peterrroy
join:2006-08-21
Houston, TX
| reply to garagerock
The Solution Already Exists...
There already is a national model for public safety communications. It has been developed by the National Spectrum Coalition (www.spectrumcoalition.dc.gov). It operates in the 700 MHz band. It is proven and operational in the national capital region, being used by federal agencies (e.g. Secret Service) and local fire and police at the municipal and county levels (i.e. DC and counties in MD and VA).
This technology is available on a national level as soon as Congress releases the spectrum for public safety use. This will occur in the next couple of years.
This 700MHz technology allows broadband voice, video, etc and is based on widely available commercially-oriented (i.e. reasonably priced) devices as opposed to the traditional VHF/UHF single-source radios (costing up to $5k/handheld and over $2 million per transceiver site) that cannot provide broadband data.
The above 700 Mhz spectrum is LICENSED, which is absolutely mandatory for public safety applications. Wi-Fi is unlicensed and therefore is ineligible as a reliable front line public safety medium. Wi-Fi is fine as a second line of defense or for non-critical business communications. |
