Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel Knocks Out Public Safety Radios

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 06:11:54 -0500

Nextel Knocks Out Public Safety Radios

FCC Considers Fix, Decision Expected By Summer

POSTED: 12:38 p.m. EST February 14, 2003
UPDATED: 9:49 a.m. EST February 17, 2003

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Local police and firefighters are facing a new
communications headache.

Nextel cell phones are knocking out public safety
radios, leaving rescue crews, law enforcement,
and the community at risk, WESH NewsChannel 2
reported.

It's a scenario that happens more often than
police and firefighters would like. One minute
they're talking on their radios, the next they go
dead.

A WESH NewsChannel 2 investigation has shown
how easily it happens, leaving firefighters and
police unable to communicate with each other
during an emergency.

But there's another reason radios suddenly go
silent: the Nextel cell phone that's become all
the rage with consumers.

"The radio system will just go dark because of
the fact that the fire truck is too close to a
Nextel cellular tower, and that Nextel cellular tower overpowers the
radio, and basically puts our crews in the dark," Orange County
Fire-Rescue Deputy Chief Barry Luke said.

The head of Orange County's public safety communications, Marilyn
Ward, said it's not just a problem here in Central Florida.

"Here, locally, every day, on our mobile data computers and on our radios
both, if we go by a Nextel site, and they're on the same frequencies,
they'll knock us off ... It's pretty widespread. It's a nationwide problem,
not just ours," Ward said.

So why is it happening?

Nextel's signal is right next to -- and much more powerful than Orange
County's signal, so police and firefighters' radios get drowned out.

"The FCC ... never expected for cellular to impact land-mobile the way it
did, and public safety is land-mobile communication ... Nobody ever
expected this to happen. They thought it would be similar compatability,
but it wasn't," Ward said.

One of the solutions so far? If you can't beat them, join them.

"When public safety can't talk, they buy Nextels to be able to talk, and
then Nextel has to build more towers, and the Nextel towers interfere
with public safety, so we're kind of on a merry-go-round here," Ward
said.

But instead of just going around in circles, Nextel has actually tried to
tackle the problem head-on. The company has adjusted some of its
towers to help solve the problem.

In addition, Nextel has also offered to make big changes nationwide, so
their cell phones will no longer interfere with public-safety radios. They're
also willing to pay for it all -- up to $850 million.

The proposal is now being considered by the FCC, and a decision could
be made by this summer.

So why would Nextel want to shell out all of that money to pay for the
fix? A company representative acknowledged the move would improve
their services, but said, above all, they don't want to knock out vital
police and fire radios.

http://www.newschannel2000.com/news/1978481/detail.html

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