public safety communications

Public Safety Communications

Radio 101

Presented By Eric Linsley

Director of Public Safety Communications

Mobile County Commission

APCO Local Frequency Advisor

Region 1 700 MHz Chairman

Region 1 800 MHz NPSPAC Vice-Chair

Credit given to John Johnson

TN Emergency Management Agency

If you own or operate a radio communications system then you must follow the Federal Communications Commission Rules and Regulations.

Failure to do so could result in fines, forfeitures, or imprisonment.

Public Safety and Public Service operate under FCC Rules and Regulations, Part 90 primarily.

Rule Number 1

So what does that mean to me?

You must have a valid FCC license. Exception - Police surveillance, 2 watts or less, approved

by frequency coordinator Exception - You use a radio system owned and operated

by another public safety agency or commercial vendor.

What does my agency need to do?

You should have obtained an FCC Registration Number (FRN) using your Federal Taxpayer ID #.

Registered all your FCC Callsign(s) with the FCC using your FCC Registration Number (FRN)

Rule Number 2

Never, ever let your license expire

Renewal of your FCC license, without technical changes, costs nothing and can easily accomplished over the internet. Minor changes may be made over the internet such as phone #, contact person, etc.

Once your license expires, your frequency is up for grabs.

Once your license expires, then you have to pay the frequency coordination fees.

Licenses are now good for ten years. Impact - More chance for licenses to get

lost when renewal time comes up. I recommend that you not use a persons’

name but the department section.

Rule Number 3

If you move your radio site, dispatch office, increase the antenna height, increase power, etc., you need to file a license modification. Keep your license current.

Other rules to know

You need to use your FCC Callsign or have it automatically transmitted. (90.425)

The FCC requires periodic radio equipment checks (90.215)

Post your FCC license at the transmitter site (90.437)

Tower Owners

Tower Registration

RF Exposure Regulations

Lighting and Marking

Base/Mobile System Configurations

Simplex SystemClass Station: FBBase and Mobile take turn to communicate.Base & Mobile utilize one frequency such as 155.1300 MHz.

SIMPLEX SYSTEM

Tx=Rx=155.1300 MHz for Mobile & Base

REPEATER SYSTEM

Class Station: FB2 Base & Mobile Communicate at the same

time. The base transmits on 153.1300 & receives

on 158.1300 MHz. The mobile transmits on 158.1300 &

receives on 153.1300 MHz.

Repeater System

Tx = 153.1300 MHz

Rx = 158.1300 MHz

Repeater System

158.1300

158.1300

153.1300

Repeater System

Base can reach the mobile due to tower height, output power, and high ERP.

Mobile is too far away from the base to communicate back (referred to as Talk-Back or Talk-IN).

Solution: USE OF A SATELLITE RECEIVER

Satellite Receiver Configuration

Landline or Microwave

Satellite Receiver

153.1300

158.1300

Mutual Aid and Interoperability Frequencies

Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopedia defines “Mutual Aid” as

In emergency services, mutual aid is a formal agreement among emergency responders to lend assistance across jurisdictional boundaries when required; either by an emergency that exceeds local resources or a disaster. Alabama has agreements to share certain frequencies.

“Interoperability” is defined as the ability of two or more systems or components to exchange information and to use the information that has been exchanged. The FCC designated five VHF frequencies and four UHF frequency pairs for Interoperability across the nation.

Alabama Statewide Mutual Aid Frequencies

All are simplex operation with no PL tones. All are wideband operation:

Display Name Frequency (MHz) Purpose_______________________________________MA LE 155.010 Alabama State Law Enforcement Mutual Aid.

Also known as Inner City.MA FIRE 155.040 Alabama State Fire Mutual Aid

MA AMBL 155.265 Alabama State Ambulance Mutual Aid

N E L E 155.475 National Law Enforcement

N FIRE 154.280 National Fire

N EMS 155.340 National EMS. Alabama Hospitals have this for their use.

