Meeting
in Phoenix March
20, 2002 – APCO, the Association
of Public-Safety Communications Officials – International, Inc., is
announcing a face-to-face meeting of the subcommittees of its Project
39, which is designed to find solutions to the problem of spectrum
interference between commercial wireless carriers and public safety,
in Phoenix, Ariz., March
19. The afternoon meeting will take place immediately before APCO’s
Western
Regional Conference (March 20-22) and is scheduled at the Civic Plaza in the
Prescott Room 10.
A public-forum meeting is also scheduled on Wed., March 20, in the
Prescott Room 6.
More information about APCO’s Project 39 and the problem of wireless
cellular spectrum interference with public safety can be found at
APCO’s website, www.apco911.org. APCO, through a Memorandum of Understanding
with the FCC, is the first point of contact for resolving public safety
interference problems.
APCO is the world’s oldest and largest public safety communications
organization with more than 15,000 members worldwide. They include
police, fire, emergency medical services, forestry, military and government
personnel who manage and operate public safety communications facilities
throughout the world. For more information about APCO International,
call (888) APCO-9-1-1 or visit www.apcointl.org.
Project
39/FCC Update – (November
28, 2001) –
On
November 27,
2001, the FCC held
the a conference call to update the current state of progress
of the public safety 800 MHz interference issue. The conference call included primary representatives
from APCO, wireless carriers, manufacturers, and other associations
representing the carriers as well as several local participants from
the FCC.
Kathleen
O’Brien Ham led the conference call consisting of general reports
and comments from several participants.
RoxAnn
Brown, Project
39 Chair and Kevin
Kearns, Project 39 Technical Committee Chair provided updates
on the progress of Project 39.
Project
39 has now been operating for 3 ˝ months.
During that time the Project 39 Technical Committee has met
numerous times via conference call and email exchange.
The Technical committee is comprised of 8 APCO members of a
variety of locations and backgrounds from around the country and also
includes 6 members representing various commercial carriers and manufacturers.
The
Technical Committee has established a regimented document management
system to help track any documentation that develops.
The Committee is currently compiling an update based on the
original Best Practices Guide (BPG) that was made public in
January of 2001. In general, the Committee’s information finds
the BPG remains relatively accurate, however, the Committee desires
to expand on and clarify the method by which the various interference
mechanisms can be identified.
Based
on ongoing interference resolution cases involving several Technical
Committee members, the Committee is discovering a higher incident
of intermodulation interference than had been suspected.
Such cases include classic cellular carriers as well as the
previously identified commercial wireless carriers.
More detailed information will be included in the forthcoming
Technical Committee report.
The
Committee is also revising the data collection questionnaire.
Components of several data collection methods have been combined
to enable a more detailed first look at new interference reports. As the Project progresses, additional components
of the database will allow response and progress updates linked to
the original individual reports. Expansion
of this effort is currently dependent upon further funding to support
the effort.
Project
39 is currently un-funded. Letters
soliciting grants have been submitted to various commercial partners
in the project in an effort to enable the Project participants to
continue meeting and further develop a more formal interference report/tracking
operation. To date, the first vendor to step up and assist
is the RACOM Corporation of Marshalltown, IA (www.racom.net).
Hamm posed a question to the group inquiring as to any
special activities to prevent interference during the upcoming Winter
Olympic Games in Salt
Lake City. In response, Larry Krevor (Nextel) indicated
that a joint taskforce including UCAN (Utah Communications Network),
Nextel and AT&T had been meeting to develop an interference reaction
team.
Along
those lines, Ron Haraseth, APCO, reported that one of the APCO Technical Committee
members reported on the close integration and support in establishing
temporary backup communications involving all wireless carriers immediately
after the September 11 terrorist attach in New York City. Local public
safety communications personnel worked directly with the private carriers
to establish temporary restoration of service while avoiding any interference
to public safety.
Bob
Gurss, APCO, indicated a need for close cooperation with
local public safety communications personnel in any instances where
emergency COWS (cell on wheels) were placed to augment stressed commercial
systems or temporarily replace downed systems in emergency situations.
Bernie
Olson, Motorola, indicated he was completing updates to the technical
appendix that Motorola had produced in conjunction with the Best Practices
Guide.
PSWN
(Public Safety Wireless Network) co-chair, Rick Murphy reported that
the PSWN macro study and field test data would be compiled before
long and shared with Project 39 and the Commission.
The
Nextel spectrum re-allocation White Paper, submitted to the FCC on
November 26, was discussed by several participants.
Project
39 goals indicate a three-phase approach to the interference problem
based on short term, mid term, and long term resolution.
The Nextel proposal provides the possibility for a long-term
solution. The Project 39 Technical Committee and the
APCO Spectrum Management Committee both independently reviewed the
basic proposal and recommended that APCO reservedly encourage the
FCC to proceed and explore the general concept.
This recommendation was provided to the FCC in the form of
a letter submitted jointly with several other public safety associations.
Allan
Tilles, ITA, indicated his contacts in the
non-public safety community representing business and smaller SMRs
indicated they were “upset and concerned” with the Nextel proposal. Their concerns included the cost of the move
and the fact that many had already been moved once due to recent auctions.
RoxAnn
Brown, APCO,
expressed concern for the Canadian border impact of such a move. The Mexican border would be of issues as well.
Larry
Krevor, Nextel, indicated that Nextel was looking into the border
issues and also indicated that Nextel was looking forward to discussing
the private business communities concerns.
The
need for a follow up call was determined with a date to follow (after
the holidays).
DAYTONA
BEACH, Fla. Nextel White Paper (Nov. 26, 2001) – The
Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International,
along with six other public safety agencies, Wednesday told the Federal
Communications Commission it believes the commission should proceed
with consideration of Nextel Communications’ proposal to swap public
safety spectrum as a solution to expand, realign and further protect
public safety communications, calling it a “major step in the right
direction.”
In a
letter dated Nov. 21, APCO International,
the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the International Association
of Chiefs of Police, Major Cities Chiefs Association, National Sheriffs’
Association, Major County Sheriffs’ Association and the National Public
Safety Telecommunications Council wrote, “… We believe that the basic
elements of this proposal … have the potential to substantially improve
the quality and quantity of public safety communications.”
The Nextel
proposal (which was covered in the Nov.
26 issue of USA Today) includes a substantial reallocation
of the 800 MHz band, which the seven public safety agencies say will
address some complex issues such as 800 MHz interference from commercial
mobile radio systems (CMRS) in the same band, insufficient radio spectrum
and interoperability.
Nextel also has pledged
up to $500 million to offset the cost of this relocation. In addition,
Nextel will relinquish licenses for 10 MHz of spectrum it holds in
portions of the 700, 800 and 900 MHz bands in exchange for licenses
for 10 MHz of spectrum in the 2 GHz Mobile Satellite
Service band for terrestrial commercial service.
“We are committed to working
with the public safety community, the FCC and others to enable new
spectrum allocation solutions that best meet our nation’s needs and
appropriately balance public needs with private interests,” said Tim
Donahue, president and CEO of Nextel.
APCO and its sister agencies
pointed out the proposal will impose a considerable and undetermined
cost on some public safety licensees and emphasized “our support for
this or any similar approach will be contingent upon adequate funds
being put forward to cover all of the implementation costs imposed
on existing public safety licensees.”
APCO
is the world’s oldest and largest public safety communications organization
with more than 15,000 members worldwide. They include police, fire,
emergency medical services, forestry, military and government personnel
who manage and operate public safety communications facilities throughout
the world. For more information about APCO International, call (888)
APCO-9-1-1 or visit http://www.apcointl.org.
SALT
LAKE CITY, UTAH (August 6, 2001)
– With
a mission and goals for the next 18 months, APCO’s Project 39 Committee
launched its efforts to fight radio interference. The committee held
its initial meeting Sunday, Aug. 5, at the Salt Palace to organize and set goals for the next 18 months.
The project was conceived to address the problem of
radio interference in the 800 MHz band. This interference results
when cellular/wireless providers use frequencies that are too close
to those used by nearby public safety users. The wireless industry
places many antennas throughout their broadcast areas and operate
at higher power levels than do public safety entities.
APCO President Lyle Gallagher appointed RoxAnn Brown of the Oregon chapter to chair the committee. Brown convened a
steering committee and a technical committee at the committee’s initial
meeting, which included commercial industry members.
The mission is to provide multiple, reality-based
and (where possible) tested short-, mid- and long-term solutions for
the 800 MHz interference issues involving wireless/cellular providers
and public safety, solutions that can be applied to eliminate life-safety
communications interference within the United States.
The committee’s six-month goal is to have all current
public safety 800 MHz interference issues catalogued, including how
the problem manifests, who the contact parties are for the affected
public safety agencies, what is providing the interference, how long
it has been occurring and what, if anything, has been or is being
done to resolve it.
Within 12 months, the committee’s goal is to have
all potential short-term interference solutions identified, tested
and applied, where applicable.
The committee’s 18-month goal is to have all mid-
and long-term solutions identified and, where possible, tested. These
solutions should be applied to at least two identified organizations
with interference issues, to make sure they are doable.
The project’s Steering Committee includes several
key anchor public safety organizations, including APCO, the International
Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the International Association
of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), the Public Safety Wireless Network (PSWN),
the National Association of Counties, the National Governors Association
and the National League of Cities.
Industry participants included both commercial system
operators and equipment manufacturers. Attending the initial meeting
Sunday were M/A-Comm, EF Johnson, Motorola,
Nextel, the Personal Communications Industry Association (PCIA) and
the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA). Other
commercial system operators have been invited to participate.
APCO is the world’s oldest and largest public safety
communications organization with more than 15,000 members worldwide.
They include police, fire, emergency medical services, forestry, military
and government personnel who manage and operate public safety communications
facilities throughout the world. For more information about APCO International,
call (888) APCO-9-1-1 or visit www.apcointl.org.
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