3/05: 800 MHz Rebanding Plan as of 1/31/05: Report of Transition Administrator

Fall 04: The FCC, 800 MHz rebanding and Nextel: The FCC recently enacted short and long term rules on the swapping of certain 800 MHz frequencies. If you operate an 800MHz conventional or trunked system you may wish to read the following and also much more information on the APCO web site.

1. APCO Q&A on the FCC's Decision (excellent)

2. FCC Slide Presentation on the Decision (presented at APCO in Montreal, Aug 2004).

6/04 update: Voice Over Internet or VoIP is the coming technology for telephony. Entrepreneurial telcom startups like Vonage already offer the service to residences in Mass. with AT&T and others soon to follow. E911 is NOT supported with subscribers agreeing to "non-traditional" 911 routing. In Mass., this routing means that a person dialing 911 from a VoIP phone by Vonage or AT&T would have their call go to a 10-digit number at one of the Mass. State Police Wireless PSAPs. These VoIP companies circumvent E911 regulations because they are classified as Internet service providers and thus are not subject to telephone company regulation. The FCC is getting involved; see http://www.fcc.gov/voip. NENA has been working the issue and has developed some interim action items:  http://www.nena.org/VOIP_NENA%20Actual%20Agreement.pdf. See also (9/29/04) the NENA paper on VoIP and the PSAP Registry

3/04: Weather Radio Alerts for 911 Service Failures... In June 30, 2004 the National Weather Service is adding about 15 new non-weather alert codes that will activate Weather Radios equipped with the Emergency Alert feature. Some new codes of interest to PSAPs include "911 Telephone Outage Alert", "Law Enforcement Warning", and "Fire Warning". See http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/eas_codes.htm.

2/04: NENA Wireless Features and Functions Operational Info - read about how Phase 1 and 2 data works in PSAPs that get wireless 911 calls.

2/04: NENA Silent or Hang Up 911 Calls - Operational Study - various info on handling 911 silent and hangup calls

2/04: Understanding Wireless Communications in Public Safety - don't know as much as you should about radio? Check this out. Analog-Digital, Radio Terms, Trunked-Conventional, Antennas, Repeaters, etc.

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