[FedCom] VTAC/UTAC/ITAC

[Guse, Carl]

Mark and all,

The VTAC and UTAC names were designated by the FCC.  The ITAC names were
adopted as a national standard as documented below by the National Plan
Steering Committee chair.  The document you refer to on APCO's website is a
proposal for standardized naming of all interoperability/mutual aid channels
and as such does not reflect current naming.

Carl



-----Original Message-----
From: Gray, Gary David, P.E. 

The APCO National Plan Steering Committee (NPSC) unanimously adopted the
Mutual Aid ("Interoperability") channel designations as indicated below at
the NPSC meeting held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Friday, August 16, 1991.  The
FCC, at the time of adopting the NPSPAC National Plan document, declined to
adopt standardized names, preferring to allow the users to develop any
nomenclature. 

           DESCRIPTION				NAME		CH. NO.
FREQUENCY (MHz)

International Calling Channel		"ICALL" (or "I-CALL")	   N/A
866/821.0125 MHz
International Tactical Channel # 1	"ITAC1" (or "ITAC-1")	   N/A
866/821.5125 MHz
International Tactical Channel # 2	"ITAC2" (or "ITAC-2")	   N/A
867/822.0125 MHz
International Tactical Channel # 3	"ITAC3" (or "ITAC-3")	   N/A
867/822.5125 MHz
International Tactical Channel # 4	"ITAC4" (or "ITAC-4")	   N/A
868/823.0125 MHz

Also adopted were the following definitions for Standard Tactical Mobile
Relay (Repeater) Switch Designations.

	LABEL		FUNCTION

	"ENABLE"	Repeat
	"DISABLE"	Non-Repeat

A motion was unanimously adopted at the NPSC meeting held in Seattle,
Washington, on Friday, August 14, 1992, to request APCO to petition the FCC
to name the new "Interoperability" channels in accordance with the NPSC
recommendations.  However, I am not sure that a petition was ever filed by
APCO, perhaps in light of the priority of other pressing FCC-related issues.

I hope this history is of assistance.

73, Gary


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Cobbeldick [mailto:kb4cvn at yahoo.com]
> Sent: Monday, July 26, 2004 8:49 AM
> To: Discussion of Federal Government Communications
> Subject: RE: [FedCom] VTAC
> 
> 
> 
> Who came up with these names?  (VTAC, UTAC & ITAC)  Are they radio
> hobbyist designations, or something official?
> 
> I used to run a large public safety radio system, and neither I or any
> of the (radio) folks currently in state or federal law enforcement I
> checked with this morning had ever heard of these 
> 'designations'.  They
> appear to be of a local naming convention...
> 
> Regarding the 800 MHz Mutual Aid frequencies, as designated 
> by the FCC,
> those have always been referred to as NPSPAC (National Public Safety
> Planning and Advisory Council) Mutual Aid channels, not " ITAC ". 
> These "ITAC" names also appear to be of a local naming convention.
> 
> 
> The Alpha name tags that I have seen usually shown in the display of
> radios is:
> 
> "NPSPAC-C" or sometimes simply "CALLING"
> "NPSPAC-1" or sometimes simply "TAC-1"
> "NPSPAC-2" or sometimes simply "TAC-2"
> "NPSPAC-3" or sometimes simply "TAC-3"
> "NPSPAC-4" or sometimes simply "TAC-4"
> 
> (NOTE: Most radios only support up to an 8-character alpha 
> numeric name
> tag.)
> 
> If you go to APCO's website, they do not even use the " _TAC "
> designators.
> http://www.apco911.org/frequency/siec/documents/documents/prop
osed_I-O_channels.pdf


Mark C.
Virginia





	
		
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