Disqus - Latest Comments for karlbeckman

Re: Businesses scramble to include public-safety in-building communications

karlbeckman — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 09:53:48 -0000

Michigan's Regional Planning Committees and the Michigan Public Safety Frequency Advisory Committee recently received a copy of the latest changes to the International Fire Code, thanks to the delegate from Michigan Fire Chiefs Assn who is a well-informed fire chief himself and long-time volunteer committee member.

The specific sections you want to read through are Section 510 EMERGENCY RESPONDER RADIO COVERAGE and Appendix J, section 103. You will find that most concerns have been well addressed in the new code sections which must be adopted by your local municipality before they can be enforced.

I personally have found that the fire community is very interested in hearing feedback from folks in the communications industry. I've already provided some thoughts about potential interaction of the required DAS with geo-location systems that rely on relative phase and amplitude of signals to calculate location of on-scene fire/rescue personnel as well as locations of cell phones calling 9-1-1 dispatch centers.

To start an ongoing and beneficial dialogue, contact the fire prevention unit or fire code official in your local department, your state's association of Fire Chiefs, or the office of your State Fire Marshall.

Re: Fire departments dropping pagers in favor of emergency dispatch solution

karlbeckman — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:31:21 -0000

This situation is yet another example of why the 700 MHz broadband stalemate must end very soon. Public safety alerting and notification deserves a more robust infrastructure than just cellular, especially when YOU need immediate services. If YOU are having a heart attack, YOU just had a serious MVA caused by a DUI driver, or YOUR town was ravaged by a severe storm causing extended power outages, you will appreciate a high-reliability network supporting the folks who can't come to your aid until they are notified.

Re: Cell-phone jamming debated on Senate floor

karlbeckman — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:35:57 -0000

I predict that the first time a first responder's radio doesn't work indoors and either a prisoner or guard suffers serious injury, or a lawyer cannot make an important call to a court official, this topic will go away loudly in a court of law. It will not matter whether the interfered or blocked communication was over a cell phone, Nextel, or private public safety radio operating in another frequency range affected by the blocking technology. The FCC has said that existing law does not allow cellular calls to be blocked by individual local persons or government agencies. I would defend their position that they cannot ignore, override, or change the law.