This week’s Advocate is a little late due to an out-of-office work commitment. Meanwhile, many activities that will impact public-safety communications in 2020 continue. One issue we must increasingly deal with is…
Happy New Year to all, especially those who worked through the holidays so the rest of us could enjoy our celebrations! Looking ahead to what 2020 will bring for public-safety…
In this last Advocate of the year, we will look back at 2019 to see what has been accomplished in the world of public-safety communications as well as what has been left…
First, I want to comment on the FCC’s recent decision to roll out a $9 billion fund for rural 5G connectivity. This fund will replace the $4.5 billion Mobility fund…
December is upon us, which means 2019 is drawing to a close. In a recent Mission Critical Communications web post, it was reported that as of November 13, 2019, FirstNet (Built with…
With this being Thanksgiving week and many people taking time off from their work, this issue of the Advocate is being published early. Of course, some will work the holiday so the…
As I comb through my Advocates since the middle of 2010, I continue to find more to add to the book that is underway. I also find topics that are still applicable…
First and vitally important to eleven major cities and their metro areas, both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate have introduced bills cancelling the T-band (470-512) giveback. House bill H.R….
In May of 2014, the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) published a report entitled, “Defining Public Safety Grade Systems and Facilities.” I was fortunate to be part of the…
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference was held in Chicago this year and it was, I believe, better attended by both the public and vendors than in…
Publication of next week’s Advocate will be delayed a few days while I attend the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) annual conference/convention in Chicago beginning Saturday. Next year I also…
Today I read an article in Inside Towers that discusses a recent survey of 2,000 row-crop, livestock, and specialty-crop farmers. The survey shows that 60-percent of those responding reported their Internet connectivity…
I recently became aware of growing concerns related to interconnecting Land Mobile Radio (LMR) networks with any LTE network including the FirstNet (LTE) network. Some LMR operators appear to be…
This is the month of public safety’s “10-codes.” These 10-codes were used effectively for many years and are now being replaced with verbal commands. With better audio intelligibility and better…
I will start with the omission from last week’s Advocate where I detailed the most important items for which public safety needs assistance from various federal agencies. I was so focused…