Oct 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Mark Vitosh

Interoperable communications can be made easier through the use of frequencies set aside by the FCC

Local radio communications frequencies often are taken into consideration when deploying interoperability solutions for interagency or local jurisdictional communications that operate in different bands or have technical limitations. In other cases, they are used to add additional functionality, such as extending push-to-talk communication to PC or PSTN users.

But an agency's interoperability solution also should include the capability to communicate with other agencies beyond its normal jurisdiction in the event of a large-scale incident, when resources may be deployed from anywhere in the country. Maintaining the ability to communicate with these resources can greatly aid in their usefulness.

The FCC has set aside a set of frequencies in each of the bands for this particular use. By including these frequencies in its interoperability solution, an agency will increase its capability of being able to communicate with other agencies that may be deployed into its jurisdiction during a disaster.

Most new radios have the ability to program many more frequencies into the radios than the jurisdiction requires. Thus, the first step for agencies programming radios is to include the proper interoperability frequencies.

Even if an agency is not deploying an interoperability solution, this extra effort of adding the public-safety pool frequencies into end-users' radios could still be done to give first responders the capability to communicate on TAC frequencies if they are deployed to another jurisdiction to fulfill a mutual-aid request. These frequencies also can be an excellent alternative if an agency's primary system experiences an outage, becomes overburdened during a disaster or the users are outside their normal coverage area.

If an agency also deploys an interoperability solution, including a set of radios with the capability to operate within the frequencies of the public-safety pool could greatly increase the odds of being able to communicate with radio users from other jurisdictions that may be deployed.

The diagram at right depicts an interoperability solution. In this example, the local UHF police radio and VHF fire radio are linked into the interoperability solution via the LMR gateway.

When required, both radios can be added to a virtual talk group during incidents that may require the two first response agencies to communicate with each other. To ensure the deployed solution also has the capability to communicate on the FCC-designated, multidiscipline interoperability channels in the public-safety radio bands, an additional set of radios would be added to the solution.

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2009 Penton Media, Inc.