[ARRL-OK] Responders' lack of spectrum 'cost lives'

[ClayMayrose at aol.com]

Responders' lack of spectrum 'cost lives'

By Shaun Waterman, UPI  Homeland and National Security Editor
Former Sept. 11  commission Chairman Tom Kean says first responders in 
Louisiana not having had  access to radio spectrum needed for inter-operable 
communications "cost lives,"  as it did at the World Trade Center.
"On the ground, the people  that get there first can't talk to each other 
because the radio communications  don't work," Kean told CNN Sunday. "They 
haven't got enough of what's called  spectrum."
News media last week reported that police forces in  New Orleans and the 
three surrounding parishes all use different and  incompatible radio equipment.
Experts say that proper equipment  and training and freeing up more and 
better frequencies are essential  pre-requisites for reaching the holy grail of 
full communications  inter-operability for first responders.
Kean said a bill in  Congress to provide more spectrum was stalled. "Nothing 
has been happening, and  again, people on the ground -- police, fire, medical 
personnel -- couldn't talk  to each other. That's outrageous and it's a 
scandal and I think it cost lives,"  he concluded.
At issue are the recommendations of a 1995  congressional panel that, as TV 
broadcasters transitioned to digital  transmission -- which takes up a much 
smaller fraction of the spectrum -- the  frequencies freed up would be allocated 
to first responders.
Now, a bi-partisan group of lawmakers is making a new push for the 
legislation.  
"We have not kept the promise we made 10 years ago," said Rep.  Jane Harman, 
D-Calif., calling the situation "a black eye" and "an  embarrassment" for 
lawmakers.
She and Rep. Curt Weldon,  R-Penn., have written to Speaker of the House Rep. 
Denny Hastert, R-Ill., to ask  for a suspension of the normal rules of debate 
so that a bill to enforce a  deadline for handing the relevant frequencies to 
first responders can be passed  this week.
In the Senate, a similar measure, sponsored by John  McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe 
Lieberman, D-Conn., is currently before the Commerce,  Science and 
Transportation Committee. 
Spokesman Amy Call said  Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R.-Tenn, was 
working with Commerce Committee  Chairman Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, to try and 
get that bill to the floor soon,  too. "The Leader saw first hand on the ground 
the challenges, and is  working
with several members about further fixes in this area," Call told  United 
Press International at the weekend.
The parts of the  spectrum identified by the 1995 Public Safety Wireless 
Advisory Committee report  are in the high 700-Mhz range -- which experts say is 
ideal for use by emergency  services because signals sent over these 
frequencies can penetrate walls and  travel long distances.
"This (part of the spectrum) is prime  real estate," said Yucel Ors of the 
Association of Public Safety Communications  Officials, a non-profit that 
represents first responder and emergency management  communications specialists. 
But, he added, "There are squatters on it,"  referring to the TV broadcasters.
The law passed in response to  the 1995 report set a Jan. 1, 2007, target 
date for broadcasters to free up that  part of the spectrum.
"But there's a huge get out for them," a  congressional staffer who has 
worked on the issue told United Press  International.
Broadcasters are not required to relinquish  their spectrum allocation until 
85 percent of
households in their market have  the equipment needed to receive digital 
signals.
The staffer  said that this creates "a chicken and egg" problem -- without a 
firm date for  the transition from analog, there is no incentive for viewers 
or broadcasters to  upgrade to digital equipment, and penetration remains well 
below the 85 percent  baseline in most major
markets.
Broadcasters and their  supporters say that imposing a deadline would 
penalize those viewers who cannot  afford new equipment, and that households replace 
electronic goods like TV sets  every few years, arguing this should lead 
eventually to major markets crossing  the 85 percent threshold.
But Michael Powell, then-chairman of  the Federal Communications Commission, 
testified last year to the Senate  commerce committee that the 85 percent 
penetration test could result in  transition being delayed for "decades or 
multiple decades."
"It  is time to tell the broadcasters to get out of the way," said Weldon, 
blaming  "the lethargy of Congress -- both parties and both chambers" for the 
failure to  move on this issue before.
Ors said that broadcasters had also  lobbied hard against a deadline. "They 
have more resources than we do," he said,  "First responders are busy on the 
front lines, we don't have as much time as  they do to lobby Congress."
Experts are keen to stress that  spectrum is just one of the pieces in the 
inter-operability jigsaw.
"Even if the deadline is imposed," said the congressional staffer, "this  is 
going to take some time."
The other pieces of the puzzle  include equipment and training, but as Ors 
points out, even in these areas,  delays in freeing up the spectrum become a 
problem.
"Until  there's a firm date (for the transition) public safety agencies can't 
make the  investments in the equipment they need" to make use of the new 
frequencies, he  told UPI, adding that manufacturers were also loath to spend 
money developing  and marketing equipment which could remain effectively unusable 
until some  yet-to-be-determined date in the future.
But the trickiest  piece of all, according to the congressional staffer, is 
what he called "the  human element," and Ors refers to as planning.
"Without clear  planning (by neighboring jurisdictions), without proper 
staffing and training,  you can have all the spectrum and equipment you need and it 
won't get you  there," said Ors.
"There are cultural problems between fire  departments and police forces and 
(emergency medical services)," said the  congressional staffer. And in huge 
disasters like Hurricane Katrina has caused,  a lack of inter-operability can be 
the least of first responder  worries.
Kenneth Moran, acting director of the homeland  security office in the 
Federal Communications Commission, told a House Energy  and Commerce Committee 
hearing Wednesday that inter-operability had been only  one among many problems in 
the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- which blew down  transmission towers and 
cut power in huge swathes of the Gulf coast.
"We did see inter-operability problems," he said, "But the biggest  problems 
we saw initially were things that were needed to get the (cellular and  
broadcast) networks up and that tended to be security issues, staging of  personnel 
to get them in there and also trying to
get fuel (for generators)  into the areas until the power would come up."
But responders  say that -- in a situation of prolonged crisis like the one 
in Louisiana -- the  time before and after the towers go down and the power 
goes off is as important  as any other.
"Good, strong communications help you prepare  better and recover faster," 
said Harlin McEwen, a retired FBI official and the  chairman of the 
communications and technology committee of the International  Association of Chiefs of  
Police.
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