Maryland Request To Operate Air-to-Ground Radios On 700 MHz Secondary Trunking Chan

[redburgundy]

PUBLIC SAFETY AND HOMELAND SECURITY BUREAU SEEKS COMMENT ON PETITION FOR WAIVER OF RULES FILED BY THE STATE OF MARYLAND REQUESTING PERMISSION TO OPERATE AIR-TO-GROUND RADIO EQUIPMENT ON 700 MHZ SECONDARY TRUNKING CHANNELS

RM-11433

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-12-602A1.doc

Specifically, Maryland seeks to use 700 MHz band secondary trunking channels for air-to-ground interoperable communications in conjunction with its Maryland First Responders Interoperable Radio System Team (Maryland FiRST) system and its Maryland State Police-Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MSP-MIEMSS) emergency medical system. Maryland states that all of its police vehicles are migrating to the Maryland FiRST system, a statewide inter-governmental 700 MHz public safety network. Noting the important role that Maryland State Police (MSP) helicopters serve in saving lives, Maryland states that first responder aircraft communications systems must migrate to the 700 MHz band to participate in Maryland FiRST.

 

[ocguard]

It's actually a great concept. MSP aircraft will keep a constant guard on the 700mhz air-to-ground frequency, and every state portable and mobile radio will have this frequency available in a prevalent position. This allows fast, reliable, infrastructure-free communication between land units and aircraft for not only landing zone safety, but also for search-and-rescue and criminal search/apprehension cases. More jurisdictions should coordinate simplex operation between allied public safety aircraft and ground units instead of complex, unreliable patches between legacy systems and modern networks.

 

[redburgundy]

It's not a single frequency that Maryland is asking for. It's not simplex. There are sixteen channel pairs.

See 47 CFR 90.531(b)(7):
(b) Narrowband segments. There are two band segments that are designated for use with narrowband emissions. Each of these narrowband segments is divided into 960 channels having a channel size of 6.25 kHz as follows:
Frequency range Channel Nos.
769–775 MHz 1–960
799–805 MHz 961–1920
(7) Secondary trunking channels. The following channel pairs are reserved for secondary trunking operations: 21/981, 22/982, 101/1061, 102/1062, 181/1141, 182/1142, 261/1221, 262/1222, 659/1619, 660/1620, 739/1699, 740/1700, 819/1779, 820/1780, 899/1859, and 900/1860.

 

[ocguard]

It's not a single frequency that Maryland is asking for. It's not simplex. There are sixteen channel pairs.

Correct. However, one of them is desigatned as the "guard" channel. From the MSP powerpoint:

7GRND88D will operate as a “guard channel” in MSP aircraft and be continually monitored by helicopter pilots.
7GRND88D will be in switch position (zone-mode) A-16 in every state police radio.
7GRND88D, if approved by FCC, will be available for any first responder needing to alert an aircraft of a hazard during take offs and landings.

 

[ocguard]

http://delta.mdsp.org/conference/2011/MD_FiRST_Overview.ppt