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Notice: PH, PF, PO Coordination Category Frequencies
APCO processes all frequencies listed in Part 90.20 (c) (2) (i) as coordinated by AASHTO (PH), IMSA (PF), and FCCA (PO).
What this means for you the licensee:
One stop coordination. There is now a source to handle all of your public safety FCC licensing needs at one location.
Simple fees. APCO historically absorbed the added cost for inter-coordinator fees. However, due to recent increases in those fees. APCO now charges $100 for each unit frequency/location unit to cover fees charged by other coordinators.
Faster coordination. The time to process an application that includes multiple coordinator frequencies is greatly reduced.
Background: Frequencies listed in the FCC Rules and Regulations historically were segregated by discipline into different pools such as police, fire, highways, forestry, etc. Each of those categories used a specific coordinator to certify the frequencies in each separate pool. It was difficult for an agency of one discipline to obtain a frequency from another discipline even if there were no suitable frequencies available in their home pool.
The FCC eventually combined all of the separate blocks of public safety frequencies into one single public safety pool where any and all eligible public safety agencies were equally eligible for any frequency in the new combined pool. The FCC retained the original block designations to indicate the certification authority that remained with each coordinator. This lead to a scenario where, even eligible for any public safety frequency, agencies still experienced difficulty in applying for frequencies historically in another discipline pool. These problems included double costs for coordination when multiple coordinators were involved (submit through coordinator A where a frequency must be certified by coordinator B) or multiple coordinator frequencies on one license application. Such cross certification also lead to extreme delays in obtaining approvals.
In January of 2003, the four public safety coordinators signed an agreement specifying inter-coordinator actions which limited the fees charged for inter-coordinator concurrences as well as a minimum response time. This change has allowed APCO to process any coordinator category frequency at a controlled cost and with significant limits to alternate coordinator response times. The savings for applicants can range from $50 to $400 per a single frequency/site combination. Typical savings are around $200 and the processing time for obtaining alternate coordinator approvals is reduced from weeks or months to days.
If you have questions regarding this new policy, please contact AFC at 386-322-2500 or afc@apco911.org.
Return to AFC Frequency coordination page.
Contact AFC at: afc@apco911.org All Material ©2003 APCO International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |