Why You Should Be Worried If You Don't Get (Narrowband) Compliant by January 1, 2013
In case you haven’t already heard it several times, we must remind you:
“By January 1, 2013, all VHF/UHF Industrial/Business and Public Safety Radio Pool licensees must operate on 12.5 kHz or narrower channels.” (FCC Public Notice)
So what’s going to happen if you don’t obey the rules and you choose to ignore the FCC mandate? As you may have guessed, it’s not going to be good. But let’s look at some specific penalties that have been set in place and then figure out how you can avoid them.
As stated by the FCC, “Licensees operating in wideband mode after January 1, 2013 that have not received a waiver from the FCC extending the deadline will be in violation of these rules. Operation in violation subject’s licensees to appropriate enforcement action, including admonishments, license revocation and/or monetary forfeitures of up to $16,000 for each such violation or each day of a continuing violation and up to $112,500 for any single act or failure to act.” There are some big numbers mentioned in there and other documentation gives similarly high figures. Let’s break it down a little further to simplify each threatened penalty.
Admonishment (comparable to a warning) from the FCC is the least severe of penalties, but it shouldn’t be taken lightly. If you willfully or repeatedly fail to comply with the conditions clearly stated in numerous public notices that have already been published, you are subject to a penalty. You may have not received a direct notice warning this violation, but the FCC has been educating and putting this information out regularly and consistently for years, leaving no viable excuses for not taking any action. Next penalty mentioned is losing your license. I don’t think it requires explanation to know the consequences one would face if their license is lost; you can’t operate. Last but not least we have the monetary fines. By means of demonstrating how these fines can jump to several thousands of dollars rather quickly, below are examples of actual fines (per Pike & Fischer’s Radio Regulation):
- Interference $7,000
- Unauthorized discontinuance of service $5,000
- Use of unauthorized equipment $5,000
- Failure to respond to Commission communications $4,000
- Unauthorized emissions $4,000
- Failure to engage in required frequency coordination $4,000
- Failure to file required forms or information $3,000
- Failure to maintain required records $1,000
Another instrumental piece to this puzzle is licensing. Most importantly (and sometimes most commonly overlooked) is the fact that your license must be current and updated. This means different things for everyone. If your license is up to date, all you need to adjust is the emissions designator. But if the narrowbanding process has resulted in acquiring new equipment or other circumstances, you’ll need to follow other procedures. If you’d like assistance with this today, contact us or stay tuned for an article on license specifications and guidance for submitting extension waivers coming soon.
If that’s not enough to get you to take action, then let us know what would. Chicago Communications stands ready to help you find a solution that works for you. Additional information concerning narrowbanding migration and compliance is available on our website and at the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau’s narrowbanding webpage: www.fcc.gov/narrowbanding, which is updated regularly.
*For further documentation or official examples of forfeiture notices, contact us.*
This article was written by Jill McNamara, Internet Marketing Coordinator at Chicago Communications. Jill has written all of the Meet Our Techs & Employee Spotlight articles for ChiComm's blog and continues to seek opportunities for similar blog articles from current employees & customers. If you'd like to submit a suggestion for Jill, Contact Us!
Two-Way Teamwork with the City Of Berwyn
Curtis Nekovar is the 9-1-1 System Administrator for the City of Berwyn, which means his responsibilities involve all of the equipment in the 9-1-1 center. He's been in the industry for almost 30 years and has worked at several agencies where Chicago Comm has been involved in one way or another. A couple years ago Berwyn completed a system upgrade project with Chicago Comm that remodeled the entire 9-1-1 center. The furniture was replaced, the radio system upgraded, the phones re-installed, and the dispatch center itself was relocated. Most recently ChiComm assisted Curtis and the City of Berwyn in a "National Night Out" event that reminded us Public Safety Telecommunicators are a critical piece of the puzzle. The following is a letter he wrote to our maintenance director following that event's success.
