Just a few hours 'till we fall off the fiscal cliff and hit the narrow band deadline. Monrovia PD finally switched over last Friday, and now I am waiting for the mutual aid fiasco to begin.
The states "White" frequencies switched over to the nationally standardized V-Fire nomenclature a few years ago. White 2 became VFire 22, White 3 became VFire 23, and starting January 1st, the last holdout, White 1 will narrow band and become VFire 21. I have a feeling LA County fire will still refer to their VHF radios as their "White" radio even there will no longer be any "White" channels.
I have heard many local police agencies still use the "CLEMARS" nomenclature when post narrowbanding the label should now be CA LAW1. So I wonder, have they not narrowbanded their CLEMARS freqs, or did they keep the old CLEMARS label on their narrow band channels? Either way I'm guessing there is going to be some confusion and over deviation in 2013.
Have a great one and don't forget your spare battery!
Showing posts with label LACo Fire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LACo Fire. Show all posts
31 December 2012
27 April 2012
FCC waves narrow band requirements for "T band"
"In this Order, we waive...the January 1, 2013 deadline for private land mobile radio licensees in the 470-512 MHz band to migrate to narrowband technology... We take this action in light of recent legislation directing the Commission to reallocate spectrum in the 470-512 MHz band."
Read the FCC release here.
This is huge for LA County Fire and the LASD, who were holding off on narrow banding their UHF systems since congress has decided to reallocate the 470-512MHz spectrum. What is the point of replacing millions of dollars of equipment to comply with the 2013 narrow band requirements when less then a decade down the road it will all have to be replaced with new equipment because of recent legislation that was part of the "Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012".
The only thing I can see that radio systems have to do with "Job Creation" is creating jobs at the big M, however inside the act is a whole section on public safety communications and spectrum management. The MCTRJA includes a provision that, no later than nine years after the date of enactment, (2021) the FCC shall reallocate the T-band (470-512 MHz) currently used by public safety. This means that LAPD, LASD, LACoFD, ICIS, and a majority of municipal public safety in Los Angeles County will have to move from the T-band to either VHF or 700/800.
You can read a summary of the MCTRJA here. The part containing public safety radio and spectrum reallocation begins at Title VI.
The 470-512 spectrum is to be auctioned off by the NTIA to establish a national public safety interoperability broadband network which will be operated by the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) A system like this has been in the works since 9-11, but many feel that it is a pipe dream and really just a giant boondoggle since you can always spend more money adding to the network, increasing network performance, etc. It's the kind of thing that will get more funding as more problems arise, meanwhile existing comms systems in LA, NY, Chicago, and several other major cities will have to start from square one.
Correction: The FirstNet broadband network will be placed in the 700MHz "D block" spectrum, and the T-band is to be auctioned off (probably to telecommunications companies) as most of the 700 MHz band was in 2008.
I have heard from several people who currently maintain systems that are in the T-band range they have strong doubts that they will be kicked off their frequencies, even though the FCC has stopped "acceptance and processing of certain applications 90 services operating in the T-band,” but only time will tell. At least for now LA County Fire and Sheriff's can stick with their old wideband gear.
01 April 2012
LA County Fire, actually starts narrow-banding.
Well it was no April fools joke, I woke up this morning and noticed something was different, there was no 0700 "wake up call" on LA County Tac 19. That's because Tac 19 is no more.
For years there has been a daily 7:00 AM test of the old Quick Call alerting system on what was a remnant of the original VHF dispatch system for LA County Fire. In recent years the 154.400 MHz frequency, called Tac 19, has been used for communicating between LA County dispatch and various County Fire and LASD Air Rescue helicopters, not to mention by USFS, Cal Fire, and Search and Rescue personell on the ground during emergencies.
For years there has been a daily 7:00 AM test of the old Quick Call alerting system on what was a remnant of the original VHF dispatch system for LA County Fire. In recent years the 154.400 MHz frequency, called Tac 19, has been used for communicating between LA County dispatch and various County Fire and LASD Air Rescue helicopters, not to mention by USFS, Cal Fire, and Search and Rescue personell on the ground during emergencies.
09 January 2012
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