City Changing Public Safety Radio Frequency

By Joan Kent, La Crosse Tribune, Wis.

Jun. 3–La Crosse has not suffered interference with its public safety communication system, but it’s among cities nationwide that must move their radio frequency because of possible interference from Sprint-Nextel cell phones.

This month, the La Crosse Common Council is considering a request for $21,000 to pay a law firm to ensure the city does what is necessary to get rebanded under Federal Communication Commission regulations, including making sure Sprint-Nextel pays for the move.

The FCC has designated the 800 megahertz frequency for public safety trunking systems, which allow communication to more than one radio at a time, said city Finance Director Gene Pfaff. This allows, for instance, a fire chief to communicate with several stations involved in an emergency, he said.

All the city’s communications, including public works, transit, parks, the La Crosse Center, sewer, police and fire, use the system, which involves 505 radios over six transmitters.

Pfaff, who was part of the team that ran the 4th Armored Division Communications Center in Germany during the Vietnam War, is overseeing La Crosse’s move from the 860 frequency to the 854 frequency.

Sprint-Nextel is not violating any FCC guidelines, but its frequency is close enough to the public safety frequencies so that it has created interference in some cities, said Ari Fitzgerald of the Hogan & Hartson law firm in Washington, D.C., which the city would retain if it gets approval from the council.

There was an assumption that public safety officials and Sprint-Nextel could co-exist with neighboring frequencies, but that has not been true in all cases, Fitzgerald said. After the interference was traced back to Sprint-Nextel, he said, the FCC decided that the telecommunications company should pay to move the public safety frequency licenses. Sprint-Nextel has not protested the FCC decision.

Moving public safety systems to new frequencies has begun nationwide and is expected to continue through 2008, Fitzgerald said.

But according to said City Attorney Pat Houlihan, La Crosse needs to be on the new frequency by the end of October,

In La Crosse, Pfaff said, Sprint-Nextel cell phones were interfering with one of the city’s seven transmitters, but the problem was severe enough to interrupt any communications. As cell phone use increases, however, he predicted it would interfere with more transmitters and affect communication between city employees.

Sprint-Nextel has temporarily moved to another frequency here, he said.

He said Motorola, which provided the city’s radios and services the system, will oversee the switch to a new frequency.

Joan Kent can be reached at (608) 791-8221 or jkent@lacrossetribune.com.

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Copyright (c) 2006, La Crosse Tribune, Wis.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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