"Dear Barb:
I would like to thank you, as well as the entire Chicago Communications organization for the generous set-up and use of a radio base station at our National Night Out event. Along with the base station, we had a 9-1-1 Simulator from Norcomm Public Safety 9-1-1 which more or less simulated a dispatch workstation. Citizens, both young and old, were able to "act" as a Public Safety Telecommunicator answering a 9-1-1 call and then using the radio to send help. It truly gave them a greater insight into just what exactly Telecommunicators do, but more importantly a greater appreciation for the often forgotten, yet most critical, piece of the puzzle!
It is certainly nice to know that we can rely on our local vendors to help beyond that of "regular' service and maintenance. It's also truly an indication of the relationship I have shared with all of you at Chicago Communications for many years now.
Again, thanks to all.
Sincerely,
Curtis A. Nekovar
9-1-1 Systems Administrator"
Curtis also sat down and spoke with us about why he continues to stick with ChicagoComm and what the advantages are to working with a sole vendor from beginning to end. (Watch this video)
This article was written by Jill McNamara, Internet Marketing Coordinator at Chicago Communications. Jill has written all of the Meet Our Techs & Employee Spotlight articles for ChiComm's blog and continues to seek opportunities for similar blog articles from current employees & customers. If you'd like to submit a suggestion for Jill, Contact Us!
Tom's Tech Talk #15: Proper Measures Save Money in Service Repairs
Storm season: A radio shops favorite time of year. (Just Kidding!) Actually it has gotten progressively better. Years ago before Motorola’s Site Installation and Grounding Practices (R56 Standard), it was common place to have most of your yearly calls in the spring and summer due to storms. After countless builds using the R56 Grounding methods, we actually have minimized and eliminated costly repairs or insurance claims.
R56 was developed by Motorola Solutions to properly install, supply power, ground--and environmentally control a radio site. Although challenged through the years by IEEE engineers, AT&T Engineers and Consultants, the R56 method has proven to this 30 year tech to actually reduce the effects of lightning strikes to communications sites. I recall one customer that would get hit yearly in the spring by a direct strike on the tower. They contracted us to come in and evaluate their grounding system.
It turned out that there were NO grounding provisions on the coaxial lines or tower. The strike hit the tower and ran straight into the radio room. The average cost to repair or replace the cards damaged was $10,000. Upon implementing the R56 grounding methods to the tower and radio room, I can happily report we have not had a strike since. As this was about 10 years ago this saved the customer over $100,000 to the department and/ or the insurance company for something that cost them $10,000.
Although we cannot guarantee that a lightning strike will not damage equipment, we can do everything possible to shunt that strike away from the building or equipment. Ground is not a cheap enhancement to the system, grounding is a necessity that helps insure the equipment you just bought is protected.
When you see a system proposal from your vendor, make sure the equipment you are adding is properly grounded in all aspects. This means across aspects including AC Power, Telephone Protection, Network Protection and Antenna Protection. Otherwise you must consider, are you prepared for what it will cost you in the long run?
If you have any questions please leave a comment or Contact Us today.
This article was written by Tom Treichler, Director of Sales & Service at Chicago Communications. Tom has over 30 years of experience in the industry with a background in engineering, system integration, and wireless broadband. If you have any questions for Tom, or another representative at ChiComm, please contact us.
Employee Spotlight: Joe Sopron
Every office has at least one. They're a source of guidance—a relief to your frustration. Surely there's been more than one occasion you've been in dire need of this person. I'm of course referring to the IT person. At Chicago Comm that "guy" is Joe. Whether its building a computer from scratch, loading it with the necessary programs or recovering those lost files from a 'crash', Joe is the one we rely on. For all of us not quite so inclined to all the rapid changes in software or "how to fix that thing", Joe is our means of support. "When someone has a problem or can't do something, I help them figure it out." Sounds so simple, right? It surely seems to be for him. Regardless if it's yelling at the computer or the endless headaches we would get from trying to figure it out ourselves, we are thankful for the rescue. So it's fitting that when I asked Joe what he likes most about his job, he replied, "I get to do a lot of different things, but the biggest thing is I like helping people, both in my personal life and in my career."
