Why not try this, license all 911 centers "by rule". Install a ham rig in all of them, designate a simplex freq and tone nationwide to be reserved for emergency and other ops that require interactions between ham and public safety.
If they would do this there would be no need to go out of band or have an unlocked radio and there would be no more debate about rules or justification to have an unlocked radio.
also be warned, you may be txing in several places in the band and not know it. I saw this when a friend came to visit. He was real proud that he was able to use 151.625 on his ht. I had a scanner running and noticed that every time he keyed the radio it would stop the scanner on 154.770. At first I thought it was just because of proximity/overload. But I noted that the ps repeater was being keyed because of the hang time of the repeater. He keyed a couple more times and turned purple with fear. I never saw him with that radio again.
This reeks of two things:
1. Unfamiliarity with 911 dispatch centers
2. Whackerism.( I personally see this as a disease )
1: PSAPS have way to much work to do as it is. Short staff, too much -critical- life safety traffic to listen to, cut budgets and overworked staff. If you ever get a chance to sit in a real 911 PSAP and watch/listen to what they do you'd realize this really isn't a good idea.
Back in the 70's/80's, some centers around here had CB radios set to channel 9. Seemed like a good idea, but all too often the volume would get turned down or the radio turned off due to higher priority traffic.
Dispatchers have a very hard job without having to deal with yet another way for untrained/undisciplined public to reach them. The attitude that because someone holds and amateur radio license makes them automatically trained to act as a public safety resource is flawed in so many ways I won't go into it here.
911 PSAPS have a very well established way of doing what they need to do. Adding a stream of information that comes in mid-process with no location data, no filtering and no real control just makes all kinds of headaches.
There are existing/established ways for you to call in emergencies to the right people. Phone, PLB, satellite telephone, etc. Being too cheap to have the right tool for the job, too lazy to prepare properly, or expecting the government to provide a special treatment for you is just not the answer.
2: The disease that is Whackerism.
This attitude that someone who passes a 35 question multiple choice test, buys a $40 radio is suddenly a public safety professional is wrong on many, many levels. My wife has her amateur radio license, and she did a "Ham Cram Session". 6 hours from no training/experience to a valid amateur radio license does not make one trained/authorized/experienced in how to handle emergency traffic.
The attitude that someone holding an amateur radio license is somehow allowed to have a higher priority into the emergency dispatch process is flawed, also on many, many levels.
Time to get off this attitude. AMATEUR radio is a hobby. It does not make one a public safety professional.
It would create a false sense of security. Setting a precedence by installing a "special" radio system into a PSAP would imply that this is a fully supported, funded and approved way for people to get help in an emergency.
Providing reliable coverage would be very expensive. Most dispatch centers are not located on the highest hill in the area. Multiple receivers/transmitters would be required. Ongoing maintenance, support and funding for these systems would be necessary. Funding wireline links to remote receivers/transmitters would be costly, and where is that money going to come from?
If we make this "license by rule", how do we keep the general public off this amateur radio frequency? Do we tell them they are not allowed? Your phone might be down and you can't phone into 911, but you are not allowed to use the "special" radio channel because you haven't passed the 35 question multiple choice test? Only "special" people that took a 45 minute long test and bought a low end radio are authorized?
Who pays for the additional staff time to watch this radio? It's not something that a PSAP is just going to pay for and support with staff time out of the goodness of their hearts. Heck, adding an additional phone line to our center is met with massive pushback.
It wouldn't be one radio added. This would need to appear at all the call taker or radio positions. That requires back room infrastructure. All traffic on this channel would need to be recorded, just like all the other radio channels and phone lines critical to their operations.
And why would we make this an amateur radio frequency? Why not Marine VHF, MURS, CB, GMRS. At least that way it would be open to a wider population.
I really think this whole thing is coming down to those that have a severe case of "whackeritis" and those that understand the difference between AMATEUR radio as a hobby and public safety radio systems.
I really bothers me that there are amateur radio operators out there that have this attitude.
