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

[Jay Eimer]

For those who care - this is about 90% BS.

There's no market penetration on digital TV because it's too expensive to be
a "commodity" purchase.  But it's too expensive because there's not a market
yet.

And there's no market yet, because despite ex-Chairman Powell's pipe dream,
more than 15% of the population (about 85% if the ratings figures are
accurate) think that 90% of TV programming in general is crap.

As far as the 700MHz spectrum goes - >75% of all the fire departments in the
US are still volunteer.  >80% are still on VHF-hi (154MHz).  Police and EMS
are almost as bad.

And the reason various agencies can't talk to each other really has very
little to do with incompatible equipment.  Mostly it has to do with them not
WANTING to talk to each other.  They all want to do their job.
Communication is secondary.  They only learn to communicate to the level
that is required to do their job - and only learn to communicate beyond
their own agencies boundaries where their training forces them to.

That's why WE are so valuable.  WE (amateur radio) are the ONLY dedicated
communications specialists beyond the military and the agency dispatchers.
And WE are the only ones beyond the military that keeps both the operations
and the technical stuff "in house".

Jay
AD5PE

-----Original Message-----
From: arrl-ok-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:arrl-ok-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of ClayMayrose at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2005 00:46
To: ocapa at mailman.qth.net; arrl-ok at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [ARRL-OK] Responders' lack of spectrum 'cost lives'

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.
______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________
___________________ Information __________________________ ARRL Oklahoma
Section Manager - John Thomason, WB5SYT wb5syt at arrl.org Oklahoma Section Web
page http://www.qsl.net/wb5syt/index.html


______________________________________________________

ARRL-OK mailing list
Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/arrl-ok
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/faq.htm
Post: mailto:ARRL-OK at mailman.qth.net