Narrow Band... Its not over until its over! By Joe Jarrett Texas DPS / Frequency Coordinator

Narrow Band... Its not over until its over! By Joe Jarrett Texas DPS / Frequency Coordinator

Outline Narrowbanding Basics Narrowbanding Deadlines Public Notices and rule Waiver requests Modifying Licenses to Reflect Narrowbanding 0 Days and Counting (As of January 1, 2013)

Questions to Answer Who Got Waivers? How did they qualify? Is it too late? What do you do with those wide band designators still in your license? What about WB to NB interference?

Narrowbanding Basics What is Narrowband? Radio spectrum is a finite resource Narrowbanding divides channel bandwidth in half 25 Khz channels become 12 ½ KHz channels Twice as many radio channels available to use What is required? Radios need to be reprogrammed or replaced Licenses need to be modified

Narrowbanding Basics Who is required to Narrowband? All Public Safety and Industrial/Business licenses in the 150-174 MHz (VHF) and 421-512 Mhz (UHF) bands 421-470 MHz What is required? Licensees must migrate their systems from 25 KHz (wideband) to 12.5 KHz (narrowband) channel bandwidth or a technology that achieves equivalent efficiency

Narrowbanding Deadlines All licensees must have completed their transition to narrowband by January 1, 2013 Some interim requirements have been in effect for more than a year 12.5 KHz operation required for all new VHF/UHF systems or expansion of existing systems FCC will not certify new equipment that includes a 25 KHz mode

Why Meeting the Deadline is Important After Jan 1, 2013, FCC has that mandated if interference occurs between 2 systems and one is not NB, then its at fault. Interoperability problems can occur. On February 1, 2012 all national freq coordinators are coordinating new frequencies assuming narrow band

Emission designator License Modifications defines how a frequency can be used Licensees should modified emission designator changed to indicate narrow band operation Licensees can modify their own license or pay a frequency coordinator to do it for them There are web instructions on how to do that for free After Jan1, 2013 Wide Band designators are not legal

Question: What happens to the licenses with only wideband designators on 1/1/2013? More on this later!

Next Question: What happens if an agency can t afford to change to narrow band?

Public Notice DA 11-1189 Gave detailed instructions regarding obtaining Waivers High level of scrutiny unique or unusual factual circumstances Show the grant of the waiver would be in the public interest Not granting the waiver would be unduly burdensome or contrary to the pubic interest Explain how you have worked diligently and in good faith to narrowband your systems expeditiously

Public Notice DA 11-1189 (cont.) If you are going to do a waiver request first hire a good communications lawyer... Then go over the 10 bullet points recommended by the public notice Steps already taken Details on the system in question including complexity, current status, other improvement or migration plans Funding sources Scheduling details How you intend to minimize the negative impact of those co-channel and adjacent channel licensees you might interfere with

Waivers Applied for So far... 104 Agencies or commercial entities in the US have applied for a Waiver Texas Agencies City of Jersey Village STNP City of Houston Houston ISD Dallas County

Waivers Granted Nation wide 29 Waivers granted Texas Agencies STNP Question: What happens to City of Jersey Village City of Houston Houston ISD? Dallas County

FCC drops the first shoe! FCC sends a list of 4053 licenses with a narrow band waiver Belonging to 506 different agencies from 43 different states Including just 7 agencies in Texas City of Bellaire City of Houston Dallas County Dallas District Community College District City of Jersey Village Panhandle RPC Uvalde

FCC drops the first shoe? Remember the agencies I initially found? City of Jersey Village STNP City of Houston Houston ISD Dallas County Was Houston ISD ignored or denied? What happened to STNP?

Narrow Band Interesting Satistics New Mexico Just one agency with narrow band waivers for 574 licenses St. Louis Waiver 95 agencies and 233 licenses 30 waivers were granted because of Special Conditions 48 waivers granted with no explanation at all

The Biggest Question of all As far as we know, just one waiver request was denied: Lake Tahoe What did it really take to qualify for a narrow band waiver?

Answers to questions Who Got Waivers? How did they qualify? Is it too late? More on this later NO! What about WB to NB interference? What do you do with those wide band designators still in your license?

FCC drops second shoe FCC has told the 4 nation wide frequency coordinators that the licenses with waivers must be protected as wide band channels

Answers to questions Who Got Waivers? How did they qualify? Is it too late? NO! What about WB to NB interference? What do you do with those wide band designators still in your license?

The Goal: To turn Texas Blue & Eventually all Green! 82% of the Licenses in Texas are NB or have had NB designators added up from 59% one year ago 4599 (33%) 6801 (49%) 2417 (17%) 13817 Status as of March 8, 2013

Status of Texas Agency Licenses As of March 8 th there were still 2417 licenses that ONLY contained wide band designators 16 Texas Agency Licenses are covered by a waiver Therefore: 2401 licenses are invalid What will the FCC do about this?

Public Notice DA 13-376 Guidance on compliance with narrowbanding requirement As of Jan 1, 2013 equipment manufacturers may no longer make or import 25 KHz mode Software modes for WB operation must be disabled and not accessible Licensees are encouraged to remove WB designators from their licenses ULS now has a new tool to make this easier to accomplish After filing this mod, you may then operate NB

Public Notice DA 13-376 (cont) If not narrow band capable Must immediately stop operating and apply for a waiver The waiver request must explain why you couldn t file before Jan 1, 2013 Your waiver may not be granted The grant of a waiver does not insulate a licensee from possible enforcement action Must not cause interference to other licensees

Public Notice DA 13-376 (cont) Complications for the frequency coordinator Noted that the presence of a wide band designator on a license is a red flag (my term) The FCC plans to confirm compliance with NB rules Watch for a future Public Notice to further explain this

Public Notice DA 13-376 (cont) Questions: Renewal-Only applications what happens with WB designators? What are potential enforcement consequences of unauthorized WB operation Up to $16,000 for each violation or each day up to $112,500 This PN gave explicit instructions on how to report violations of NB rules

Narrow Band... Its not over until its over!

Questions? 0 Days and Counting (as of August 15, 2012)