Hanna Very Upfront About Wireless 911 Delays
Get Money From Building Owners for Radio Improvements

by Gary Allen

A trade show featuring over 297 companies and a full schedule of seminars starting at 8 a.m. headed the list of activities on the second day of APCO's annual conference.

There were also sessions exploring wireless 911, the 700 MHz frequency allocations and how Ft. Lauderdale plans to impose a fee on buildings that block their public radio system's signal.

We should catch up by telling you that on Sunday the APCO executive board approved creation of Project 38, which is a two-year operation to assist local PSAPs in requesting Phase II wireless 911 services. The intent is to provide as much administrative and technical assistance to these agencies, and to guide them through the potentially-complex process of requesting and filing for the service. [press release]

APCO president Joe Hanna said the project will require some additional staffing and an advisory committee, but he expects this to occur quickly.

Next, we learned that Aether Systems, Inc. has signed a letter of intent to purchase Cerulean Technologies Inc. for $150 million, with up to one-half of that paid by Aether Systems stock (AETH on the Nasdaq). Aether markets wireless products, while Cerulean markets packet cluster mobile data systems. The purchase is subject to approval of the companies' directors and should close in two to three months.

Lastly, Com-Net Ericsson and Dataradio have signed a letter of intent to create a strategic alliance to integrate their radio and wireless data products, and to market them through Com-Net. The two companies also said they will "work together to develop new products for combined voice and data networks." Com-Net has formed a new Data Systems division to facilitate this alliance, and the company's recent purchase of TransTech Systems, Inc., a data systems consultant and integrator.

What's new in 700 MHz? The FCC just issued its fourth Report & Order on the issue, making some decisions but again asking for input on several others. There will be a relatively short 30-day comment period, followed by a short 15-day reply comment period. A final, final decision on most 700 MHz issues should be issued by year's end, we hear. We also got our hands on a set of maps that show where current UHF-TV stations are blocking access to the 700 MHz channels allocated to public safety---only 16 states have no overlap problems at all, with another five having very limited overlap. Particularly blanked out are northern and southern California, the east coast north of Virginia, southern Florida, and a corridor that extends south from Indiana-Ohio to Georgia-Alabama.

The maps assume maximum power an height for public safety licensees and the maximum protection distance for the TV stations. Apparently with some juggling, these vast areas of blockage could be reduced, making more UHF frequencies available.

We also learned that 700 MHz interoperability channels will come with some requirements--the channels must be named the same on all radios (Interop 1 on one radio would be the same frequency as Interop 1 on every other radio in the band), and interop channel users will be required to utilize the Incident Command System (ICS) for incidents they handle with the channels. There will also be a system of prioritization for using the interop channels, so agencies could use them for routine traffic until another agency needs one or more channels for a more urgent purpose.

Tough Talk

In a seminar on wireless 911, APCO president Joe Hanna talked tough about some wireless carriers not forcefully pursuing Phase I and II solutions. But he also challenged PSAP managers to prepare their own operations so they could submit a request for the enhanced services.

Hanna was joined in the discussion by Lisa Berger (left) of AT&T Wireless and APCO legal counsel Robert Gurss (right), who outlined the past and future FCC activities. The next deadline, Gurss, explained is October 2000 for carriers to declare which technology--handset, network or hybrid--they will use to meet Phase II requirements.

Berger said her company had still not made any technology decision on Phase II. But she added that the FCC's deadline and accuracy requirements were "sobering," meaning that there were indeed difficult to meet. In particular, she told the group she hopes the FCC realizes that 100 percent handset penetration may be never be reached (the FCC set 95% as a goal).

As for Phase II, Berger said her company had received just one--from Hanna for his Texas agency. She explained that PSAPs are likely to see service agreement requirements from wireless carriers for Phase I and II, and that the six month deadline for implementation is only possible with if the PSAPs are "responsive."

Hanna then took the microphone, saying he's had one-on-one, direct and specific conversations with wireless carrier representatives who said they can't meet the wireless 911 deadlines. In fact, Hanna said, one major southwestern carrier--whom he did not name--gave him a list of nine reasons that Phase II could not be done. "I may sound a little frustrated," Hanna told the group, and said he felt we're not much further along with wireless 911 than two years ago.

He described the carriers position as "a self-fulfilling prophecy." In one case, he said, a carrier said it could not obtain enough GPS-modified handsets in time to meet the FCC's deadline. But when the handset manufacturer was consulted, they said they had not received any orders. He pointed out that everyone has known of the deadlines since Sept. 1999.

