DAS / ERRCS certs

[speedway_navigator]

I got an email from Alliance corp in Dudley Do-right land offering me a chance to win a safer building coalition study guide for the NICET IB-PSC cert.
Since I'm involved with the ETA and we have our own certs I was wondering what you guys think about NICET vs ETA vs other cert providers.

The ETA recently had a big change in its board, during our annual meeting I felt like the new blood in the system is willing to start making changes to grow with the changes in our industry. In the past the leadership was the same few folks who wanted and usually got veto power on various topics.
One past leader told me "they will always keep me as chairman because I make sure they get raises".

He's not in command anymore and yes project 25 master it was you know who.

My teaching partners did DAS presentations with the safer building folks and never heard any more from them.

We have updated our GCT line and antenna sweeping comps and tests and now I'm working with some new folks on RFI hunting and mitigation.

I've also started teaching GCT online to get away from waiting for 4 or more students to get together so I could cover travel costs.

Anyone going to the APCO 2023 in Nashville? I'm working with them to see if I can offer classes like I do at IWCE.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

Dunno...I just brought home a loaner R8200 (peeled the sticker off the display and everything) so I've been busy playing with that. Built in VNA, full suite of line sweep (TDR function, DTF, cable sweeps for using cal'd cables for tests, etc).

 

[speedway_navigator]

The Freedom folks were kind enough to lend me an R8200 for IWCE. I might be teaching a class on it, one of their reps is trying to put one together on the east coast. I keep punching the screen instead of the menu buttons to the right, must have muscle memory from the Viavi R8800.

 

[xmo]

The NICET In-Building Public Safety Communications certification program certainly appears to be very complete. They even have what appears to be a comprehensive study guide. This certification could be very attractive to an ERRCS vendor who needs a system designer or to electrical contractors that perform installation of the equipment.

On the other hand, a communications agency probably looks for support staff with multiple competencies. The ETA offers several such as LAS,
PIM, R56, RFI, Astro25, GTR8000, and Microwave. A person with multiple ETA certifications including ERRCS would be an ideal candidate for many agency job openings.

I doubt if a communications agency would prioritize candidates with the NICET ERRCS certification over those with ETA. In any case, a competent interviewer will quickly learn if the candidate's skills are just on paper or a real combination of training, certification, and experience.

The ERRCS field is growing rapidly. Following a number of in-building coverage failure incidents such as the 9/11 WTC debacle, the fire people took action and added in-building coverage requirements to fire code. The result is now a billion dollar a year industry.

One consequence is that many public safety licensees aren't prepared to deal with the proliferation of these systems and don't have policies and procedures in place to fulfill their FCC license requirements or to ensure that their radio systems aren't degraded by improperly designed or installed ERRCS.

This indicates a need for training and certifications.