Keith Bandy, the WCTC
M&PC Chair opened the Joint meeting at 0930. Introductions were made around the tables.
Members and guests in attendance: 50
Western
Canada Telecommunications Council (WCTC) &
Western
Washington Coordinating Interference Committee (WWCIC)
Annual
Joint Meeting - Wednesday, June 12th, 2002
at
the Hazelmere Golf & Country Club
Keith
Bandy – Introductions
Wayne
Choi – I/C (1st speaker)
(1)
Spectrum & Telecom program re-org.
Penny Stratas –
now Regional Director- Spectrum, Info Tech & Telecom (changed by
adding IT). Still have 4 districts
– Dir’s have dual responsibilities.
Gary Paugh –
Vancouver Is Dir for I/C
Bob Bisso –
Okanogan & Kootenia Distr.
John Asati –
Northern Distr- changes in telecom policies & emerg. Mgt.
Rose Seawalt –
Info Highway, responsible for computers in schools, comm. access TV, etc.
Small comm. for wideband access.
Update
since 9/11- added concerns & wide impact on wireless & telecom.
Had a regional conf among Public Safety to discuss interoperability. PS radio needs to be improved & inter-op. improved.
Need decision-makers in various agencies to be involved – not just
folks within the communications fields.
* E-Comm has been
repeatedly cited as a good model of how to do a system.
Heighten security
awareness – funds made avail.
Info sharing,
security best practices, create a group of experts to deal w/security threats.
National alert
system – develop a high-level
message sending capability to folks in a specific location area.
Use Internet or cell phones. Insure
telecom services – new priority access for local phone coverage.
Long distance, cross-country access- calls into/out of disaster zone.
Fund level - in the millions–but don’t have amt.
700 MHz- I/C to introduce mobile service 746-802 MHz, negotiation w/US
TV chan’s 63, 64, 68, 69 – identified by US for Pub Safety – NOT decided
in Canada. Want to work up new
arrangements & band plans. Any
chance for treaty? Looks more like
amending agreements that already exist could work. 800 MHz band Nextel proposal- would impact
Canadian systems – cont. to follow the issue.
Doing studies on what impacts are.
Border Security
real push to streamline spectrum coordination, but no concrete action yet.
Upgrading their internal system for coordination, with all regions having
access to data. On-air test cases,
IX cases all to be put on-line for analysis, by end of this yr.
Ministers meeting in Whistler – more radios to coordinate, 2010 Winter
Olympics.
Recent IX
problems to Public Safety systems –
by AVC cards- to get into Bell express system.
When plug in, ends up with IX declare the devices illegal, 1st
time a category of devices have been declared illegal.
More info on I/C web site. Pacific
Telecom Council – part of Pacific Rim countries – Bruce Drake – reps a
conference at Whistler on 6/25-27. “Building
Strong Partnerships” – see web site? PTC
mid/yr mtg George B – what about ch 50-60?
Transition to HDTV – in BC not much of an issue, because not much usage
in that range.
Dennis
Anderson-FCC 700 MHz- NPRM on Nextel-
the excitement for FCC looking at the issues. RV TV amplifiers- IX to repeaters on mt-tops all way 200-900
MHz. Winegaard- will repl- but must
ID them first. FCC Chair Powell 1)
Broadband deployment not well defined. Use
min gov’t reg. Let the
marketplace decide. ((5 pts)) 2)
competition- propose a cabinet-level position for Homeland Securities.
FCC budget raised due to Powell’s relationship w/Congress.
More ability to move around, more training & some new eqpt to
purchase. Next Mon- a new Engineer
to come in. Commission has re-org’d
too. Seattle office is in the
“Enforcement Bureau”. Higher
fines – to get big business attention. Fines
over $1M, not just $1 to 5K. Some
local fines up to $100K for paint/light violations.
More interest in coop inter-agencies within the Fed govt. 2 agents went to Salt Lake City Olympics.
Cable TV leaks to aviation systems – found & corrected.
Cooperation between FAA/FCC on ant structure registration & signage. Pirate broadcasters –
IX resolution – some cross-border issues – if Canadians can give DF bearings, easier to find. VHF marine band- Friday Harbor – after big fire, IX went away.
Cable leakage tests
to be run annually, cable- main trunks are switching to fiber – but now
there are more neighborhoods where fiber breaks back down to RF on the cable.
Find most radiation at the home level.
Any updates on narrow-banding on VHF/UHF part 88 (NB) are still in DRAFT,
still under part 90 today.
1055- (15 min
break) System Updates (moved from
afternoon) Keith B will e-mail the attendees list that was done.
Peter Golchier
E-Comm (GVRD)
Completed 2nd
of 4 stages. 800 covering lower
Vancouver area. Got New Westminster
–who didn’t originally commit to join.
Next 2 phases – Whistler/Sunshine Coast area, up valley to Boston Bar
area. Abbotsford? Mtg on security
issues. Have some coord aspirations
from US Border Patrol to cooperate. Always
looking for more spectrum. Now
Macom EDACS system – haven’t looked toward X.25 protocols.
Want better physical site security.
Sites are built to earthquake standards – back-up systems, etc. good.
Some vandalism problems – would like to catch them.
Inter-op was main basis of the system.
Bringing together all the PS agencies.
26 sites, ? channels. They
do have a patch to the 1 police agency that isn’t on the system, but limited
usability. Are they doing paging or
mobile data?-NO. Most harmful stuff
has been vandalism. Have 11 zones
to isolate if someone tried to break the system.
Keith (expansion) 800 MHz only good out so far into the bush.
Other coverage w/VHF- considering P.25 but very costly, likely VHF
conventional to expand, can’t be beat for coverage.
