News

Motorola surprises with CEO choice

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, BY GLENN BISCHOFF

Analysts were surprised that Motorola's board of directors went outside the company to appoint former Sun Microsystems executive Edward Zander as chairman...

800 MHz decision is expected soon

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, BY DONNY JACKSON

Public-safety organizations, critical-infrastructure entities and wireless carriers using 800 MHz spectrum soon may be preparing to shift to different...

Senate expected to enact E911 law

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, BY GLENN BISCHOFF

The public-safety community hopes the U.S. Senate enacts legislation shortly after the holiday break that many believe will accelerate the deployment...

Open spectrum would ease crunch

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, BY DOUG MOHNEY

Regulation, not physics, is preventing the more efficient use of spectrum, according to Forbes magazine contributing editor George Gilder and other free...

Technically Speaking

Inside line-of-sight propagation

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, BY HAROLD KINLEY

When a line-of-sight path exists between two antennas, the propagation loss is equal to free-space attenuation. Free-space propagation occurs in the far-field...

Products

P2T handset helps Nextel get tough

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM

While Nextel's Direct Connect press-to-talk technology might offer a more versatile replacement to conventional walkie-talkies, wireless phones typically...

Features

Disaster Recovery

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, by Donny Jackson

Wildfires that raged out of control for weeks and scorched much of Southern California presented the sternest test yet for the state's public-safety communications...

Equipment makers think small

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, BY GLENN BISCHOFF

Mobile radio equipment manufacturers often overlook small municipalities, which don't have the funding or the need, in most cases for large systems costing...

Articles

It's a New Day at MRT

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, Mark Hickey mhickey@primediabusiness.com

With this January issue, we are a MRT. We have a new editor, Glenn Bischoff, and senior writer Donny Jackson. With more than 40 years of journalism experience...

In praise of adaptation

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, Glenn Bischoff

My definition of professionalism always has been relatively simple. In my book, a professional is someone who gets the job done, regardless of circumstance....

Wi-Fi remains a work in progress

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, BY DOUG MOHNEY

While Microsoft has caught considerable grief over Windows network security holes, it is not alone in what seems to be an industry-wide practice of leaving...

4.9 GHz Networks More Secure, But a Long Way Off

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, Lynnette Luna

The public-safety community faces a dilemma: Does it make widespread Wi-Fi deployments in the unlicensed 2.4 GHz band today despite the security risks...

Expect next-gen walkie-talkies soon

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, BY JIM BARTHOLD

Internet protocol technology that merges multiple voice and data functions over an 802.11-enabled Wi-Fi network is expected to take off in 2004 and new...

Radio woes plague Marines in Iraq

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, BY DOUG MOHNEY

Satellite radio communications proved essential during Operation Iraqi Freedom as the United States Marine Corps reportedly fought its own more conventional...

Software-defined radios near stride

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, BY ALLAN MARGULIES

Software-defined radio is one of the key tools that will deliver more efficient use of spectrum, and the time has come to put that tool to use. So said...

800 MHz debate rages on and on

Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM

Consensus Plan adds more problems than it solves By Jill Lyon and Diane Cornell The Federal Communications Commission has before it an important proceeding...