FCC: Schools and parks join ranks of ‘public safety’ agencies
Schools and parks can obtain licenses to use public safety radio channels under a ruling adopted by the FCC on May 2 and released on May 23.
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials had asked the FCC to wait until more frequencies were made available for public safety use. The federal agency said that the potential benefit of interoperability between school and park workers with public safety workers during disasters and emergencies outweighed APCO’s request.
School districts and authorities retain their previous eligibility to use business and industrial radio channels. Historically, schools were among those eligible for licenses in the old Business Radio Service, one of many services with reserved frequency blocks that were consolidated into the Business/Industrial Pool of frequencies.
Retaining eligibility for business and industrial channels means authorities such as the College Station Independent School District, College Station, TX, won’t have to change frequencies at an estimated cost to that district of $73,000. The district uses one base station and 65 radios on UHF to communicate with buses and other vehicles used to carry students. The district had asked the FCC not to force it to change frequencies.
Allowing schools to remain on business and industrial channels also may avert a mass migration of schools into the public safety channels, which APCO said it feared. On the other hand, Small Business in Telecommunications had told the FCC that a forced relocation would free up much-needed spectrum for business and industrial users.
Meanwhile, parks become “mainstream” two-way radio users because prior to the ruling, they were ineligible for licenses to use either set of frequencies. Some park districts and authorities previously have been granted licenses under rule waivers, and others have pending waiver requests that will be subject to the FCC’s May 2 action.