https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • IWCE 2022 Winter Showcase
    • IWCE 2023 Pre-event Guide
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookie Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Omdia Crit Comms Circle Podcast
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • IWCE 2023 Pre-event Guide
    • IWCE 2022 Winter Showcase
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
    • Sponsored content
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • Why Attend
    • Exhibitor Listing
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Join the Event Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

1992-1994

1992-1994

  • Written by raidee
  • 1st October 2018

1992

  • FleetCall's ambitious project to roll out ESMR starts to unravel. (Long-time SMR operators find it a bit too ambitious.)
  • In-building communications systems, an offshoot of the PCS technology, are expected to be $2.1 billion market by 1997.
  • 200MHz reallocation rears its ugly head again as bills are again reintroduced in both the House and the Senate.
  • FleetCall is still threatening to build ESMR.
  • Technology is taking its toll on equipment. Serviceability is the number-one issue for technicians on new equipment. They cite surface-mount technology; large-scale integrated devices and embedded components as the culprits.
  • For the first time, the SMR industry growth rate is slowing, adding fuel to the argument that SMR has a limited future.
  • The UHF channels 14 and 69 and LMR interference issue is addressed by FCC MM Docket No. 87-465. No one is happy, and Motorola immediately files a petition for reconsideration.
  • Allen Group buys Alliance Telecommunications, parent organization of three major industry players: Decibel products, Comsearch, and db Mobile.
  • Relm and Adage merge.
  • GPS-based AVL, married to digital mobile data terminals, forms the footprint for accurate, affordable AVL. (Finally!)
  • The number of paging users hits 12 million.
  • Cellular data rates achieve 19,200bps, and "packet" radio comes on line.
  • ERMES is considered as a next-generation paging code.
  • There are now more than 8.5 million cellular subscribers in the United States.
  • First rumblings about digital cellular phones are heard.
  • ACT finally offers multiple testing sites, continuous testing and immediate results.
  • SIRSA changes its name to Industrial Telecommunications Association (ITA). (One needs a scorecard just to keep up with the players.)
  • SMR operators breathe a sigh of relief because they no longer have to license end-users.(Whew!)

1993

  • 220MHz lies silent, waiting for private radio users. (Hmmm.)
  • ESMR (now digital SMR) is still controversial, especially the effect short-spacing will have on signal overlap. ESMR is touted as offering a challenge to cellular.
  • FleetCall and DisCom merge SMR operations.
  • Projected growth in analog SMR is predicted to stay level, while digital SMR is predicted to increase significantly. By 1995, the industry will be adding more digital units per year than analog units according to EMCI, a Washington DC-based consulting firm.
  • Telocator predicts 23 million PCS subscribers by 1997. (Hmmm again.)
  • Emergency Medical Radio Service (EMRS) is approved by the FCC.
  • Consumers worry that the 900MHz frequencies that cellular phones radiate a few inches from our heads will cook our brains. (Yeah, right, like 60Hz power lines have, for years, been blamed for everything from hemorrhoids to schizophrenia.)
  • Pagers are ubiquitous in retail and discount stores. Mobile Comm and McCaw see a gold mine and join forces to cover major metropolitan areas.
  • The first high-accuracy GPS is deployed in Los Angeles. Pinpoint, a joint venture Magnavox and CUE Network, provides accuracy to within a few feet using both satellite navigation and local FM stations.
  • E.F. Johnson celebrates 70 years in the industry.
  • FleetCall changes its name to Nextel Communications.
  • Robert H. Schwaninger Jr. joins MRT as its regulatory consultant and columnist (Riots occur-at the FCC.)
  • Mtel receives the first final Pioneers Preference for a PCS system in the U.S.
  • The first commercial 220MHz trunking system is activated in Houston.
  • If you don't use the word "wireless" at cocktail receptions, in business jargon and in everyday conversation, you're not hip. (It's a wireless radio-as opposed to the previous kind.)
  • Congress finally passes legislation to eliminate lotteries and let the FCC auction spectrum instead. (It's hoped that this will take the dentists, accountants and Harvard MBAs cartels out of the two-way radio business-but will it?)
  • SCL purchases Midland International.

1994

  • The FCC collects user and filing fees.
  • ITA asks the FCC to institute a program to certify technicians. (Why?)
  • CenCall starts buying Motorola 800MHz SMR properties.
  • U.S. West sells its paging operation.
  • During the next 10 years, intelligent vehicle highway systems (IVHS) will become one of the fastest-growing and most lucrative areas of the telecommunications industry (writes Robert H. Schwaninger Jr.).
  • Telocator is now officially PCIA.
  • MCI buys a 20% stake in Nextel.
  • Industry pundits predict 4.4 million SMR subscribers by 1998.
  • CDMA (code-division multiple-access technology) is being taken seriously.
  • 220MHz narrowband SMR is finally a reality.
  • The first FCC PCS license auction nets $6.17 billion (on paper).
  • PCIA and NABER merge; new life is breathed into PCIA.
  • Frequency coordination is again under scrutiny.
  • Dial Page and Nextel marry; Nextel, Comcast and MCI divorce.
  • 800MHz generates more excitement as the FCC freezes new licenses and rumors of dismissal of pending licenses abound.
  • SMR WON is formed.
  • The U.S. Court of Appeals strikes down the FCC fines and assessments policy. (There is dancing in the streets, again.)
Tags:

Related Content

  • 1992-1994
    Newscan: Once, superpower summits were about nukes. Now, it’s cyberweapons.
  • Unfinished Business: Why NFPA and IBC fire codes need to kill the fire phone
  • Driverless-tech liability is all in the wording
  • Is an attacker living off your land?

Commentary


Updated: How ‘sidelink’ peer-to-peer communications can enhance public-safety operations

  • 1
27th February 2023

NG911 needed to secure our communities and nation

24th February 2023

How 5G is making cities safer, smarter, and more efficient

26th January 2023
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

Microsoft Outlook vulnerability could be 2023’s ‘It’ bug dlvr.it/SlC3Hh

20th March 2023
UrgentComm

Getting to know the how–and why–of the telecom cloud dlvr.it/SlBbD1

20th March 2023
UrgentComm

Zipline delivery drone docks, charges by itself dlvr.it/SlBNWy

20th March 2023
UrgentComm

State and local leaders can alleviate the burden on public-safety personnel by tackling three workforce trends dlvr.it/SlBH89

20th March 2023
UrgentComm

6G is shaping up to disappoint, and the industry can blame itself dlvr.it/Sl918J

20th March 2023
UrgentComm

Change is coming to the network detection and response (NDR) market dlvr.it/Sl4cts

18th March 2023

Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.