LMCC gathers in Washington
(Mobile Radio Technology) The Land Mobile Communications Council is meeting today at 11 a.m. in Washington D.C. LMCC is a nonprofit association that comprises 22 organizations representing land mobile radio carriers and equipment manufacturers from diverse sectors such as public safety, industrial, private radio, commercial and land transportation.
Most of the meeting is closed to the public, although presentations scheduled by an FCC bureau chief and staff members are open. FCC staffers D’wana Terry, Herb Zeiler, Mary Schultz, Kathleen Ham and Jeanne Kowalski are expected to discuss Universal Licensing System implementation. Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Chief Thomas Sugrue is slated to provide an overview of regulatory and spectrum allocation matters.
LMCC President Michele Farquhar steps down today following the election of new officers during the closed portion of the meeting. Because LMCC allows nominations for officers from the floor during its closed meeting, the full slate of candidates for office won’t be known before the meeting.
“The two initiatives I pursued while president were making sure that the LMCC position was known to the FCC on reallocation of federal spectrum bands,” Farquhar said. “We had meetings at the FCC offices and filed comments in its proceedings.”
Farquhar identified another issue as involving the FCC license database.
“We want the FCC to audit its private radio database to purge licenses that no longer are in effect or used but that still are reflected on the database. We’ve had at least one meeting with the FCC on that subject, and they may tell us more today,” she said.
Although the federal frequency bands sought for land mobile use have heavy incumbency, the LMCC has proposed a band plan consistent with an FCC policy statement that calls for the creation of a Land Mobile Communications Service. Under the plan, some frequencies would be available for traditional site licensing. The FCC stated that applicants seeking traditional site licensing would be required to demonstrate special needs and a lack of means to acquire spectrum meeting these needs.