Subject: [NEXTEL-1] SYOSSET FIRE DISTRIC-To Operate a Public Safety Radio Communications System in Frequency Band 470-480 MHz

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 19:02:04 -0400

Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554

In the Matter of Application of

SYOSSET FIRE DISTRICT

To Operate a Public Safety Radio Communications System in Frequency Band 470-480
MHz in Syosset, New York and Nearby Communities
File No. 0001314863

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Adopted:  August  18, 2003 Released:  August 18, 2003

By the Chief, Public Safety and Private Wireless Division, Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau:

I. INTRODUCTION

1. We have before us an application and a waiver request filed by the Syosset Fire
District, New York, for authority to operate a public safety radio system on
eleven UHF frequencies  in the New York Metropolitan area.   The applicant
(“Syosset” or “the District”) seeks a waiver, pursuant to Section 337(c) of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended (“the Act”),  of Section 22.621 of the
Commission’s Rules,  to use frequencies allotted for non-public safety use.   For
the reasons stated herein, we grant Syosset’s waiver request.

II. BACKGROUND

2. Syosset is the parent agency to the all-volunteer Syosset Fire Department.
The District, which is located near the north shore of Long Island, New York,
serves the communities of Syosset, Woodbury, part of Jericho, and the villages of
Oyster Bay Cove, Laurel Hollow, and Muttontown.   The District is at the
crossroads of major transportation rights-of-way.   These transportation systems
include the Long Island Expressway, many major secondary thoroughfares, and the
main branch of the Long Island Rail Road.   More than 300,000 vehicles travel
Syosset’s roads daily.   Consequently, emergency rescue calls within the District
have increased by 400% in the last twenty years.   In addition to providing
street-level radio coverage, the District also requires in-building radio coverage
for firefighting operations.

3. The District currently provides three types of service.  First, the District
provides day-to-day dispatch services, emergency services, and mutual aid to
Syosset and several neighboring communities.  Second, the District provides
emergency operations services to one of Nassau County’s nine fire battalions.  The
District is a member of the Fifth Battalion, which contains a much broader
geographic area than the collective communities served by the first tier.  Syosset
is the Emergency Operations Center for the Fifth Battalion, which serves twelve
fire departments.   Third, the District provides technical rescue services
throughout Nassau County, including rescues at scenes of structural collapses,
confined spaces, and from above ground at great heights.

4. Syosset states that its current public safety radio communications system is
inadequate to meet the critical communications needs of its staff and
firefighters.   The District operates 150 radios on frequency pair 453/458.1000
MHz from one site in support of both dispatch and paging operations.   The
District also operates a simplex “fireground” channel on 458.7125 MHz and two
mutual aid channels on 46.10 and 46.12 MHz.   Syosset states that its current
system cannot support the three tiers of service that the District provides.
Moreover, Syosset contends that its communications are subject to interference due
to its proximity to New York City.   Specifically, its current frequency pair is
excessively loaded and fails to provide coverage across the District’s service
area.   In its Request, the District cites instances where a lack of coverage
prevented communications in critical situations.   Syosset’s radio vendors
analyzed the problems and concluded that they are caused by a lack of repeater
sites.   The vendors suggested digital simulcast technology as the appropriate
solution, but it would require new, interference-free channels.   Syosset proposes
to address these problems by replacing its current system with a new, trunked 12.5
kHz bandwidth system that would include five frequency pairs and a single voice
paging frequency currently designated for non-public safety use.   The system will
support 300 mobiles, with 150 mobiles utilized by the District’s firefighters and
the remainder utilized by four neighboring fire and rescue districts in a
consolidated system.  The system will initially support mixed-mode analog and
digital simulcast signals, ultimately leading to only digital service.  Upon
implementation of the new system, Syosset will surrender its existing license
authorizing the use of frequency pair 453/458.1000 MHz.