In another case, a carrier's letter to Hanna said they would not provide Phase II, because it wasn't in the interests of their stockholders. He pointed out that 60% of wireless users buy phones for safety reasons, and that carriers actively promote safety in their advertising. He noted that the advertising doesn't say, "Safety, The First Call...unless it affects the interests of our investors."

Now, after the foot dragging by carriers, Hanna said, it will be "extremely difficult" to meet the deadlines, both financially and logistically. He echoed comments made by an FCC representative in an earlier seminar--that the FCC does not want carriers to come back with only a waiver request. The deadlines are serious, the FCC rep said, and carriers must have something to offer if they can't fully meet the deadline.

He reiterated that neither he nor APCO has a preference for how the Phase II data is gathered--network, handset or "Etch-A-Sketch," he half-joked. They simply want the data delivered to help pinpoint the location of callers and improve public safety.

Despite his criticism of carriers, Hanna was pointed on the responsibilities of comm centers. "To fulfill our bargain is to be prepared," he said. "We must make a move to make a request." He said that if comm centers don't prepare and go forward, they will only contribute to the failure of wireless 911.

Make Them Pay

A huge high-rise is constructed in your city, and your radio system suddenly has a giant shadow that creates a dead-spot. What do you do? According to Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) telecommunications manager Mark Pallans, you make the builder pay a share of the new transmitter site you build to clear out the shadow.

That concept--an impact fee--was discussed during an afternoon seminar. Pallans said his town has seen several tall structures built during the last 20 years--there was just one high-rise in 1980, but at least 15-20 will dot the eastern part of town along the coast by 2005. All the construction played havoc with the city's 3-site, 800 MHz trunked radio system, which was designed to provide coverage without any tall buildings.

Mobile and portable radios must be within range of one of the three transmitters in order to receive the control signal on the trunked system. A remote receiver on the eastern shoreline helps with portable reception, but does nothing to improve coverage in areas where the control signal is blocked.

He said the southern-most transmitter is at 275 feet above the generally-level Florida terrain.

Pallans said in some cases the tall buildings degrade nearby in-building coverage, and in other cases completely blocks outdoor coverage. They've convinced some building owners to install bi-directional amplifiers to restore in-building coverage, but the city has very little direct clout to require these.

That dilemma turned Pallans and the city towards an impact fee to raise the $2 million needed to build a new transmitter site east of the tall buildings, and fill in the shadow. But how should the fee be calculated?

Pallans initially worked out a formula based somehow on the shadow that a new building created. But that method proved unworkable, he said. Instead, he came up with a formula that took into account how much volume a new building took up within one of three "radio zones" that were potential shadow zones.

Pallans and consultant Nick Diamond of CTA Communications, figured that a building up to 50 feet in height would create an urban waveguide effect, which would direct--not reflect--radio communications. So they exempted the first 50 feet of building height from the volume calculation. The result was:

volume = (height-50) x width x depth

That volume, say 5.7 million cf., would then be computed as a percentage of the current and future volume of buildings within the zone. For example:

5.7 million / 280 million = .02032

That result was then multiplied by the expected cost of building a new transmitter to obtain the individual building's share of the cost:

.02032 x $2 million = $40,640

Pallans said the proposal will be worked into a city ordinance by attorneys, and then presented to the city council some time later this year.

Huge Trade Show

The conference trade show broke records this year--a whopping 297 companies set up booths to display their products. This year the exhibits were split into two separate areas on separate floors. Also new this year was a "New Products" area, where companies could exhibit their latest gear, with a sign pointing visitors to the company's full booth elsewhere on the trade show floor.

The attendees saw their first hype outside the convention center, where Motorola parked a billboard truck promoting their products and related companies. On a slightly non-commercial note, the Boston police parked their communications van outside the center for visitors to tour.

Stratus was demonstrating their fault-tolerant line of "big iron" computers, and had brochures for some of the public safety companies whose software runs on their machines--PRC, GEAC, TriTech and System 9.

Positron was demonstrating their Power 911 software that consolidates phone control and CAD. The latter features multiple windows (they demo'd it on three, huge, 40-inch flat screens), drag-and-drop unit assignment, drop-down menu status changes, and full configurability of screens. A dispatcher can drag multiple incidents to one incident, or multiple incidents to one unit--that triggers call stacking. Upon entering an incident, the dispatcher enters an incident type, which then triggers the software to display a list of user-defined questions to ask. That, in turn, highlights the agencies that should respond--it's a little confusing on-screen, since it contains so much information. Recommendations can be made by a unit's location (last known or actual via AVL/GPS), or a defined geographic area (beat, district, etc.)--and you can select different methods by incident type. The software also offers timers (expiration of some period) and incident scheduling (for EMS).

