I'm not saying you don't need that network. YOU DO! That is one of the
things that benefits public safety without sacrificing any liberties.
The network hasn't been built in 4.9 GHz. The network hasn't been built in
800 MHz. What's going to cause this network to appear when 700 MHz is
reserved for public safety? Accelerate Nextel's departure from 800 MHz and
use that.
Actually, I may have been mistaken. I just read this:
=====
Nextel will relinquish rights to some of its 800 MHz licenses and all of its
700 MHz licenses, and fund the realignment of the 800 MHz band and clearing
of the 1.9 GHz spectrum to be authorized to Nextel.
=====
So they're already giving up 700 MHz. What's being done with that? They
were given only a couple years to have the 800 MHz band reconfigured.
-----
Mike Hammett
Intelligent Computing Solutions
http://www.ics-il.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Healy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "WISPA General List" <wireless@wispa.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 10:25 AM
Subject: Re: [WISPA] Public Safety
Well Mike, perhaps I can help to enlighten you from the public safety
stand point. I'm a volunteer fire chief in a small rural community
situated in North Central PA near the NY state line. My county's fire
service radios are in the 154MHz band. I derive some of my mutual aid from
the neighboring NY state county which operates in the 46MHz band. And my
Hazardous Materials Response Team comes from a neighboring PA county that
operates in the 450MHz band. Now, add to that the fact that the area
police agencies are in another band hopefully you can begin to see the
basis of some of the issues at hand. Now duplicate this throughout the
country and you get the communications mess that was had during Katrina
relief efforts. While everything may be hunky dorie while I'm playing in
my own back yard things go to hell in a hurry when things hit the fan
someplace else and they want help (you do still remember 9/11 don't you?).
Now move into the (hopefully not too distant) future....... I currently
have a laptop computer in my truck that I use for emergency response.
While I have various pieces of software on it for Haz-Mat response, GPS
and pre-fire planning I am limited on what I can do because I have no way
to connect to anyone else with this laptop when I am on the scene of an
emergency. I'm not able to use it to get up to date weather information,
or to connect to the county's GIS system for up to date facility
information, or to email information to a state or national resource for
in depth information. And it certainly limits my ability to locate someone
to help get your butt off that 900 ft tower when you decide to have a
heart attack at about 500 ft and someone calls 9-1-1 and expects us public
safety folks to come to your rescue.
It sure would be nice to have a wireless broadband network available to me
to connect to that is dedicated for emergency services use to allow me use
today (and tomorrow's) technology to my (and ultimately your) benefit. I'd
really rather not wake you and make you leave your house at 3am when
someone wrecks a truck filled with methyl ethyl bad stuff down the road
from you if I can help it. But if I can't look at up to date weather info
and see which way the wind is blowing and if there is rain headed that way
or not....... guess what...... you're getting out of bed and leaving your
happy home until my job is done.
Now, add to this picture the fact that mobile phone service (aka cell
phones) is practically non-existent in the vast majority of this area. Are
you beginning to get the idea? If you would like to get a little more
information on the public safety point of view on this subject visit this
web site: http://www.cyrencall.com/ I think you'll find it informative.
I hope that I've been able to illustrate for you just why us public safety
folks need our little chunk of that 700 MHz spectrum.
Have a great day and stay safe!
Mike Healy
1st Asst Chief
Tri-Town Fire and Ambulance
Ulysses, PA
Mike Hammett wrote:
What all bands does the public safety "industry" use?
150 MHz
450 MHz
800 MHz
4.9 GHz
4.9 is exclusively public safety.
Nextel was granted some 1.9 GHz so that they would vacate 800 MHz,
leaving it to public safety.
The others are general commercial bands.
Now the FCC wants to give them 700 MHz. I'm all about giving them what
they need, but how much do they need? This would be the third band they
could do their nationwide inter-operable network in.
-----
Mike Hammett
Intelligent Computing Solutions
http://www.ics-il.com
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