5. Syosset amended its application on May 19, 2003, May 20, 2003, July 30, 2003,
and August 5, 2003 to provide additional information or analysis concerning its
proposed system.   On June 13, 2003, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau
(“Bureau”) placed Syosset’s May 2003 application and waiver request on public
notice.   As the frequencies in question are not designated for public safety use,
Syosset requires a waiver of Sections 22.7, 22.501, 22.621, 22.651, and 90.311 of
the Commission’s Rules.   Syosset seeks such a waiver, pursuant to Section 337(c)
of the Act, or alternatively, Section 1.925 of the Commission’s Rules, to use the
frequencies.

III.     DISCUSSION

6. Section 337(c) of the Act provides that we must waive any rules necessary to
authorize entities providing public safety services to operate on unassigned
non-public safety spectrum, if we make five specific findings:
 public safety spectrum is not immediately available;
 the proposed use will not cause harmful interference to protected spectrum users;

 public safety use of the unassigned frequencies is consistent with public safety
spectrum allocations in the geographic area;
the unassigned frequencies have been allocated for non-public safety use for more
than two years; and
 grant of the application is consistent with the public interest.

7. Public safety services are services whose principal purpose is to protect the
safety of life, health, or property, provided by governmental entities whose
primary mission is the provision of such services, or by non-governmental entities
authorized by such a governmental entity, and that are not made commercially
available to the public.   Based on the record before us, we find that Syosset is
an entity providing public safety services.   We therefore move to examining
whether Syosset meets the statutory requirements supporting a waiver under Section
337(c) of the Act.

8. Immediate availability of public safety spectrum.  Syosset contends no public
safety spectrum is immediately available that would support its proposed radio
system.   In support of its contention, Syosset submitted a spectrum analysis
report compiled by an engineering consulting firm.   This report made the
following observations concerning Syosset’s proposed system:
 The 150-160 MHz band has no available frequencies that we could grant without
violating the adjacent channel protection requirements that govern trunked systems
(see 47 C.F.R. § 90.187);

 The Part 90 450-454 MHz and 460-466 MHz bands have no available frequencies that
we could grant without violating the adjacent channel protection requirements that
govern trunked systems (see 47 C.F.R. § 90.187);

 Although the 470-473 MHz and 476-479 MHz bands contain 6.25 kHz bandwidth
channels, these frequencies are not available because no manufacturer provides
equipment for this narrow bandwidth.  The report further states that coordination
of these channels is not possible due to the close proximity of existing co- or
adjacent channel users;
The 764-776 and 794-806 MHz bands, while designated for public safety use, are not
immediately available for Syosset because of existing television broadcast
stations;

 The 806-821 MHz and 851-866 MHz bands do not have unassigned channels;
 The 821-824 MHz and 866-869 MHz bands do not have wide area channels available to
construct a multi-channel district wide trunked system.

The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International, Inc.
(APCO), a FCC-certified public safety frequency coordinator and Syosset’s Regional
Planning Coordinator (Regional Planning Committee-FCC Region 8), support the
spectrum analysis report.   Based on the record before us, we concur with
Syosset’s contentions and find that no other public safety spectrum is immediately
available to satisfy the requested public safety service use.

9. Technical feasibility of requested use without causing harmful interference.
Syosset’s proposed frequencies are in the 470-480 MHz band, which is allocated on
a geographically-shared basis with television broadcast stations.   In the New
York metropolitan area, the Commission regulates the eleven requested frequencies
under Part 22 of its Rules.   Specifically, the Commission has designated six of
the frequencies requested herein for point-to-multipoint transmitters used to
support transmitters that provide public mobile service, e.g., paging control.
The Commission designated the other five frequencies requested herein for trunked
mobile operations, although the Commission is redesignating channels in this range
to point-to-multipoint operation as demand decreases for trunked mobile
operations.   According to the Commission’s licensing records, the Commission has
not authorized Part 22 stations in the geographic area in question, and thus there
is no issue of co-channel interference to Part 22 stations before us.  We note,
however, that there are co-channel and adjacent channel public safety land mobile
radio stations operating as a result of prior waivers issued pursuant to Section
337 of the Act. The interference analysis provided in the Request shows that
Syosset’s proposed radio system would not interfere with those other licensed
public safety systems.   Furthermore, we note that APCO conducted an interference
analysis and concluded that Syosset’s proposed radio system would not cause
interference to existing public safety radio systems.   Consequently based on the
record before us and our analysis thereof, we conclude that Syosset’s proposed
system would protect existing public safety land mobile licensees and television
stations from harmful interference.  Accordingly, we believe the operational and
technical parameters of Syosset’s proposed system meet the Commission’s
requirements for interference protection to incumbent public safety licensees.  We
therefore find that Syosset’s proposed system is technically feasible and will not
cause harmful interference to protected spectrum users.

