Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Cellular traffic hinders rescuers

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Fri, 04 Jun 2004 12:32:37 -0400

Posted on Fri, Jun. 04, 2004 

Cellular traffic hinders rescuers

By AIMEE JUAREZ

Bradenton (Fla.) Herald

MANATEE - The proliferation of cell phones is having a potentially 
dangerous effect that could take a toll on emergency response time.

Sharing the frequency of public safety radios, cell phones are 
creating seconds of delay with each click, crackle and pop that cuts 
into the conversations of emergency workers and dispatch operators.

While public safety officials say it hasn't become a major problem 
yet in Manatee County, Fla., they have heard the interrupting clicks 
and crackles that emergency officials are complaining about 
nationwide.

Radios used by police, firefighters and other first responders 
occupy the same 800 megahertz broadcast spectrum as cell phones. So, 
for example, if a radio dispatch is made at 850 MHz near a cell 
tower broadcasting at 851 MHz, the radio signal can get drowned out.

Local public safety officials say the proliferation of cell phone 
usage on the 800 MHz broadcast spectrum has not become a significant 
problem in Manatee County, which received about 170,000 emergency 
911 calls in 2003.

"We haven't really had any problems with it thus far," Capt. Larry 
Leinhauser of the Manatee County Department of Public Safety 
said. "It's really not been a problem for our center as of yet, but 
that may change."

It already has, according to wireless industry experts.

More than 1,000 cases of interference have been reported during the 
past five years, according to Project Consensus, an organization 
comprised of public safety organizations and private wireless 
companies that formed to address the issue with the Federal 
Communications Commission. According to the organization, there were 
more than 350 incidents last year - the highest reported number to 
date.

"Basically, every year it has gotten worse," said Leigh Horner, a 
spokeswoman for Nextel Communications, whose cell phone frequencies 
are interspersed among those belonging to public safety and 
consequently cause the most interference.

Nextel was assigned to the 800 MHz spectrum by the Federal 
Communications Commission during the early 1990s, when it was 
thought the 800 MHz spectrum could handle public safety and cell 
phone needs.

"This is a problem that needs to be solved immediately because it 
puts peoples lives in danger," Horner said.

Through Project Consensus, a Nextel-backed plan would divide the 800 
MHz band, giving one section to public safety agencies and another 
to cell companies - a $4 billion dollar idea backed by national law 
enforcement groups.

Opponents, which include the rest of the wireless industry and 
government watchdog groups, contend reallocation would take years 
and suggest requiring each company that causes interference to 
eliminate it at its own cost within 60 days after a public safety 
agency reports a problem.

The Federal Communications Commission has not yet voted on a 
resolution, Horner said.

Manatee County dispatch operators Trish Chapman and Brinton 
McClellan say they have noticed the increased noise cell phones 
create while answering calls during their 12-hour shift, but it has 
not had a negative impact on any call.

"It hasn't gotten to that point yet - it's not critical," McClellan 
said. "But a minute or two can make the difference."

---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Aimee Juarez, public safety reporter, can be reached at 745-7095 or 
at [email-masked]. Information from the Associated 
Press contributed to this report.  

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/8838597.htm?1c

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