Editorial International Wireless Communications Expo… suggestions, anyone?

A lot of effort goes into producing the International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE). As a press delegate at the 1983 to 1995 shows, we appreciated the results without being fully aware of the work required to obtain them. When Intertec Publishing ceased publishing Communications magazine, the opportunity to serve as IWCE’s conference program chairman came our way, as well as a new perspective on the conference and the exhibition.

Many people helped us to define the conference sessions and to find speakers, including our friends at our former competitor, Argus Business, which is now part of our company.In particular, we’d like to thank those who organized their own sessions, including people at trade associations that cosponsored some of this year’s sessions. Among them are Kimberly A. Sescoe of the Industrial Telecommunications Association (ITA), Alan R. Shark of the American Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) and Nancy Palleschi of the Personal Communications Industry Association (PCIA).

Harry E. Young of MTA-EMCI organized the panel on number portability, Joe Gallelli of Midland Systems organized the APCO 25 Update panel and Ramona Vassar Isbell of Cellular & Mobile International magazine organized the wireless local loop panel.

Elsa Saavedra, an editor with Intertec Publishing and chairman of the IWCE Latin American Conference Program, organized the sessions on Latin American Regulation, International Agreements and Emerging Technologies.We also thank Robert H. Schwaninger Jr. of the Brown and Schwaninger law firm for taking a leading role in the session planning and production. Schwaninger is our regulatory columnist and consultant, and we relied a great deal on his help in our first time to handle the programs.

Carrying out the session logistics fell to Kathleen Crigler, IWCE conference coordinator, and Ingrid Lawing, IWCE production manager, handled the printed materials. We thank them for responding so well to the ever-changing session lineup.

Thanks also go to everyone who accepted speaking engagements. Your willingness to express your views and to offer information to others helps everyone in our industry learn how to make their businesses more successful.

Did we leave anyone out? It wasn’t on purpose. Many people contributed their efforts to the conference program, and everyone’s help is appreciated.

Now, about complaints. We’ve always heard complaints about IWCE. It’s just that, before this year, they weren’t directed at us! We always thought that there was a lot that was right about IWCE. As with everything, though, there always is room for improvement. Also, we learn more from criticism than from congratulations. So feel free to tell us what can be done better, and we’ll see what can be done about using your suggestions at next year’s show.

Spectrum refarming New technical, regulatory and operating requirements for the private mobile radio services in frequency bands below 800MHz continue to draw attention. Although the FCC has taken initial steps toward splitting channels to make more frequencies available, the government plan has not satisfied everyone. Assignments of high-powered stations on the 450MHz offset channels, for example, are part of the government plan. Unfortunately, such assignments could interfere with telemetry and medical devices, affecting the safety of life and property.

The old “offsets” are now “refarmed” channels, so a resolution of this problem is essential before many benefits of refarming can be realized.

Bringing modern propagation analysis to bear on new channel assignments could boost the number of new stations that could share refarmed spectrum with less interference. One of the organizations that has been leading the way in providing information about spectrum refarming is the Industrial Telecommunications Association (ITA). With its own seminars and with sessions conducted in cooperation with IWCE and

ENTELEC, the Association is helping dealers and private radio system users take advantage of the initial refarming changes. Watch for announcements about ITA’s spectrum refarming sessions. –Don Bishop