Joe got his start in this field many years ago. He's been around long enough to work on O85 punch card machines ("I'm probably the only one that remembers that kind of stuff," he says) and see the transition from punch cards to floppy discs to hard discs to, well, you know the rest. He grew up in a Canaryville neighborhood of Chicago and attended school at the Chicago City Colleges. Joe then started working at a credit firm in the mail room and caught a break shortly after. The Vietnam War had started and when the rest of the people working in the computer room got drafted to the army, Joe was thrown in to pick up the slack. He started taking related classes in school, continued excelling, and the rest was "learning by doing". Next he worked for a towel & linen supplier as a programmer where eventually he went on to run the whole computer department. His role there was to create the programs for accounting, billing, and inventory functions by writing and managing the software consistently. He worked here for ten years only leaving briefly when the army drafted him to work as a computer programmer in West Point, NY.
Another stint worth mentioning was Joe's 4 years of teaching at South Suburban College. He taught several basic and advanced courses in computer programming on nights and weekends. After this he took an offer at a shoe retail company doing similar work as before, but with different means, as technology began to shift towards personal computers in the 1980's. The methods of data entry went from writing out sales tickets to using electronic transfers. What originally took about five days of work could now be done overnight. The first personal computer he purchased for his employer cost $3,000 in 1985, 
even though this PC was extremely less sophisticated from computers today. Unfortunately this company went bankrupt and he was forced to look elsewhere for work, landing on Chicago Communications in 1993.
When he started ChiComm didn't have its own network yet but he helped put it together. That's when things really began evolving, and Joe was there every step of the way. “It's amazing how things changed in the PC era, and how it changed businesses. Back when it came out the internet was really new to all of us; people mostly just dabbled into it. It's been interesting watching it get to where it is today, where almost everything relies on it. And also seeing cellular go from big car phones to ones the size of bricks to flip phones to handhelds that are next to nothing in size…and now they’re getting bigger again. Smaller used to be the most convenient when people used the phones for calls, but as functionality grows, the phone has to get bigger to hold the functionality."
There are numerous reasons Joe has stuck at ChiComm for almost 20 years now and he sums it up nicely when he says, "The people here are great, the management and owners make themselves available to the employees and it’s a forward moving company. They’re not just satisfied with standing still; they’re always looking for new avenues & opportunities to improve. I like coming here, I like my job and if I ever had to do something else it’d have to be something I enjoy just as much.”
This article was written by Jill McNamara, Internet Marketing Coordinator at Chicago Communications. Jill has written all of the Meet Our Techs & Employee Spotlight articles for ChiComm's blog and continues to seek opportunities for similar blog articles from current employees & customers. If you'd like to submit a suggestion for Jill, Contact Us!
Serve and Protect Your Police Force with In Car Digital Video Recording
First things first. For those non-believers and late-bloomers still thinking, “Why record
video?” Think about disputes between offenders and officers…how do you determine what really happened? What about all those court dates for minor offenses that are keeping officers in court instead of out on patrol. Think about all the liability risks that come with civilians, old and young, using smartphones with cameras that can record YOU. These devices and applications tie to the lawsuits you may hear about in the news where offenders are giving officers a bad name[such as this situation in Milwaukee]. Are you keeping up with these concerns? How are you addressing them? While smartphones and instant communication may have started predominantly with the younger generation, it has prevailed across the board in all agencies and to people of all ages. Technology continues to evolve at such high speeds that you can no longer afford to refute the revolution. Besides, with the constant change of technology, digital video isn’t really a luxury anymore, it’s becoming a necessity.
Some agencies may still be using analog video and think that’s getting the job done. But analog video has become pretty much obsolete and is considered an unavailable media. On top of that fact, evidence storage and retrieval gives its users headaches and the media quality degrades over time.
