Public Safety Advocate: Push-To-Talk Is Public Safety’s Lifeline
At the time the Public Safety Alliance (PSA) set its sights on acquiring spectrum and some funding for a nationwide broadband network, most Members of Congress and their staffers had…
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Public Safety Advocate: FCC Receiver NOI; Will Broadband Replace LMR? (Yet Again)
All Things FirstNet continues with ‘The Best of Andy’ Welcome to the last Advocate for the month of April 2022. This month’s FirstNet (Built with AT&T) statistics as of the 22nd show two…
Public Safety Advocate: FCC 4.9 GHz Reply Comments; FirstNet Authority and FirstNet (Built with AT&T)–Still Being Confused; Broadband/LMR PTT Nationwide Interoperability–Still Waiting
Unfortunately Andy is still unable to write his Public Safety Advocate. Therefore, once again, ATFN staff is posting “The Best of Andy” past articles. As you saw, last week we…
Public Safety Advocate: 2020 in the Mirror, This Year’s Grades
A couple of weeks ago I had a routine hip replacement that went well but we did not anticipate a week or so in a rehab facility. I hope these…
Public Safety Advocate: Wildfire Information, APCO Week, BlackBerry Phone?
When there is a wildland fire, especially one that is growing quickly and threatening homes, public safety, government officials, and citizens can gather information in several ways. First, they can…
Public Safety Advocate: Apple’s ProSe Patent, Useful or Useless?
Apple was recently issued a U.S. Patent that will be or won’t be useful to public safety professionals in the field. As always, it will be up to the public…
Public Safety Advocate: FirstNet Deployables
The last week of July is turning out to be a busy one. Most FirstNet (Built with AT&T) “watchers” are busy tracking new public safety Band 14 build-outs and new…
Public Safety Advocate: Marketing Products, Questions to Answer
As you read this Advocate, keep in mind that there are proven ways to bring new products and services to market. For example, once the cost to produce a product is…
Public Safety Advocate: PSBTA Visions; Smartphone’s Little Brother, Questions Asked
PSBTA Vision 2022 FirstNet Users Summit The Public Safety Broadband Technology Association (PSBTA) will be holding its a Vision Summit that has been designed exclusively for the FirstNet user community….
Public Safety Advocate: LMR and Broadband Networks
Before there was cellular, and later broadband cellular, there were and still are hundreds of Land Mobile Radio (LMR) networks. Two-way radio (LMR) dates back to the 1930s and has…
Public Safety Advocate: Broadband and/or LMR Yet Again, Self-Powered Cell Sites, Vision Summit
There is a great deal of activity in the world of public safety today. The Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) organization, which is part of the National Institute of Science…
Public Safety Advocate: Redefining Push-To-Talk
The Best of Andy. First published in March of 2022. With Push-to-Talk interoperability in the spotlight, we thought it was time to revisit the topic as the next in “The…
Public Safety Advocate: Twelve Years of the Advocate
Next week’s issue marks twelve years since the first Public Safety Advocate was published. Because we will be out of town for meetings, we won’t be here to publish the June 6,…
Public Safety Advocate: What Is the Plan?
An Open Letter to Those Who Oversee, Plan, Build, and Operate the FirstNet Network This Advocate is not about blame, it is about mistakes all of us made, where we are today,…
Public Safety Advocate: Spectrum, Licensed and Unlicensed, Who Wins, Who Loses
Article after article has been written to make a case that broadband in the United States should be available to all regardless of where they are located or their ability…