[Scanner] Fw: Forwarded Air Force Print News story: Air Force moves radios to narrowband

[Don]

Don
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Peace Through Superior Firepower
----- Original Message ----- 

Sent: Friday, February 25, 2005 6:46 AM
Subject: Forwarded Air Force Print News story: Air Force moves radios to 
narrowband


giff (giff1 at cableone.net) has sent you a Air Force Link story. You can view 
the original story at http://www.af.mil/stories/story.asp?storyID=123009827.

Sender comment: Thought this might interest you.


Air Force moves radios to narrowband
by Gerald Sonnenberg
Air Force Communications Agency Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFPN)  -- As the demand for radio frequencies 
continues to grow, so does the need to increase efficiency.  Air Force 
Communications Agency officials here helped create more capabilities by 
providing the roadmap for moving the Air Force away from wideband to 
narrowband radios.

Land mobile radio systems enable military forces to quickly establish 
command, control and other critical communications during training and 
deployed operations, and they are critical components of the global 
information grid, officials said.

In 1995, National Telecommunications and Information Administration 
officials mandated that federal agencies operating radios in selected UHF 
and VHF frequencies move from a wider emission band of 25 kilohertz to a 
narrower emission band of 12.5.  Radios accessing the 162 to 174 megahertz 
frequency range were given until Jan. 1 to move.

Radios accessing other frequencies have until 2008 to move.

This gave Air Force officials the difficult challenge of converting 151,600 
radios in its inventory.  Not doing so could affect mission-critical radio 
communications support, officials said.

The Air Force manages its radio inventory at the base level, and it turned 
to agency officials to develop a plan to transition the entire, 
decentralized radio fleet to the narrowband configuration.

Agency officials said they worked with those of the Air Force Frequency 
Management Agency, major commands, direct reporting units and other field 
operating agencies to take the first steps and keep security forces and 
first responders in business.

The conversion plan broke down radio equipment into three categories: 
mission-critical, mission-essential and mission-support.

Mission-critical radios included force protection, medical response and 
airfield operations.   Mission-essential equipment covered activities such 
as transportation and supply logistics.  Mission-support assets encompassed 
activities that contained base services.

"What the Air Force is doing is replacing radios and infrastructures or 
reprogramming equipment for narrowband compliance," said Master Sgt. 
Reginald Sanders, of the communications agency.  "Each radio can then be 
programmed by the base (radio) manager.  The amount of labor depends on how 
many pieces of equipment need to be replaced and programmed."


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