Bill could mean changes to public safety radio systems

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K6CDO

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H.R.3630 (as passed out of the House last week) would do just that (although the reporter got the timing of the loss of the 700 MHz narrowband spectrum wrong - it read "five years after certification by the administrator"). However, the bill was totally gutted and amended in the Senate, so the version that will be voted on today does not have any of the spectrum provisions in it.

See: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr3630eas/pdf/BILLS-112hr3630eas.pdf
 

902

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H.R.3630 (as passed out of the House last week) would do just that (although the reporter got the timing of the loss of the 700 MHz narrowband spectrum wrong - it read "five years after certification by the administrator"). However, the bill was totally gutted and amended in the Senate, so the version that will be voted on today does not have any of the spectrum provisions in it.

See: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr3630eas/pdf/BILLS-112hr3630eas.pdf
Additionally, legislators received a steady stream of calls from public safety constituents expressing how ill-advised they believed the giveback provisions to be. Seems that many communications professionals are beginning to realize that being completely reliant on any one technology, like broadband exclusively, with many unanswered questions about network integrity, infrastructure-independent operations, and recurring cost radio subscriptions at this point in time takes tools out of their toolbox. In this case, the subband that could best spackle over the unanswered issues was the very one on the chopping block.

Legislators have a mistaken perception that public safety "owns" a vast amount of spectrum that has better value to corporate interests, when the reality is that (factoring in bandwidth and overlap), public safety "owns" nothing, there aren't many channels in 90.20, and typical frequency use is tightly packed to the point where finding free resources for new systems means having to calculate levels of impairment to incumbent users and finding the "best of the worst" candidate frequencies. Regardless, any spectrum perceived as fallow or as having revenue potential is fair game. Nothing is sacrosanct.

RR members stood up to help in response to H.R. 3630 by casting a broad net to radio system managers to complete an APCO survey enumerating a dollar value on already-and soon-to-be implemented 700 MHz systems, and providing info on 700 MHz system use that was not otherwise listed in ULS or CAPRAD. State license channels and mobile use of interoperability channels are not licensed by site. Use of these frequencies can't be searched in either database. It's only local knowledge. Be proud, aware, and engaged.
 
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