Enter digital video. There are tools out that can actually take care of much of the inconvenience for you, automatically. These devices can wirelessly & automatically upload data and transfer it to the station once in the parking lot. And they have ways of deleting expired incidents when necessary without any interaction from users. You can capture video, audio and metadata in one file and the backend storage puts all incident data at your fingertips. You have pre-incident video that is always on, always watching, that can lead to increased convictions and more out-of court settlements. Some of the latest technologies simplify processes by automation. Probably most importantly though, you’re recording these public interactions that can serve as solid proof to refute false claims and not only back up your squad, but also put out the smoke before things can escalate further.
In-car digital video recording leads to 60% reduced court time and legal liabilities, plus 93% of complaints from people against officers can be dismissed with proper video*! There’s especially a huge demand to have this kind of evidence in the U.S. because the litigation rate here is higher than any other nation. So for those occasions when things inevitably end up in court, you’ll have concrete ways to dismiss complaints and have more solid proof of the plaintiff’s offenses. This way you can protect your police force while keeping them out of court.
To learn more about in car digital video recording systems, check out the new MVX1000 product or contact us today for more information!
Related Article:The Future of the DBlock: What does it mean for Public Safety?
This article was written by Jill McNamara, Internet Marketing Coordinator at Chicago Communications. Jill has written all of the Meet Our Techs & Employee Spotlight articles for ChiComm's blog and continues to seek opportunities for similar blog articles from current employees & customers. If you'd like to submit a suggestion for Jill, Contact Us!
*Note: The above statisical data was presented in a webinar by Motorola Solutions and the for further citing can be referenced in this report by the IACP; and/or in this dissertation.
Part 2: Possible Solutions
Hopefully you've now learned a thing or two about how to troubleshoot two way radio problems on your own before calling support. Let's pick up right where we left off after Part 1 of this series, and get in to possible solutions of the common radio problems mentioned.
Our shop attempts to set system audio levels evenly so that Dispatch sounds the same as a portable or mobile in the field. When it doesn’t something is wrong. Here are some simple steps to help minimize or identify a problem.
1) Insure the microphone is in front of your mouth when transmitting.
2) If someone tells you that you sound scratchy:
- Wiggle the microphone cord around when transmitting to see if that may be the issue (if so equipped)
- Take the microphone off of the radio and try transmitting without it to see if dispatch or other units hear you better.
- Change the battery! Batteries vary in life cycles. Some 12 months, some several years. It all depends on how the radios have been used. When you pull a battery from a charger, initially you are going to get full power from the unit. Half way through your shift someone tells you that you are scratchy; the power on the battery may be at half charge thus causing lower power on the radio. Try changing the battery.
3) If you have different people in a selected area of the town and they all appear to have issues there, there may be a system problem.
4) All people vary in audio level when talking. Insure the speech you are producing is a good comfortable level for you. Some people have tiny or quiet voices and may have to speak up to be heard.
5) If you are going to buy an off brand radio from the internet or a shop that is NOT factory trained, make sure that the radio meets the manufacturers specifications. I have seen people purchase because the radio is smaller in size instead of the right radio for the system.
Remember with radio systems as a rule of thumb, one or two radios on a system sounding bad may be an issue with the units. Many radios sounding bad would lead to a system issue. The more information you have the better we can help service your problem. Statements such as “It's bad all over” are hard to trouble shoot. There are three things that we usually try to find out when assessing a problem.
- Can Dispatch hear the units in the field? Yes or No.
- Can the units in the field hear dispatch? Yes or No.
- Can the units in the field hear each other? Yes or No.
Those three questions are a great way to start to addressing the problem. They tell us where to start assessing the issues you are having. Any additional information supplements these three things.
For more answers: Read Two Way Radio FAQs Part 1 & Part 2.
This article was written by Tom Treichler, Director of Sales & Service at Chicago Communications. Tom has over 30 years of experience in the industry with a background in engineering and system integration. If you have any questions for Tom, or another representative at ChiComm, please contact us.