Motorola unveiled its new XTS 2500 digital portable radio, which broadens their Project 25-compliant line. The company described the third-generation radio as providing trunked capability "at a cost that is affordable for public service operations." The first models will operate in two bands--the 800 MHz and new 700 MHz--and have three configurations: basic, large display and limited keypad, and large display with full alphanumeric keypad. The units also features short messaging, USB connection for data, emergency button and ergonomic enhancements. [Motorola press release]

Motorola also had workstations featuring a most comprehensive selection of hardware and software, including software to handle non-emergency operations (such as 311) called "Community Connection," and a sophisticated interactive program for displaying and analyzing complex projects or incidents--Law Enforcement Enhanced Decision Support System (LEEDS). They were also promoting their spectrum services, consoles, Remote VU television monitoring system and radios.

Biddle & Associates has debuted their CritiCall computerized candidate screening software system--the first such validated system on the market. The company has extensive experience in preparing such systems for other professions, and now offering computer tests of multi-tasking, note-taking, keyboarding accuracy, reading, auditory compensation, speaking, short-term and long-term memory, map reading, spelling, alarm response, situational judgment and decision-making, prioritization and more. It runs under Windows computers and has modest hardware requirements. License costs start at $2,995 for a single position, and there are discounts for multiple positions. Contact them at (800) 999-0438. [screen shot of software]

Air Technology breathed life into the field of air filtration systems, offering a compact, drop-ceiling mounted device for removing dust, pollen, mold, germs, body odors and other pollutants. They claim 99.7% efficiency on sub-micron particles, and say it helps reduce sick days, medical expenses, worker's compensation claims, personnel shortages, overtime and "manager frustration." The unit is designed to be installed in typical existing drop ceilings. Contact them at (800) 743-3323.

Medical Priority Consultants debuted the latest beta version of its fire dispatch card set, an extension of their current EMS/EMD cards. The flip cards were developed with the input of fire personnel and field tested at West Palm Beach (Fla.) and Cambridge (Mass.). The cards start with basic questions, and the calltaker then flips to one of 20 specific incident types to find additional questions, advice and "axioms" such as "Fire needs fuel to burn." Company officials said the final version will be available for purchase by Sept. 1, and will be consulting with firefighting groups like the IAFC and IAFF for their suggestions after that. The cards are extremely comprehensive--in fact, almost too comprehensive. There is virtually no white space anywhere on the cards, as if on purpose and trying to put an entire training manual in one card set. For calltakers new to cards, it could be overwhelming, but current EMD card users should take to the cards easily. Surf them at www.medicalpriority.com. [see our coverage of the NAEMD annual Navigator conference]

Also seen on the floor were Datamaxx and Intergraph (interesting booth) and Lernout & Hauspie (in their first appearance since purchasing Dictaphone).

Heard on the Floor

The exhibit hall is where the wheeling and dealing is done--and sometimes the short snippets of conversation we hear offer a view inside:

-- "Nobody can touch us."
-- "...back in the '30s...."
-- "What we've done with our partners..."
-- "What's your timeframe?"
-- "Do you have a budget yet?"

Follow-Up

On the same day that APCO's staffing Task Force presented the results of its survey, USA Today published an article on the front page of its business section headlined, "Firms offer employees better perks to help recruit." It outlined how Texas Instruments gives its employees $1,500 to recruit successful candidates, or they can participate in a raffle for a Ford, Lincoln or Mercury car. Since 1995, the referral program numbers have jumped from 200 applicants to 605 last year.

Nortel Networks has launched a $1 million cash-and-prize program for employees who find candidates. SRA International, an information technology company, offers referring employee a chance in a $500 raffle, while the BabyCenter Web site offers employees straight cash--$2,000 a a bottle of Dom Perignon.

MANAPCO Night

It was perhaps the most popular entertainment event in recent MANAPCO Night history--the Jake and Elwood Blues Review, a so-called "tribute" act to the Dan Akroyd and John Belushi blues duo. APCO said they selected a "high-tiered" menu for the event, and even three hours into the event there was plenty of food on hand.

Everyone seemed to be wearing Blues Brother-style hats, some wore white shirts, and many wore sunglasses (you remember the line...half-pack of cigarettes, and we're wearing sunglasses. Hit it!"). APCO members stood on chairs and danced, kids stared, Jake and Elwood sang, attendees surged toward the stage, and the crowd went wild. [APCO's photos of event]

Other Material: Check Linda Olmstead's photo collection of the event.

Tomorrow: Tour of Boston PD/EMS comm center, more seminars