I was speaking about any UHF frequency co-ordination, and 4.9 licensing may be free, but you have to go through coordination, that's the cost. NYPD has most of the 4.9 locked up for 100 mi around NYC, you may actually have to challenge them to prove construction and use, I know we have been looking at getting rid of the last dozen or so phone lines, I would prefer just using the 900 band.
As far as p-25 compatibility and fed funding, if the system costs 100k without help, why would you buy a 2.1 mil system and only get 90% funded?
How another jurisdiction uses 4.9 really doesn't matter. Any eligible jurisdiction can and will get a 4.9 GHz license for their public safety operations if they apply through ULS. The FCC places the onus on the agencies for cooperating in shared spectrum use. Agencies can only use the resource within their own jurisdictional boundary, but there are so many overlapping boundaries, that any attempt to coordinate is purely situational. Of the 7 20 Meg "channels" in the 50 MHz available in 4.9, there really are only 2 "channels" that have no overlap with any of the other channels (or 3 15 Meg, 5 10 Meg, 10 5 Meg, or 10 1 Meg... and all of these share with the higher occupied bandwidths). The big contention comes in between one group who wants to deploy hot spots and another who wants to use the band for operational fixed. Seems some vocal public safety communications "leaders" seem to put priority on hot spot use, while many of us (myself included) need the reliable connectivity, and constant throughput and delay rates, without using ISM bands, or paying for leased data circuits or traditional waveguide microwave systems.
UHF coordination is the difficult thing. 453 MHz only has 61 high power channels, and in an area where there is heavy use, coordinations always come down to recommending an acceptable level of interference and then gaining the concurrence of the incumbents to tolerate that interference. There's nothing clear unless new spectrum is opened (and that's not likely). The coordinator makes the decision of who might be able to tolerate what degree of interference, but that's always limited by proposed use that seems to want to use their resources well beyond their jurisdictional boundaries and daily operating areas. Shelton's lucky, the frequency's already licensed. Now, they're up against the clock to build out.
I can't answer your last question. That gap doesn't make sense to me, unless they're going to use it for some kind of brick and mortar, land acquisition, or physical plant expense.
I've been in the business just over 30 years (climbed into the back of an ambulance as a volunteer in 1980 and was apprenticing at a two-way shop not soon after). I've seen manufacturers, manufacturer's reps, independent shops, and consultants skirt ethics and end run/discredit knowledgeable people within organizations to make a quick buck. Several colleagues and I have been the victim of the latter at one time or another. Once they get their foot in the door, they go hog wild with expenses that lead an agency down the road to budget overruns and sole source procurements because of imbedded proprietary elements, or compensating for poor or hidden design issues. These last 20 years, where family-led corporations succumbed to globalization and diversification beyond their core business have made their tactics and influence attempts nastier.
And, then, there are some groups that manufacture alternate realities. I just left a meeting about an hour ago where this gem was spoken: "Some agencies can't afford the conversion from analog to digital." Why would they need to convert in the first place? Makes as much sense as the mandate to move everyone to 800 MHz (this falacy was made real when it was proposed as part of HR607, BTW).
It ain't gonna get better. I think the best thing an agency can do is invest in their own people by getting them up to speed in recognizing their needs versus available and emerging technologies. In other words, know your needs and get the things that meet them.
If you don't know what you want, someone will tell you (and then take you for a ride doing it... predation has become an acceptable business strategy). Who knows, agencies might start using cellular telephone technology for dispatch (hey - wait - the braintrust in the various organizations want to do that...). I sure hope I get 4 bars into the network if I need help. Can you hear me now?