I may get on a rant here, but I cannot tell you how many times I hear from a customer "My system sounds bad," only to find out it is their radios that are not set up correctly. I happen to have a new Motorola APX7000 radio programmed up to a local public safety channel to monitor the audio. In just two days of listening I have determined the following from their systems from listening to their audio and knowing what causes these issues:
- Several microphone cords are bad. Every time the officer moves i
t sounds very scratchy.
- A couple of the radios appear to be narrowbanded even though the system is wideband. The audio from these units is so low you can barely make them out.
- The unit identifier for the individual portable is set up for Kenwood Fleetsync even though it is a Motorola MDC type system. Many public safety agencies use a unit id to tell which radio keyed up. Unless they all use the same identifier it won’t work correctly. Whatever dealer they bought the units from put in an incorrect protocol and it sounds like a telephone ringing every time the unit keys up.
- The officer must have the radio pinned to his shoulder strap because when he talked, it would be really soft and then come up to a normal level.
A basic parameter for radio systems is that a units microphone should be held approximately 2 inches from your mouth. Not on the chest, not on the shoulder and not on your belt. If there are 10 radios on the channel and 1 out of the ten sound bad, simple deduction would be that it is a problem with the unit, NOT THE SYSTEM. We are put in situations everyday where people rely on our communications solutions. Those in public safety always stress the importance of officer safety; I've heard it myself probably a thousand times. But what I'm finding is that multiple radios are working fine, it's one unit not working, so why wouldn’t you pull that radio from service and send it in for repair? Then you've saved yourself both money and time.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where I'll offer more tips and simple solutions that can help address these common problems and others you may experience! For further assistance contact us today by leaving a comment.
This article was written by Chicago Communications' Sales Director, Tom Treichler. Tom has over 30 years of experience in the industry with a background in system integration. If you have any questions for Tom, or another representative at ChiComm, please feel free to contact us.
Tom's Tech Talk #14: Local Two Way Radio Systems versus Wide Area coverage
All radio systems involve communicating at a minimum between two individuals. For commercial systems this means connecting groups of people within a building. Today commercial systems, whether industrial manufacturing, hospitality or transportation, are requiring a wider area of coverage to communicate between individuals. So the question becomes, "How do I take my simple system and create something that communicates over a larger geographic area?"
One of the answers is Digital Mobile Radio or DMR. Todays' radio systems operate in a similar fashion to the cellular systems with digital. By converting these analog radio signals to digital we can take that data, wrap it with the proper coding and basically send it anywhere in the world. The details are a bit more complicated than that, but the concept is sound.
Motorola MOTOTRBO digital radios are such a system. This platform was developed with the ability for third party providers to actually write software that assists the radio in various applications. GPS location services and Man-Down features are great examples, just to name a few.
So how does MOTOTRBO help? In several ways:
1) IP Site Connect – This is configuration that allows two repeaters on two separate channels to be put in locations miles away. If you connect them through a broadband connection (data) you can make two separate radio channels combine to act as one. Should you have an administrative office miles from your production facility you can talk from the office to the plant over a two way system using this configuration. This will also work between states.
2) Linked Capacity Plus – In its basic form this is IP Site Connect with greater capacity. You can have multiple conversations and groups of users on a system that spans a great distance. This solution is to be rolled out this summer as part of Motorola’s MOTOTRBO product line.
3) Connect Plus – This application would lend itself to a larger number of radio users and groups and a greater number of remote sites. This allows for the most capacity in a two way radio system at an economical price.
Along with the third party software applications, we can tie in smartphone technology and other interesting applications to enhance any of these systems. Contact us today to find out which solution may work for you.
This article was written by Chicago Communications' Sales Director, Tom Treichler. Tom has over 30 years of experience in the industry with a background in system integration. If you have any questions for Tom, or another representative at ChiComm, please feel free to contact us.
Curt Rockcastle
Curt graduated high school in 1978, back when gas was $0.63 a gallon and “Grease” & “Saturday Night Fever” were most popular on the big screen. That same year, Illinois Bell Company introduced the first ever Cellular Mobile Phone System; something that Curt probably didn’t realize he’d be tied to in the future. So at this time, he stuck to his trade as a mechanic. Curt had been a mechanic since age 13 because his dad owned 5 gas stations and he was always exposed to the automotive field.