VHF Interoperability Frequencies

155.75250 VCALL

151.13750 VTAC 1

154.45250 VTAC 2

158.73750 VTAC 3

159.47250 VTAC 4

Simplex Only - No repeaters


155.75250 VCALL

If you use 155.745 MHz or 155.760 MHz, starting January 1, 2005 you should have changed to

narrowband.


151.13750 VTAC 1


narrowband.


154.45250 VTAC 2


narrowband.


158.73750 VTAC 3


narrowband.


159.47250 VTAC 4


narrowband.

UHF Interoperability Frequencies

453/458.21250 UCALL

453/458.46250 UTAC 1

453/458.71250 UTAC 2

453/458.86250 UTAC 3

Simplex or Repeater operation


453/458.21250 UCALL

If you use 453/458.200 or 453/458.225, starting January 1, 2005 you should have changed to

narrowband.


453/458.46250 UTAC 1


narrowband.


453/458.71250 UTAC 2


narrowband.


453/458.86250 UTAC 3


narrowband.

NPSPAC 800 MHz Region 1

In 1988, the FCC allocated additional 800 MHz spectrum to Public Safety if they would form Regional Planning Committees and set

policies and standards on how the spectrum would be utilized.

The Alabama Region 1 Plan was developed and approved by the FCC.

All counties in Alabama has been allocated at least four frequency pairs.

Five dedicated National Interoperability frequency pairs

800 MHz Interoperability Frequencies

821/866.0125 ICALL

821/866.5125 ITAC 1

822/867.0125 ITAC 2

822/867.5125 ITAC 3

823/868.0125 ITAC 4

Simplex or Repeater operation

700 MHz Regional Planning

FCC Report and Order 96-86

FCC has reallocated 60 MHz of spectrum from TV channels 60 – 69.

36 MHz allocated for Commercial wireless usage.

24 MHz allocated for Public Safety usage.

President Bush signed the date certain DTV transition legislation on Feb 8,2006. Part of S.1932, Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Law provides for:

Firm TV clearing date of 02/17/09.

Up to $1B for interoperable communications equipment for public safety

700 MHz Public Safety Band

24 MHz allocated to Public Safety - Channels 63 - 64 & 68 - 69

12.6 MHz will be for Public Safety general use

2.6 MHz for Interoperability / Mutual Aid

2.4 MHz for State agencies

8.8 MHz will be held in reserve for future technology growth.

Region 1 Alabama submitted our plan on September 11, 2006. Still pending F.C.C. review.

Interference

All radio systems will have interference from time to time due to weather, band openings, or another system 50 or more miles away

“Harmful Interference” is what the FCC will investigate

Nuisance Interference is not necessarily “Harmful”.

To register an interference complaint:

Contact the FCC or APCO

Refarming (Narrowbanding)

All existing Part 90 radio systems operating on frequencies between 150-512 MHz have until January 1, 2013 to convert those systems to 12.5kHz bandwidth.

Impact - To try to make more frequencies available by splitting the frequencies in half.

FCC Radio License Audit

FCC has sent an audit letter to all FCC License holders under 512 MHz to see what spectrum

can be reused.

Began September 1, 2001

You had 60 days to respond

http://wireless.fcc.gov/plmrs/audit.html

How to contact the FCC

Web Site www.fcc.gov

www.fcc.gov/wtb

(888) CALL FCC

(888) 225 - 5322

How to contact APCO

Web Site www.apco911.org

(888) 272 - 6911

(888) APCO 911

How to contact me

Eric Linsley

Mobile County Electronics Department

(251) 574 – 4030

[email protected]

FEMA Home Study Courseshttp://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/WMICoursers/EMICourse.asp

Emergency Management Institute

•Independent Study Program

•Course Study in:

•Intergrated Emergency Management

•Professional Development

•Master Trainer Program

•Mitigation Branch

•Readiness

•Disaster Operations and Recovery

public safety communications

Documents

fcc rules

valid fcc license

fcc callsigns

license expirerenewal

license current

license modification

fb2base mobile

public safety agency