Radio Scanner a Bit Lower Jan. 1?

CREST HAVEN – Radio frequencies cannot be seen, and until sound is put on them and received, they’re not much good.
Something will happen at the stroke of midnight Jan. 1 that might have some scratching their heads if their faithful police radio scanner is a bit harder to hear. That’s because of the FCC new regulation commonly called “narrowbanding.”
Without entirely losing the technologically challenged, suffice it to say, it’s the government’s way to squeeze more channels onto the same bandwidth.
For public service mobile radio operators, narrowbanding meant a lot of preparation getting radios ready for the change. That means all local police, fire and rescue units, since all of them use frequencies from 150-174 mHz.
One of those radio operators was no less than the County of Cape May.
At the Dec. 11 freeholder meeting, Edmund Grant, director of operations, informed the board of “One thing we have been challenged with.” That “thing” to which he referred was narrowbanding.
Every piece of radio equipment that the county operates had to be compliant with the new rule or the county would have been liable for fines up to $16,000 per unit per day of non-compliance.
“So we have been working with all departments. We are in full compliance,” Grant said.
“Some people did not realize the severity of not being compliant,” he added.
To ensure the county would not incur one of those exorbitant fines, Grant said that technicians were enlisted to bring radios up to required bandwidth.
Although the county might seem an unlikely radio operator, consider the number of mobile radio units under control of the Sheriff’s Department, Prosecutor’s Office, Office of Emergency Management, Fare Free Transportation, Road Department, Bridge Department, Park and Zoo.
“We will not incur any liability as a result of not being ready in any department,” Grant said.
“It turned out better than we anticipated,” responded Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton.
But it was only because of renewed pressure on every department that it worked out well.
There were some who believed their department’s radios had been made compliant, only to learn that the person who had been responsible had retired. One even replied the person responsible was now in West Virginia.
A Motorola website devoted to narrowbanding stated, “In an effort to promote greater spectrum efficiency, the FCC is requiring all public safety and industrial-business licensees using 25 kHz VHF (very high frequency) and UHF (ultra-high frequency) radio systems migrate to minimum 12.5 kHz efficiency by Jan. 1, 2013.”
“Currently the UHF and VHF frequency bands are congested and often there is not enough spectrum available for licensees to expand their existing systems or implement new systems.
“This mandate requires licensees to operate more efficiently, either on narrower channel bandwidth or increased voice paths on existing channels. This will allow creation of additional channels within the same spectrum, thereby supporting more users.”
What were chances the FCC would delay implementation of narrowbanding? Slim to none. According to the website, “The FCC in numerous public notices over the last several years reiterated the Jan. 1, 2013 deadline and emphasized that it has no intention of delaying or changing this required data for either public safety or industrial-business licensees or manufacturers.”
As Grant told the board, FCC’s Enforcement Bureau action “may include admonishment, monetary fines and loss of license. The FCC notes that fines can be up to $16,000 for each such violation or each day of a continuing violation and up to $112,500 for any single act or failure to act.
Because the bandwidth is slimmer than the previous one, it is possible those who have police radio scanners will have to turn up volume to hear police, fire and rescue calls.