Ron Solemsaas
–SERS – not operating yet. 2 phases, Ph.1- the I-5 populous area. 9 site simulcast, was targeted by 7/1/02, but NO way-
hope now by 12/31/02, some gear installed in pre-fab bldgs. Const. bids hope to go out in 30 days, then another month for
bid awards. Infrastructure will
include VHF paging systems – maybe can integrate paging w/ other systems in
Thurston, King, Snoh, Kitsap (? other) Counties.
Acceptance testing starts next week.
There is a “test” 3 Ch SR system communicating to Motorola doing
systems thru T-1’s. Switch-over
will take some time. Patching will
happen.
Jon ‘Wiz’
Wiswell- Seattle, it’s part of King
Co system. Valley Comm, EPSCA,
COSeattle, King Co- 4 owners. 22
sites, 600 xmtrs, 90+ freq’s. Major
audit going on now- coverage, usability, sweeps, effects.
Rx sensitivity, levels, batt charging, - practically everything being
looked at. Just about gathered all
the info, next month- start to analyze (computers) assess what they ‘thought
they were buying’. May re-arrange
freq’s, sites, etc. Smart zone to
4.1 timelines & pricing- $4M a year, if they do it.
Installation, practices, lighting, fire extinguishers, etc.
R56 Motorola – (prelim report) now working to get sites up to stds,
particularly grounding – alum pipe clamps that were buried, broken
cadwelds. Earthquake report –
2/02 examined problems found from that. GPS
Rx for timing. Just a loose AC plug gave troubles. GPS changed to dual power & UPS’s. Some sites – no battery back-up, so changed that to give
gen sets time to come on & power up. Upgrading
H-link to A-link, per Motorola recommendations.
Usage up 2.5 times, priorities worked, Pub Safety got thru, some others
didn’t. Some mgt issues –
terminals to look into the system – didn’t work, but now have been upgraded.
Remote access changed to remote LAN on T-1’s.
Some mgt decisions now facing – some depts would be affected if goes
into ‘site trunking’ would lose some agency’s capabilities, studying that.
8 hr batt back-up, 3 day gen fuel supplies – std, some stuff onto UPS
– 45 min- hr. Weekly gen tests.
BDA’s – help the in-building coverage.
Some are being converted to fiber to reduce the RF problems. Across the country- lots of problems using BDA’s w/RF
antennas. A lot of antenna mods
since initial design, some higher gain outs, but more emphasis to some
down-tilts. May review design on 3
overlapping simulcast systems. Inter-op
– NPSPAC is handling the 821 MHz freq’s, studying inter-ops on a map, what
coverage. May place some more
inter-op repeaters for better coverage. Pierce,
King & Snoh, coordinating some inter-op capabilities between the 3 Counties.
City of Tacoma- taking the lead. An
I-call inter-op freq avail, & 4 I-tac freq pairs to run the traffic on. Lots of coordination is needed.
Looking to have technicians w/radios that can access all 3 systems.
Keith Bandy-
CREST update – it’s a trunked NB VHF system – Motorola SZone, 38
pr’s freq’s- coming up over next yr. 8
multi-cast sites, others? (Licensing
issue-Denny- coordinate w/Canada if over 5 W.
On-air testing- only after 3 re-submittals. further explanations on
licensing – answers from FCC. Neil
Allwood – I/C spokesman outlines problems.)
A disconnect on info going to FCC to Canada – possible to get it
improved? Can WWCIC get a working
agreement w/FCC to release the info that goes to Canada & what comes back as
an answer?
Ramon Abelleyro – Radio System Marketing
Seattle
to Blaine system, 160-174 MHz, Interoperability – NTIA Summit
“Interop 101”. Par Technologies – Software Defined radio (SDR).
Voice over IP
700 MHz – Harlan Ohlson- likely border areas would be ‘delayed’. ARRL – a radio national guard – info to mid-level. Public Safety mgrs on how to use such a resource. 746-806 MHz- Letter of Understanding between US/Canada in effect right now. Narrow banding – by 2004 – In Canada, I/C can mandate that new systems go that way.
Nextel – Steve Leonard – last Nov made a proposal to re-divide the 800 MHz band. Healthy debate is going on. There is an e-mail, publicsafety@nextel.com to report IX issues, set up by Nextel. APCO has set up a complaint-tracking database. Comment periods – “vote early & vote often”. Salt Lake – there was a coord group set up before that helped reduce IX problems. Mitigation – monthly meetings are set up to discuss w/Portland, COTacoma, SERS, King Co. WSDOT to join into that group (?). Working together for mutual interest. Nextel is focused on Puget Sound area, want to serve Wenatchee, there is a ‘process’ to develop their systems in “under-served” areas.
Telus Mobility (Canada) – has run up against spectrum cap of 55 MHz, in places, including Vancouver. Request is out for comment. I/C will make a response at some pt, consultations up until 6/25. There are Rx de-sensing problems from proximity to Nextel & Telus sites. Explained 3 kinds of IX. 1.) Intermod in subscriber unit – 3rd order mix lands on freq of affected system. 2.) spurious overload. 3.) out-of-band issues. What are spectrum needs? Synopsis of responses: ATT, Verizon- bearers of banner for cellular. Lots of diff. proposals coming now, such as, limit power differentials, or “on the street” power. Nextel also looking to get some of the MSS band, too. Scaleable Architecture Modulation (SAM) – a Motorola scheme? 125 MHz spectrum that Public Safety needs in next 10 yrs.
Predictions- 100 MHz- hi speed data, 25 MHz – voice. Better radio design would cure some of the ills, but budget to replace, or upgrade technology is much slower.
Tetra (from Europe)- Watch what happens into the near-term future.
Meeting
adjourned about 1445. Thanks to
everyone.
Thanks for your continued
interest in WWCIC.
Respectfully submitted,
Loren H. Postma
Secretary/Treasurer