of 2015. I wonder if they were always using the wrong frequency, or if they just purchased new radios? In 2015, their radio shop was (according to FCC records):

Perez Communications & Electronics
Jose Perez
56-62 Mill St
Belleville, NJ 07109

 

[665_NJ]

My last comment on this, not taking sides either, people make mistakes whether or not its the "radio person" in the company or someone in the "radio shop". It happens, the frequencies a very similar and a typo could so easily have been made!
Back in the late 70's I obtained 2 Motorola HT220 2 Channel T Band UHF HTs that needed to be re crystaled. This was before frequency coordination and useing the old FCC400 forms with carbon paper to file. Got a business license for two UHF T band frequencies low power 4 watts. One frequency was 476.1875. I had B&C Communications do the work. However, during this same time B&C Communications was a prime contractor then to Bergen County and was updating Bergen County Police from low band to UHF T band, 477.1625 was new dispatch and 477.1875 was the county wide alert and inter ops channel. When I received my HT 220 portables back from B&C guess what frequency they put in? Well lets say It ended with .1875!!! . So mistakes do happen.

 

[902]

The sad irony is that 159.8025 may have been the quieter channel. My bet is on a dyslexic guy, like me, programming the radio. Never thought I was, but after ten years and several thousand sets of call signs and frequencies, I find that I need to triple check things before I hit the send, otherwise I may have transposed letters in the call sign or switched a number around. And I went well into my 40s before I even realized I did that. Thought I needed glasses, and glasses didn't fix it.

 

[railtrailbiker]

"At the time of inspection, the Agent determined that LG was operating the base station on the unauthorized frequency 154.8025 MHz."

So, their mobiles were operating on the correct tx frequency, but the base station was 5MHz off on tx? Hmm. This certainly doesn't seem like an innocent mistake then, because that would require programming different tx & rx frequencies in all radios.

 

[GTR8000]

I doubt the 5 MHz difference was coincidence. Seems more like they setup to operate in full duplex mode like many cab companies do, and used the standard 5 MHz offset that you'd find on UHF.

 

[radioman2001]

FEDEX got caught up in a similar problem some years back, they ended up on a LASO channel. The paid about $45K for that mistake.