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September 14th 05, 05:58 AM
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From: "Jim Hampton" on Wed 14 Sep 2005 00:51
"an_old_friend" wrote in message Michael Coslo wrote: wrote: K=D8=88B wrote: Responders' lack of spectrum 'cost lives' By Shaun Waterman UPI Homeland and National Security Editor Published 9/12/2005 11:40 AM WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Former Sept. 11 commission Chairman Tom Kean says first responders in Louisiana not having had access to radio spectrum needed for interoperable communications "cost lives," as it did at the World Trade Center. "On the ground, the people that get there first can't talk to each other because the radio communications don't work," Kean told CNN Sunday. "They haven't got enough what's called spectrum." . . . and on and on and on . . My ongoing understanding has been that there is already gobs of wide open UHF spectrum space already available via all the unused UHF TV channels. Even in very large metropolitan areas. Each one of those channels is 4 Mhz wide or something like that, how many emergency services NBFM channels can be squeezed into 4 Mhz? A *bunch*! I realize that some of those TV-free channels are already being used by non-TV comms here and there but in every locale it seems to me that there's gotta be at least a few TV channels still wide open and available. Beats me . . Lotta nonsense in this article, bunch of clueless politicians going at it as usual. That is because it is monumentally easier to blame the problem on the bandwidth used by Television than it is to blame those actually responsible. Everyone so far has been only partly right but mostly WRONG. There is considerable spectrum space on UHF and VHF and low microwaves to handle more than enough voice communications within LOS in any locale. Anyone who has been tracking the FCC allocations above 30 MHz for the last decade will know that and will also know that the move to DTV caused a massive re- alignment of broadcast TV channels, enough to free considerable spectrum at UHF. What reporter Waterman didn't get into involves other factors: 1. The vast majority of VHF-UHF radios used by public safety, utility, and businesses are one to four-channel fixed-frequency types. That is quite fine for ordinary operations. 2. The frequencies assigned to these PLMRS radios is decided by the frequency coordinating groups for the various land mobile radio services. Some searching around at the FCC site will uncover the names and address of all those frequency coordinators. 3. Only the Public Safety radio groups bother to get into so-called "emergency" (non-ordinary) frequencies which are not involved in their public safety real-emergency day-to- day operations. Some locales don't have such, others do. Those that NEED spectrum ALREADY have it. They do NOT have the capability to tune to every single channel possible; public safety agencies seldom NEED such capability in regular 24/7 day-to-day emergency communications. Fact is, if the trained communicators who can use the conditions of the various VHF/UHF, and HF bands to their advantage are called in at early notice, the emergency conditions can be handled quite proficiently. No extra bandwidth needed. Just trained and competent operators. The available equipment needs to be able to RE-tune to all-out- emergency channels. the other thing needed is inteligent planing and prediection of what may be needed , but then I suppose you could say that was part of having trained and competent operators What "training" and "competency" is needed with a single-channel push-to-talk handheld transceiver? That "training and competency" gets settled within a single day on nearly every police force and fire department in the USA. What counts is what happens when things *don't* go according to plan and o= ne has to change mode, bands, or whatever. This may include, but not be limited to, mf, hf, vhf, uhf, fm, ssb, or digital modes (even including *gasp* cw). That separates the men from the boys. Some of the "men" in authority in New Orleans didn't have their brains in right on the "planning" or the execution of any "plan." Plain simple fact was that the severity of hurrican Katrina and the breaching of dike/canal walls that caused all the flooding. [no comment on the idiocy of expanding a city in areas which are already BELOW lake and Gulf water levels] NO government agency radio base station is going to function UNDER water unless built for that; the operators of same can't be expected to work them. NO AMATEUR RADIO EQUIPMENT WILL WORK UNDER WATER EITHER. Don't anyone kid themselves or break arms patting each other on the back. Underwater training and competency is NOT in any ham radio disaster plan, classes, or certificates-of-completion. It's obvious that New Orleans city government needed to have MOBILE base stations for emergencies caused by such extensive flooding. Ask yourself if the New Orleans radio amateurs had anything like that or had ham equipment that would work under water. It should also be obvious that everyone concerned should have prepared for Force Five winds insofar as keeping radio antennas up and functioning. Few were. Mainly, those government antennas that did survive did so in greater numbers than ham antennas. If NOBODY can get through flooded areas to interior non-flooded areas by land vehicle, the only other possibility is by air. The most competent, trained, knowledgeable amateurs couldn't do it unless they also had access to helicopters. Any RICH hams in New Orleans? Ones rich enough to afford their own private helo? It's patently obvious that NO ONE in the New Orleans area had any remotely valid "plans" for much surviving 120 MPH and greater winds. Government, commercial, amateur, doesn't matter. Some COULD have had spare antennas and masts stowed in a robust shelter, antennas that could be erected reasonably quickly to get back "on the air." Some COULD have had spare electrical generators that would NOT be under water for the worst possible flood level rise. Then there would have to be spare radio equipment that would NOT be flooded or perhaps the base stations moved either to higher-than-flood- level ground or on upper stories. For the latter there would have to be emergency rations and accommodations for base station crews who might be stuck in their base operations whatever. New Orleans sits practically on the Gulf of Mexico and is exposed to hurricanes and tsunamis. That over half the city area is UNDER average adjacent water levels is remarkable in itself...if not stupid planning. In their growth they could have looked to the Netherlands for some ideas, Holland having centuries of experience in keeping out the sea. Did they? I don't know. Radio MODE or even Frequency discussions are DUMB and pointless if nearly everything of the equipment is under water or doesn't have good antenna structures. |
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