Subject: [NEXTEL-1] One of the first challenges that emergency personnel had to cope with was the loss of Nextel and cell phone communication.

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 11:10:14 -0400

One of the first challenges that emergency personnel had to cope with was the loss
of Nextel and cell phone communication.
Geneva conducts massive tornado drill
By TOM SCHLUETER
Kane County Chronicle

GENEVA — On Saturday the weather was beautiful, but to area emergency personnel it
was as bad as it gets.
A tornado struck Geneva in the city's first-ever disaster drill.  During the
scenario, five people were killed and 32 injured, 14 in critical condition.

The "tornado" struck the worst possible place at the worst possible time:
Geneva High School during a football game.  Mayor Kevin Burns was attending the
game and was injured, leaving Alderman Paul DesCoteaux as acting-mayor. DesCoteaux
issued a declaration of disaster.

The same tornado also struck the Sunset Prairie subdivision, leaving fatalities
and numerous injured in its wake.  All city departments, plus fire departments
from 11 other towns took part in the drill.

"It went pretty well," said Betty Collins, Emergency Services and Disaster Agency
coordinator. "Everybody seemed to work well together." One of the first challenges
that emergency personnel had to cope with was the loss of Nextel and cell phone
communication.  Collins said lessons learned from the national Operation TopOff2
drill in May paid dividends on Saturday.
"We learned that from TopOff, (cell phone communication) is one of the first
things that went," she said.
This Geneva personnel were ready with backup radios.  Under the scenario, a
tremendous tornado struck Sunset Prairie and the high school.

Fortunately, Burns was injured only slightly.  But the scenario called for three
dead in the subdivision and two dead at the high school.

In the process, two of the city's water mains ruptured.  Pete Collins, information
systems operator at the city and acting as city spokesman in the media briefing
center, said the drill should point out where improvements need to be made.
"This is more along the lines of finding out where the weaknesses are," he said.
The "tornado" struck at 9 a.m. By noon, the skies were clear again.

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From: "Neil Horden" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 15:31:51 -0000

Interesting quote.

But since it was a drill, it was pre-determined what would fail.

What would have happened if the "tornado" hit the city's 
communications system leaveing the local cell towers un touched?

Guess in the real world you ave to ready for ANYTHING.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 11:46:41 -0400

So true,

However most public safety systems are built to much more rigid standards than
cellular systems.
The ratio of cellsites that are vulnerable to failure is much higher than in a
public safety systems. In  cellular systems many sites are dependent on the other
sites for Hand-in, Hand-out, Micro cells, Point-to-Point backhaul etc.

---

From: "Neil Horden" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 15:55:28 -0000

Having been involved in communications system design for a long time, 
I would say that the reliability of redundancy built into public 
safety and cellular systems is not all that different.
I have seen examples of good and bad design in both, and good and bad 
maintenance in both.

Your distortion of this article by the selection of one line to use 
as the title indicates more about your bias than any thing else.

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 12:06:20 -0400

> I have seen examples of good and bad design in both, and good and bad

I should have said a "Properly Designed Public Safety System".
Even some utility companies far exceed specs used by Cellular imitators.
maintenance is a key issue.

> as the title indicates more about your bias than any thing else.

Distortion?? That line was ripped directly from the article, nothing changed......

 I am  biased to REAL PUBLIC SAFETY SYSTEMS for LIFE & DEATH situations.
Not a Cellular Wanna-be System Masquerading as a  Public Safety Network.

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From: "Neil Horden" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 16:19:28 -0000

Not to be argumentative, but your bias seems far stronger "anti-
Nextel" than pro anything else.

If you look at the history of site design, you will see that Cellular 
lead the way in areas such as lightning protection, grounding, 
consistancy of installation, and general maintainability.

--- In [email-masked], Marcelrf@B... wrote:
> > > sites for Hand-in, Hand-out, Micro cells, Point-to-Point 
backhaul
> > etc.

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 12:31:35 -0400

> Nextel" than pro anything else.

No argument- We can agree to disagree. You are wrong-

> consistancy of installation, and general maintainability.

Ok using your History logic which came first

1) Land Mobile Radio

OR

2) Cellular

Everyone knows the answer is # 1- Land Mobile Radio
If cellular was not invented how could it lead the way?

Now I will say since the 80's cellular has lead the way in design.
But you must remember cellular is a "For Profit" entity and
public safety is not. Money has been the driver.
That is why public safety has fallen
behind in the wireless game.