City moving into 700 Mhz range




By David Tanner
The Examiner


Independence could pilot the first communication system of its kind in the
nation.



The city is poised to implement a 700 MHz radio system for its police, fire and
utilities, as part of a homeland-security grant.

The radios will provide more than just a communication system for police and
fire calls, Assistant City Manager Larry Kaufman said.

A study team looked at severe weather, snow removal, downed power lines, broken
water mains, and other types of emergencies when applying for a
homeland-security grant.

City departments and outside agencies cannot talk to each other under the
current 500 MHz system.

Communication can drop out because of a valley, a hill, or what's known as a
dead spot.

"There are areas of the city we don't have radio coverage," Maj. Gordon Abraham
said.

Abraham and Maj. John Main of the Police Department headed the grant team that
secured $5.5 million in federal funds through the Department of Homeland
Security. The city will pay $1.8 million, as part of the $7.3 million system.
The police and fire departments will pay their share through the voter-approved
public-safety sales tax.

Currently, police radios have a 68 percent effectiveness. Fire radios are
effective in 86 percent of the community.

"The uncertainty is always there," Abraham said, "And those are the critical
times."

The 700 MHz system will bring the city up to 94 percent coverage, one of the
reasons the city was successful in getting the grant.

The city will also be able to expand the system to communicate with other metro
agencies in times of emergency.

The system will carry encryption and trunking capabilities, making common
scanners all but obsolete on emergency calls.

Kaufman gave the example of a police drug raid as to why the encryption is
necessary.

"It doesn't help to have a person inside listening to a scanner," he said.

Some scanners can pick up 700 MHz frequencies, but the trunking system makes it
difficult, Abraham added, by finding a open channel fewer scanners can pick up.

The Federal Communication Commission, which regulates radio frequencies, has
reserved the 700 MHz frequencies for public safety.

The government eyed an 800-MHz system in the 1970s, but mobile-communication and
cellular companies took up too much of the 800 MHz range.

The FCC could not implement the 700 MHz system, however, because some television
stations used those frequencies.

But the government has begun to phase out the television stations on the 700 MHz
frequencies.

In Kansas City, only KSMO TV (The Kansas City WB 62) remains on the 700 MHz
system.

Kaufman said the freeing up of the frequency allowed Independence to step
forward with the pilot program for public-safety radios.

Abraham said the departments will not encrypt every police call. Some of the
city's dispatches could still be heard on scanners. Just not emergencies.

The city hired RCC consultants to determine its needs for the system.

Testing includes finding the areas of the city that have poor radio coverage
now.

"We identified 57 buildings here in town to test," Kaufman said, such as schools
and hospitals. Thick walls can diminish radio frequencies, but the new system
will be better inside buildings, Kaufman said.

The city is considering Motorola as the provider, but so far there is no formal
contract.

The system will require more towers, Kaufman said.

Tower locations the city identified are Lake City, the city-owned Massman Farm
off Truman Road, Woods Chapel Road and I-70, Blue Ridge Boulevard and I-70, the
city Water Department at Truman Road and Forest Avenue, and on private property
at the LaFarge plant.

With the nation potentially watching to see how Independence fares with the 700
MHz system, officials, including Mayor Ron Stewart, are confident.

"We're going to be the firstest with the mostest," Stewart said.