The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2015 — H.R.1301 — has been introduced in the US House of Representatives. The measure would direct the FCC to extend its rules relating to reasonable accommodation of Amateur Service communications to private land use restrictions. US Rep Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) introduced the bill on March 4 with 12 original co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle — seven Republicans and five Democrats.

HR 1301 would require the FCC to amend its Part 97 Amateur Service rules to apply the three-part test of the PRB-1 federal pre-emption policy to include homeowners’ association regulations and deed restrictions, often referred to as “covenants, conditions, and restrictions” (CC&Rs). At present, PRB-1 only applies to state and local zoning laws and ordinances. The FCC has been reluctant to extend the same legal protections to include such private land-use agreements without direction from Congress.

H.R. 1301 has been referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Rep Greg Walden, W7EQI (R-OR), chairs that panel’s Communications and Technology Subcommittee, which will consider the measure.  ARRL members are urged to contact their US House members and ask them to sign on to the bill as a co-sponsor. We recommend sending the letter to your member of Congress to: ARRL

ARRL

Attn: HR 1301 grassroots campaign

225 Main St

Newington CT 06111

http://www.arrl.org/hr-1301

Tracy Clark, a dispatcher for the Grove City, OH Police Department who has two sons with autism. Tracy has been trained to keep people safe but has been concerned about the safety of her boys. Then she discovered Smart911.

After years of infertility, a miscarriage, and two failed surrogacies, adopting our twin baby boys from birth was the miracle my husband and I had prayed for. Two years later our joy turned to sadness and fear when they were both diagnosed with autism.  The normal parenting thoughts and worries that once went through our heads changed immediately.  Instead of worrying about what college they would attend, we worried about whether they could even successfully attend a “typical” school.  As many of you can relate, I was devastated because I could not protect them from this future.  I mourned the loss of the “normal” life my boys may never have.

Thankfully my faith and strong willed personality soon took over and, after many prayers, I wiped away the tears, rolled up my sleeves & got busy doing what I COULD do to help my boys.  Throughout my extensive autism research over the next year or so, I read about delayed development, rigid routines and social problems that my boys may encounter.  I also read horror stories of kids being hurt because they didn’t understand danger, kids wandering away from home, even some losing their lives in a tragic way. I was terrified.

I am a 9-1-1 Dispatcher, and I have been trained and am prepared to keep people safe every time I sit at my console. I am confident in my job, but how can I keep my own boys safe?  In 20+ years I’ve taken 9-1-1 calls from people who couldn’t remember their address, phone number or even what their child was wearing 5 minutes before they disappeared.  In an emergency situation with my sons, I’m not sure that even I would even be able to provide accurate information quickly.   I know from taking these kinds of calls that it is possible, and cell phones provide additional limitations.  With a 9-1-1 call from a cell phone, we don’t necessarily receive the address, just the cell tower location the person is closest to, which is normally not much help.

If my sons wandered off, how could I explain that my sons couldn’t yell their name, because they are non-verbal?  Would they be found before running into the street or finding the nearest pond?  And if a neighbor finds one of my boys, how would my sons be able to communicate any information?  Fear of the unknown kept me up at night.

At work we learned of a new system called Smart911.  It is an enhanced 9-1-1 system where you can set up a Safety Profile online and all of your information will be stored in a secured National database.  After you set up your Safety Profile, all of your information will automatically go to the 911 call center where it can be accessed in the Smart911 system.  My supervisor and I were very interested, and went to a meeting with our State Representative Cheryl Grossman and two representatives from Smart911.  Continue reading →

FCC officials have spent time trying to reassure broadcasters that attention to RF interference complaints will not decline if the agency implements its plan to restructure its Enforcement Bureau field offices. Now, commission officials are reaching out to public safety officials with that message as well.

Bill Davenport, deputy bureau chief of the Enforcement Bureau, told attendees of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council meeting in Washington that the bureau learned from industry and its own employees “the number one priority of the field offices should be the resolution of RF interference issues,” whether that’s for public safety entities, commercial wireless entities or broadcasters. After looking at the data from a consultant’s report, Davenport said at the Wednesday meeting, officials found field agents are spending some 40% of their time on RF resolution, and of that, some 10% is related to public safety, like police, fire and emergency medical services communications.

The balance of the field agent’s time is spent on things like routine tower inspections, paperwork or other things, he said, relaying an example of a one-person office in which the agent has to wait for the plumber. Multiple offices receive less than one RF interference complaint per employee per week, according to Davenport, who suggested the commission plan takes into account more efficient ways to handle complaints without paying the high overhead of the field offices. Continue reading →

ComDaily reports, The $21 million it costs to keep 28 field offices open with 108 employees using “out-of-date equipment” is too expensive and field office staffers have too little work to do, said William Davenport, deputy chief of the FCC Enforcement Bureau, telling the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Wednesday why the agency is considering a controversial proposal to make sharp cuts in the number of field offices and agents in the field. The cost of the field offices also increases each year, he said.

The current model is more than 20 years old and built on a “regulatory model that simply doesn’t exist anymore,” Davenport said. “Modern enforcement is about responding to interference complaints, not conducting random inspections of broadcast facilities. As valuable as that might be, that’s not our primary mission.” Continue reading →

The FCC proposal to reduce from two dozen to eight the number of field offices received a cool reception today at a meeting of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council in Washington.

William Davenport, deputy chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, discussed at length why he said FCC officials believe consolidation of the field offices will actually result in better, not worse, responses to complaints about interference to public safety systems, as some public safety officials fear. But several public safety veterans at today’s meeting expressed skepticism.

David Buchanan, who chairs NPSTC’s Spectrum Management Committee and who retired as a network services supervisor in San Bernardino, Calif., complained that public safety officials had not heard of the field office consolidation plan directly but instead through other channels.

“You’re a service organization,” he told Mr. Davenport. “It’s better to come and explain things to people.”

Mr. Buchanan said he knows of public safety officials have stopped calling the FCC about interference complaints because it takes field office agents two weeks to show up.  “Let us know when we can tell people, ‘Start calling the FCC again and they will help you,’” he added.

“There has definitely been over the last few years a disconnect in the field between the offices and the public safety agencies that work with them,” said Don Root, vice chair of NPSTC’s Interoperability Committee and assistant communications systems manager for the San Diego-Imperial County Regional Communications System.

He said some field office staffers have been “engaged” with local agencies while others have not been. He also complained that in the 800 megahertz rebanding, some agencies did not feel like the FCC supported them and instead told them to “come to us as a last resort.”

“I think that’s why you’re getting the pushback,” Mr. Root said. “In many ways, you have done it to yourself.”

National Emergency Number Association Chief Executive Officer Brian Fontes, a former FCC chief of staff whose organization sits on NPSTC’s governing board, noted that FCC reorganizations are not new. He expressed concern that consolidation of FCC field offices could make it more difficult for the agency to address interference complaints just as it is encouraging more spectrum sharing.

A key to enabling greater sharing between federal agencies and wireless carriers “is the ability to remedy interference in real-time, and by real time we’re talking minutes and hours, not weeks or days,” he added.

Mr. Fontes said that FCC officials must recognize that a “paper plan oftentimes doesn’t quite 100% match reality.”

Tom Sorley, who chairs NPSTC’s Technology and Broadband Committee and is deputy director-Radio Communication Services for the city of Houston’s Information Technology Department, urged Mr. Davenport to put “your money where your mouth is, so to speak” and make promised investments in the field office operation, “maybe even in parallel with all of the other things you are doing.” Continue reading →