[FedCom] Fwd: DoD to Share Spectrum with First Responders

Wed, 06 Feb 2002 14:17:54 -0500

>Approved-By:  [email protected]
>Date:         Tue, 5 Feb 2002 14:40:11 -0500
>Reply-To: [email protected]
>Sender: DOD NEWS LIST <[email protected]>
>From: [email protected]
>Subject:      DoD to Share Spectrum with First Responders
>To: [email protected]
>
>NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense
>
>No. 056-02
>(703)697-5131(media)
>IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>February 5, 2002
>(703)697-5737(public/industry)
>
>DEFENSE DEPARTMENT TO SHARE SPECTRUM WITH FIRST RESPONDERS
>
>The Department of Defense today submitted its report to Congress
>regarding the feasibility of sharing the 138-144 MHz band with
>public safety users.  A DoD Joint Spectrum Center engineering
>study identified ways sharing would be possible without
>interfering with DoD operations.
>
>Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Spectrum and C3 Policy
>Steven Price said, "We believe it is possible to share portions
>of the 138-144 MHz band with public safety users on a limited,
>coordinated basis.  DoD is willing to work with National
>Telecommunications and Information Administration, state and
>local governments and first responders on a case-by-case basis
>to explore sharing the band for the common good."
>
>While the 138-144 MHz band continues to be critical to DoD
>operations, the department has found it helpful in emergencies
>to share communication systems with other first responders.  A
>small number of channels may be shared on a regional basis when
>it is to the mutual benefit of DoD and public safety officials.
>
>DoD operations that would be affected if this band were
>interrupted through heavy use of too many channels would include
>air-surface-air, air traffic control and ground support
>functions at military airfields, tactical communications for
>close air support, land mobile radios for sustaining
>installation infrastructure support and land mobile radios and
>specialized equipment for training and test range support.
>Other systems that would be affected include fire and security
>alarms, and hydrology and utility controls.
>
>The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2000 reclaimed
>for federal, primarily DoD, use of three megahertz in the
>138-144 MHz band previously identified, pursuant to requirements
>of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, for reallocation for mixed
>federal government and non-federal government uses.  As Congress
>understood, the recovery of 3 MHz was and is crucial to
>fulfilling DoD's spectrum requirements.  However, in the
>conference report, DoD was asked to provide a technical report
>assessing the feasibility of sharing the 138-144 MHz band with
>public safety users.  In the fiscal 2001 authorization, Congress
>directed DoD, in cooperation with the Justice Department and the
>NTIA, to provide for an engineering study with regard to
>spectrum sharing in the 138-144 MHz band.  The assistant
>secretary of Defense for Command Control Communication and
>Intelligence (C3I) has submitted this report to the Senate Armed
>Services Committee and the House Armed Services Committee.
>
>Under direction of Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command,
>Control, Communications and Intelligence (C3I) John Stenbit, the
>DoD Joint Spectrum Center conducted an engineering study
>regarding sharing in the 138-144 MHz band.  The resultant
>classified study showed that the areas of operation associated
>with the DoD frequency usage in the 138-144 MHz band encompasses
>nearly the entire continental United States.  Large distance
>separations would be required to prevent co-channel and
>adjacent-channel interference between DoD equipment and
>potential state and local public safety systems, particularly in
>the case of DoD air-ground-air radios.
>
>[Web version: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb2002/b02052002_bt056-02.html]
>
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