Posted by Mike Harakal on Fri, Aug 28, 2009
One lesson in the 9/11 attacks eight years ago was the importance of inter-department communications; police officers, firefighters and other first responders being able to communicate with one another. Many died because they did not get the call to evacuate from the World Trade Center towers that were about to collapse. To tackle this problem, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will begin a pilot program this month to test multiband radios designed to let responders communicate across a number of different radio frequencies. Meanwhile a long-touted nationwide public safety broadband network, made possible by the freeing of broadcast spectrum in the country's switch to digital television this past June, continues to stagnate. Several manufacturers are developing multiband radios, but there not quite there yet. There is movement on a broadband based cross platform called D-block, but at the end of the day, there is not yet an effective substitute for voice communications during an emergency. Come on. Let's do this already. Choose an available spectrum and make it happen. Sure, it a big job, but it's a no brainer.