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Below is a note from Gregg Riddle, Chairman, Illinois Fire Chiefs Association Telecommunication Committee regarding this subject:

This is finally the issuance/publication in the Federal Register of the FCC Report and Order that originally came out in February, but we were waiting for the official publication to start the 6 month clock.

I wrote an article about this issue, so it isn't new info in total, just the fact that the FCC finally published it and the deadline is now set. The coordinators, APCO, IMSA, AASHTO, FCCA have said they would stop taking coordination’s two months prior to the deadline set by the FCC, January 14, 2004, so they would have enough time to process the license applications/modifications through the FCC.

Illinois Fire Chiefs Association, PO Box 7, Skokie IL 60076, 847/966-0732, Fax 847/966-0782

New email address: ifca@firechiefs.org

The Commission's FCC 03-34, the Report & Order dealing with the mandatory narrow-banding to 12.5 kHz bandwidth on frequencies between 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz timetable was published today in the Federal Register.

SIX MONTHS AFTER TODAY (July 17th), the FCC will no longer accept new applications to license 25 kHz bandwidth channels. 180 days (6 months) after today is January 14, 2004.

The ramifications of this are that any public safety licensee who allows his "wideband" license to expire after this date will not get a reinstatement or new license in wideband mode. It will only be available in
narrowband and inattentiveness may effectively obsolete an entire radio system before its time if the radios are incapable of operating in narrowband mode.

Additionally, there has been no consideration made by the FCC to allow new licenses to have wideband channels in established wideband interoperability channels. So, if a small jurisdiction decides to form its own police department and it wants to license on 155.475 (ISPERN, SPEN 2, NLEEC, "FEDERAL MUTUAL AID" as it's known in some places) to communicate with the other over 375,000 units licensed on that frequency in the country, it MUST license in narrowband, while others may continue to operate in wideband until January 1, 2018 (roughly fifteen years). That's a long time to be
working with a disparity. Other frequencies and disciplines are affected, as well.

There are other issues, such as type acceptance/ manufacturing/ importation dates of equipment type accepted for public safety operation and reverse compatibility.

Narrow-banding is fundamentally a good thing when it's managed. We will all need to narrowband eventually. However, an agency should have plans to do so. An unexpected or unprepared migration to narrowband could have a serious impact on the agency's operations.

It's important that all public safety agencies familiarize themselves with this Order, get their 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz radio licenses in order without delay, remain vigilant in not allowing active licenses to expire prematurely, and actively participate in the organizations that represent their communications needs before the FCC.