Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Dog Pound - Dec. 2, 2002

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 02 Dec 2002 12:26:47 -0500

An interview with Nextel's co-founder Morgan O'Brien by by "Wireless Week" magazine
covered some public safety issues, including 800 MHz interference-- it's been one year
since Nextel released its White Paper proposing a huge reorganization of the 700-800 Mhz
bands. When asked about criticism of the plan, O'Brien said he studied the problem for two
years. "What it comes down to is an irreconcilable technology difference between the way
public safety uses its frequencies to provide services and the way CMRS providers use
digital to provide services. We're saying that there's a problem, it's getting worse and
we definitely couldn't sleep at night if we thought we hadn't done everything we could to
try to fix the problem long term." He added that the company's $500 million funding offer
is firm.

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Whoa! Reverse gear for Pittsburgh (Penn.), where the city council tabled a bill (6-2 vote)
allocating $800,000 to upgrade the city's 911 system while mayor Tom Murphy continues to
explore a dispatch merger with Allegheny County. The vote pretty much seals the merger
deal, but no formal agreement has been announced. Merger talks have been on-and-off for
several years, but took on urgency as the city's budget turned red. The city would
reportedly save $859,000 a year in expenses, and avoid a $2 million facility upgrade
expense.

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The Martinsville-Henry County (Virg.) 911 Center has just implemented Phase II with Nextel
Partners, the third Phase II location in the state for the wireless carrier. Center
director Wes Ashley says the average certainty factor for location is approximately 3
meters. The system uses CML Sentinel E911 gear, a MicroDATA mapping system, and United
Systems Solution (USS) CAD software. This is reportedly local exchange carrier Sprint's
first Phase II implementation in Virginia.

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Harford County (Md.) signed a $23 million contract with Motorola last August for a new
communications systems that will link the county's law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies,
and include mobile data, AVL and siren alerting. The county had been engineering their own
system--and then the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks occurred. They asked Motorola to help
out, and the result is a Astro Smartnet digital system linked by microwave. The entire
upgrade should be completed in phases by 2005.

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A story in "Newsday" says a report commissioned by Nassau County (NY) found that its
police radio system is "obsolete" and that officers frequently use wireless phones instead
of their radios when patrolling shopping malls, hospitals and parking garages. The report
also said radio channels are jammed with traffic and is not compatible with surrounding
public safety radio systems. The report was commissioned last year but has never been
released--county officials said it was still be revised. The local Police Benevolent
Association filed a union grievance in 1996 claiming the radio system was dangerous, and
an arbitrator ordered the county to solve the problems... but action has been slow since
then.

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The city of Portland (Ore.) is looking for a Communications System Administrator for its
800 MHz public safety radio system. Surf:

http://www5.ci.portland.or.us/jobs/

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