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Words of Wisdom

by The Sage

Note: The publisher would like our readers to know that The Sage is a demented old gossip who enjoys ranting in the public forum. No rationale person could possibly take the advice or gossip seriously, even though The Sage claims to be someone who "knows all and tells all." Also, the visage of The Sage shown here is only representative. In fact, we have no idea if The Sage actually has a beard or appears contemplative in person.

Never say never: The FCC's suggestion that commercial services would provide spectrum relief for public safety agencies just doesn't cut it with APCO. Their Washington lawyer says it's "highly unlikely" private companies would provide the coverage, reliability or security that public safety needs. Are you saying a company like Nextel couldn't improve on those single-channel, 155 MHz radios most agencies are using now? Come on, APCO, get progressive!

Dear Sage,
We're trying to come up with some ideas for National Telecommunicator Week. What will your agency do?
Awarding

Dear A.,
Our agency selects a Dispatcher of the Year, gives out certificates for other achievement, holds an awards banquet, issues press releases and holds a public open house. On the other hand, no more runner-up award for APCO's Telecommunicator of the Year Award. They apparently decided that sounded too much like a loser, so they created a entirely new award and named it the "Outstanding Achievement Award." Okay.
Sage

Dear Sage,
Our agency wants to buy a new logging recorder, but we don't know if we should buy the old reel-to-reel kind or a digital one. Any advice?
Digitized

Dear Digi,
Well, like everything else, logging has gone digital. That means analog, reel-to-reel is out. But you wouldn't know that from the financial report of Failsafe Magnetics Inc. I was stunned to learn they expect a banner 1997 ($8 million in revenues?), and added four sale reps and a bunch of other employees after 3M dropped out of the field. OK, it looks good for now, but what happens in five years?
Sage

Dear Sage,
What happens to our CAD software when we hit the year 2000?
Mr. Millennium

Dear Mr. M.,
Chances are nothing will happen, except your date display will be a little weird and reports sorted by date will be out-of-order. But I don't believe a note from something called Application Data Systems Inc. that claimed that many public safety computers aren't equipped to handle the year 2000, and "will actually cease to operate before then." What on earth are these people selling--fear in a bottle!? That's just baloney.
Sage

Dear Sage,
I'm a scannerhead and hear that agencies are going to encrypted, digital communications in the 800 MHz band, blocking us out from listening to the police. Don't you think the police radio should be public?
Scanning

Dear Scanning,
I don't think the public has a God-given right to listen, but I agree that there's very little communications that should be considered "top secret." On the other hand, you're a bit paranoid--agencies are going to 800 MHz trunked to gain new channels, not to escape scannerheads. As for digital, again, it's a spectrum efficiency issue, not privacy. As for encryption, very few agencies are going to add that extra privacy feature. P.S.--Did you know that Motorola's Securenet DES encryption has 72,057,600 billion possible keys?
Sage

Dear Sage,
My department will be putting out bids for computer-aided dispatch soon. Where can I find a list of companies to send the bid to?
Seeking

Dear Seeking,
You should consult the buyers' guides of the trade magazines, such as APCO Bulletin, Law Enforcement Technology or Law & Order. On the other hand, don't bother checking out the Jan.-Feb. issue of Radio Resource magazine, which compiled products comparisons on 17 computer-aided dispatch (CAD) software packages. I don't know if it means anything, but guess which company was missing? Yep, it was PRC, usually thought of as the #1 vendor in the field.
Sage

Dear Sage,
I've heard of automatic call directors (ACDs). But what's this new thing that actually answers the telephone for you?
Speechless

Dear Speechless,
You're right--telephone company technology has seeped down to public safety comm centers. Remember, about a year ago the phone companies began pre-recording the opening line of information operators, like "Hi. This is Steve. What city?" Now Charlotte-Mecklenburg is using the system to answer public safety lines. The Northern Telecom system there can even play different recordings depending upon which trunk it's received on. Hey, I can think of several things I'd like to hear on that recording.

EMS Alert: Hey, I told you this managed health care thing would be big news for comm centers. A front-page story in the Wall Street Journal detailed how Access Health Inc. provides telephone triage for several health providers, using a phone bank of nurses in Colorado. They expect 1 million calls in 1997, hope to answer within 20 seconds and to cut the cost of providing medical care. So far, this "demand management" covers 35 million people and could triple in four years. You EMS operation may be next.

It's Macarena Time!