Electric Utilities Using Spectrum Proposed for Vehicular Repeater Systems, EEI Says

Pyramid, which manufactures wireless equipment, had proposed that the VRS units could operate in some frequencies in the 170-172 and 173 MHz bands, but the FCC sought comment only on six frequencies in the latter band. The six frequencies are shared between the Public Safety and Industrial/Business (I/B) pools, have a 6 kHz bandwidth limitation, and don’t permit voice operation due to the telemetry designation, the agency said in the NPRM.

"These telemetry channels are heavily used and there is a shortage of available frequencies for non-voice operations in the Part 90 PLMR bands,” said the Edison Electric Institute (http://bit.ly/19zmpMP), the main trade group for investor-owned utilities. “Electric utilities use these channels for mission-critical data communications such as [supervisory control and data acquisition], early warning systems at nuclear facilities and water dams. The use of these channels for VRS, and thereby mixing data and voice on the channels, is likely to lead to interference.” Coordination alone is not the answer, EEI said. “The interference which will ensue will be difficult (if not impossible) to mitigate or even trace given that it will be mobile and temporary in nature,” the group said. “Moreover, there is a reasonable chance that the interference may occur during emergencies when utilities are in the most need of reliable and secure communications."

"APCO has advocated that Congress vested FirstNet with broad powers and responsibilities to manage the implementation of the nationwide public safety broadband network, which extend to the guard bands located at 768-769/798-799 MHz,” the public safety group said. “With this backdrop, the paired frequencies at 768.750-769.0/798.750-799.0 MHz could be considered for VRS to support public safety operations in the 700 and 800 MHz bands. This spectrum falls in the upper 250 kHz of the 1 MHz Guard Band and thus is spectrally closer to the narrowband operations than to the broadband allocation."

Pyramid said VRS units are needed because many local governments are rewriting local zoning rules to require that public safety communications be available in buildings and “the reality is that an overwhelming number of buildings lack Bi-Directional Amplifiers ... or similar technology to ensure that a firefighter or police officer is able to communicate back to the dispatch center, or even to first responders just outside the building, in a crisis.” Pyramid told the FCC that interference shouldn’t be an issue (http://bit.ly/1lxu2Dh). “The local, low power use of VRS units makes these units an ideal candidate for shared use of the proposed frequencies,” the company said. “Indeed, VRS units are used in temporary locations, at the time of fires or similar incidents inside of a building. Thus, there is little opportunity for interference to occur in such situations."

Other commenters agreed public safety needs spectrum for repeaters. “The need for communications with public safety officers, out of their vehicles, whether inside office buildings or in rural areas, cannot be questioned,” said the Virginia State Police (http://bit.ly/19zr3u7). “High-quality portable radio communications signals with an extended range facilitated by a VRS are critically important to maintain communications with those police, fire and rescue personnel in the field.” Secom Systems, which represents companies that manufacture PLMR equipment, said the use of low power on-site VRS systems has been a “mainstay in the industry” for many years (http://bit.ly/1is3ZjF). “It has been vital in helping to save lives, and increase productivity, while extending the range of mobile communications when needed.”