Cover Story

Wait 'til next year

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, An Urgent Communications Staff Report

1 Crunch time for public-safety broadband at 700 MHz Early this year, the FCC attempted to auction 10 MHz of 700 MHz commercial spectrum known as the...

Features

Promises, promises

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Dave Plank

It may be every firefighter's dream to have real-time 3-D walkthroughs of a fire in progress, streaming video from inside a building or dynamic floor...

The universal headache

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Harold Kinley

The amount of noise generated within a receiver system is one of the factors that sets the limits on such systems. Of particular importance is the noise...

Follow the money

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Merrill Douglas

Last year, the federal Assistance to Firefighters Grants program awarded more than $494 million to 5088 U.S. fire departments. Also in 2007, the one-time...

What will it take?

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM

Two-and-a half years after Morgan O'Brien, chairman of Cyren Call Communications, first floated the idea of a nationwide wireless broadband network that...

Reasons for Commercial Operators to Bid are Few

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Andrew M. Seybold

We all know that the commercial network operators did not step up and bid on the 700 MHz D Block the first time around. There are many reasons for this...

Network's Viabilty Will Hinge on Type, Cost of Access

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Charles Werner

Since the first attempt to create a nationwide broadband network for public safety, the FCC has strived to strike a more precise balance between the interests...

First Word

In search of Wellington Mara

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Glenn Bischoff, glenn.bischoff@penton.com

Shortly after becoming commissioner of the National Football League in 1960, Pete Rozelle hatched a plan. There was a great disparity between the haves...

Dispatches

Consensus lacking as 700 MHz deadlines loom

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Donny Jackson & Glenn Bischoff

Many ideas were advanced during the FCC comment period regarding the 700 MHz D Block proposal, but the oft-conflicting notions seemed to raise more questions...

FCC OKs unlicensed use of TV white spaces

Nov 6, 2008 11:37 AM, By Donny Jackson

FCC commissioners Tuesday voted to open the spectral white spaces between broadcast television channels for unlicensed use by devices utilizing geo-location solutions as the foundation for avoiding interference with incumbent users in the band....

Sprint has a change of heart concerning iDEN

Nov 5, 2008 2:23 PM, By Lynnette Luna

After recently admitting that it was peddling its struggling iDEN business, Sprint Nextel reversed course and announced it would instead hold on to the business...

San Francisco believes in gunshot-location technology

Nov 12, 2008 9:43 AM, By Glenn Bischoff

One of the problems faced by the law-enforcement community is that when a firearm is discharged, many times the incident is never reported....

AT&T To Launch Satellite Service Next Year

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM

AT&T Mobility will launch a satellite service next year in partnership with TerreStar. The service will operate on AT&T's 3G network and cost $20 per...

FCC sets interleaved rules for Sprint Nextel

Nov 4, 2008 1:47 PM, By Donny Jackson

The FCC last week approved an order that requires Sprint Nextel to vacate most of its 800 MHz interleaved channels in stages...

View from the Top

The time is now

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Bob Schassler

Today, there are more than a dozen manufacturers offering Project 25 equipment, and the estimated number of P25-capable subscriber units deployed in the...

Gear

Iridium launches new satellite phone

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Donny Jackson and Mary Rose Roberts

Satellite-communications provider Iridium Satellite unveiled the 9555, the company’s newest phone that is significantly smaller and more powerful than previous generations of Iridium handsets....

Motorola demonstrates 700 MHz broadband system

Nov 11, 2008 1:27 PM, By Glenn Bischoff

Motorola this week is demonstrating public-safety wireless broadband applications over an orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM)-based, 700 MHz system...

Two-in-one system tests network reliability

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Mary Rose Roberts

Agilent Technologies introduced the FieldFox handheld RF analyzer for wireless network installation and base station maintenance. The handheld is aimed...

ADC debuts outdoor distributed antenna system

Nov 6, 2008 10:07 AM, By Glenn Bischoff

ADC introduced the FlexWave Prism outdoor distributed antenna system that is designed to support events in large venues....

Final Word

Patience on tap

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Alan Tilles

Since the presidential election, speculation has run rampant around Washington and the rest of the country as to who will be appointed to the Obama cabinet....