10. Public safety use of the frequencies is consistent with other public safety
spectrum allocations in the geographic area.  As Syosset notes, the frequencies it
proposes to use in its public safety communications system are within a frequency
band (470-512 MHz) where public safety land mobile radio operations are
authorized, and are currently being used by other public safety agencies in the
New York metropolitan area (e.g., Burlington County, New Jersey and the Borough of
Fort Lee, New Jersey).   We therefore find that the use of the unassigned
frequency pairs for the provision of the proposed public safety services is
consistent with other allocations for the provision of such services in the
geographic area for which the application is made.  Moreover, because other
governmental agencies in the New York Metropolitan Area are using these
frequencies, we believe that granting the request will promote interoperability
capability among the public safety community in this area.  In this regard, we
note that Syosset is responsible for providing emergency communications to twelve
fire departments during a state of emergency.

11. The frequencies have been allocated for non-public safety use for more than
two years.  The Commission allocated these frequencies for paging use in 1994.
Thus, these frequencies have been allotted for their present use for more than two
years.

12. Granting this application is consistent with the public interest.  Based upon
the record in this proceeding, we believe Syosset’s filings demonstrate that it
needs access to additional spectrum in order to promote effective public safety
communications.  We believe that it would further the public interest by affording
Syosset’s public safety community access to additional radio spectrum in order to
allow it to safely protect the lives and property in its care.  Indeed, Section 1
of the Act defines one of the Commission’s over-arching purposes as “promoting
safety of life and property through the use of…radio communication.”   We also
find Syosset’s commitment to surrender its existing UHF authorization to be a
decisionally significant factor in our reasoning that granting the Request serves
the public interest by easing the congestion on these shared channels in the New
York City metropolitan area.   Additionally, we find it significant that granting
the instant request will promote interoperability capability among the public
safety community in the New York metropolitan area.

IV. CONCLUSION

13. We find that Syosset’s Request satisfies the criteria set forth under Section
337(c) of the Act to obtain a grant of its application to operate a public safety
communications system on frequencies in the 470-480 MHz band.  We therefore grant
Syosset’s Request for Waiver.

V. ORDERING CLAUSES

14. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Sections 4(i) and 337(c) of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. § 154(i), 337(c), the request
for waiver associated with the captioned application filed by the Syosset Fire
District on May 16, 2003, as amended, to use frequencies 476.0375/479.1625 MHz,
476/479.1375 MHz, 476/479.1875 MHz, 476/479.2375 MHz, 476/479.2875 MHz, and
470.1375 MHz, for public safety services as requested in the captioned application
IS GRANTED.

15. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, pursuant to Sections 4(i) and 337(c) of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. § 154(i), 337(c), that the
Licensing and Technical Analysis Branch SHALL PROCESS File No. 0001314863
consistent with this Memorandum Opinion and Order and the Commission’s Rules.

 16. IT IS FUTHER ORDERED that Syosset Fire District shall provide written
notification to the Public Safety and Private Wireless Division within thirty days
of relinquishing frequency pair 453.000/458.100 MHz as discussed in note 49 supra.

17. This action is taken under delegated authority pursuant to Sections 0.131 and
0.331 of the Commission’s Rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.131, 0.331.

     FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

     D’wana R. Terry
     Deputy Chief, Public Safety and Private Wireless Division       Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-03-2692A1.doc

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-03-2692A1.doc

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