Curt was a real enthusiast about this field, so after doing mechanics for a few years he went to work at a body shop to learn the whole spectrum of automotive. After a few months at this new shop his body tools were stolen, and rather than replacing them he went back to mechanics as a transmission mechanic. But Curt was always curious about trying something completely different. He then made a leap from the nitty gritty work of a mechanic to training to become a baker. He pursued work as a baker for a year and a half and even ventured into cake decorating, which he holds a certificate in. Definitely what I’d call a change of pace!
Anyway, working in the baking field didn't turn out to be quite as wholesome and pleasant as Curt expected. And so he went back into the mechanics trade until 1983, when a friend told him about a job offer at Chicago Comm. Luckily, he landed the job and was hired primarily for cellular installations at the Elk Grove shop(pictured right, in 1983). Although it had been introduced earlier, cellular had just been released commercially, and it was starting to boom for the elite class. He says, "Back then it cost $10 the first minute to use the phone, and a dollar per minute afterwards. I remember one customer in particular mentioning him having $3,500 monthly cellular bills, (about a $7,000 phone bill now), and it was like nothing to him."
Once cellular died down, ChiComm’s focus adapted to the changes of the industry and went back to two way radio. Similarly, Curt’s career went from being heavily in cellular, to diversifying into other areas including two way radio, dispatch centers and building squad cars. Curt refers to himself as a “Nuts and bolts kinda guy. I’m much more mechanical then electrical.” He can install everything ChiComm sells/services (base stations, mobile radios,etc.) but he specializes in building squad cars from start to finish. These kinds of jobs are his favorite, too. “My favorite job I ever had here was a long term project at Machesney Park in Winnebago County for the Sheriff Department. I worked on about 50 squad cars over a year and two months. The best part was I built a lot of rapport with the community; I saw the mayor almost every day and kids were always coming by and asking to see what I was working on.”
Today Curt is most thankful for the new ownership at ChiComm and the loyalty they demonstrate to employees. Outside of work he's a recent grandfather, who still enjoys cooking and helping others. If he ever leaves ChiComm, you might find him as a relationship counselor, where he believes he could best help others. This would be quite a different level of helping others than building squad cars or servicing their radios!
This article was written by Jill McNamara, Internet Marketing Coordinator at Chicago Communications. Jill has written all of the Meet Our Techs & Employee Spotlight articles for ChiComm's blog and continues to seek opportunities for similar blog articles from current employees & customers. If you'd like to submit a suggestion for Jill, Contact Us!
Have you ever wondered, 'How can I find 
funding opportunities that apply to my needs?' In an effort to keep you informed, Chicago Communications supports the Motorola Grant website as one of the leading references for searching out funding options for your department. These strategies can help you access the proper funding to plan and implement new systems and technologies. This is especially beneficial when you consider consolidating with other nearby agencies with similar interests. The bigger the effort, the better your chances of getting another step closer to your needs, whether it's a new digital radio (MOTOTRBO) system or the opportunity to access the private LTE networks that are currently under development. Below are some of the highlighted strategies.
10 Key Successful Grant Strategies for 2012
1. Only the best, well written applications will win in 2012; limited dollars= increased competition.
2. Be prepared with grant narratives before the grant guidance is announced.
3. Tell a big picture story beyond just the equipment that is needed.
4. Describe how this project will keep people safe in their communities.
5. Know the deadline of the grant programs, eligibility and the amount of funding available.
6. Build relationships with the granting agencies and key stakeholders.
7. Develop a funding plan that includes Federal, State and Local resources.
8. Look to non-traditional grant programs—beyond DOJ and DHS—that can fund your program.
9. Look for Recovery Act money that has not been spent at the state level: de-obligated funds.
10. Visit Motorola.com/govgrants for more information.
Have any more questions? Contact us!
Brought to you by Motorola Solutions, our partner in providing the best two way communications solutions and equipment.