PENDING 800 MHZ BAND RETUNING COULD HURT INTEROPERABILITY
MONTREAL -- Public safety communications departments across the U.S. continue to struggle to make their systems interoperable, almost 3 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, officials said at the APCO meeting here. More problems loom as systems carry out 800 MHz rebanding, which in some cases could immediately hurt interoperability, they said.
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“Right in the middle of planning for interoperability we suddenly have a problem of those who are already interoperable on separate systems,” said Mike Hunter, pres. of RCR Consultants: “When rebanding comes along, the frequency changes per system won’t occur at the same time across the board. As soon as the system configuration changes in your neighbor’s jurisdiction your subscriber units are not fully compatible… The planning for this may be as complex as the original programming of compatible radios in the very first stage.”
Many radios now in use won’t “make the cut” and be retunable to new 800 MHz channels, Hunter told us. Equipment makers are starting to circulate lists of radios that should be replaced rather than retuned. “There are certainly a lot more in the 800 MHz band that won’t be compatible to the new 700 MHz band -- subscriber units in particular, the handy- talkies, the mobile radios,” Hunter said: “There will be almost a step backward to replace some older equipment that might have been interoperable with something that will make the cut for the rebanding… There are some real challenges.”
During a panel Wed., experts said the slow flow of federal funds was the primary reason systems haven’t become more interoperable the past 3 years. “It’s money, money, money, money, I'll keep saying it,” said Harlin McEwen, a former police chief and federal and state law enforcement official: “If we had in this country even 1% of the defense budget that we spend protecting our external borders protecting our internal security we would be able to deal with this very, very nicely… It’s just ludicrous to me, having worked my whole life in the public safety domestic world that we don’t have at least 1% of the federal budget addressing the internal, domestic issues and I don’t know how we're going to break that.” Robert Adelman, communications mgr. for the Bexar County, Tex., Sheriff’s Dept., said federal funding has fallen behind the need for equipment and other resources and local funding is “practically nonexistent” in most areas.
“Certainly federal funding since 9/11 has increased, but I don’t think it’s increased to the extent that it’s really needed,” Adelman said. “The funding that’s available to us and with large urban areas, we luck out. From the smaller city’s perspective, and certainly from rural areas, in Tex. and other states… it’s severely lacking.”
Agencies are expending their definition of interoperability post-Sept. 11, said Chuck Jackson, dir.- system operations at Motorola: “You just don’t worry about your neighbor anymore. The interoperability of talking to someone next door to your is still important, but you really need to be able to talk your neighbor’s neighbor, and your neighbor’s neighbor’s neighbor.” Jackson said even making equipment available “has taken manufacturers a little bit of time, it’s been a little bit slower than we would have liked.” Motorola expects to introduce a fully interoperable radio this year.
The first stages of 800 MHz rebanding could actually mean less interoperability, said Dennis Martinez, dir.- wireless systems at TYCO Electronics. Martinez said public safety groups should focus on building networks for the future: “Start with the network first… There is enough money today, and there won’t be in the near future, to replace all of our public safety communications equipment. There is enough money today to build out a network that can interconnect existing systems.”
Hunter said: “The money has been very slow and often money, for better or worse, is a catalyst for change. If there is grant money available and this is truly a national issue, then the local people will do something about it.” Hunter said the first step is for agencies to develop a plan: “The second thing is then having some hope that there is actually money to implement something within the careers of the people who are doing the planning.”
But Hunter said, with some money flowing for new radios, companies are entering the market with expanding product lines. “I think we're better off [than pre-Sept. 11] if for no other reason than this has had national attention,” he said.