MINUTES
New England Region 19 700 MHz
TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Kittery Municipal Center
Kittery, Maine
The meeting was convened at 10:10 a.m.
Present were George Pohorilak, Chairman, and Jerry Zarwanski, Vice-Chairman. Jim Warakois, Secretary was absent. In addition, a quorum was not present as identified in the bylaws of the FCC approved 700MHz Plan. Members present were from the State of Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Nine committee members are required to be present from three states for a quorum to exist.
Minutes of the December 13, 2005 meeting were not approved since a quorum was not present. The December 13, 2005 minutes will be on the agenda for the next meeting in Rhode Island.
State Update:
Connecticut: Chairman Pohorilak indicated that the State of Connecticut interoperability is still an ad hoc committee. Mr. Pohorilak has tried to move forward the formalization of this committee with voting rights. Mr. Pohorilak said that there was an executive committee and a working group committee. A current initiative the committee is working on is to develop a plan for the cross-banding of VTAC, UTAC and selected 806MHZ frequencies. The current ad hoc interoperability committee meets on a regular basis.
Massachusetts: Mr. Derdak reported that the State of Massachusetts is still in the process of coordinating the use of the VTAC, UTAC, ICAL and ITAC interoperability channels. The State of Mass. is attempting to integrate the interoperability channels. Currently, in order to access one of the interoperability channels a call needs to be placed to Mass. State Police or Mass. Emergency Management. At times it takes several attempts to get an interoperability channel to go up.
New Hampshire: Mr. Kowalik reported a continuation of the various interoperability initiatives in New Hampshire. New Hampshire is in the process of constructing a consolidated Incident Management Center. The Center is one-half complete and is on the grounds of the Fire Training Academy. He also noted an increase in interest in 4.9 GHz among public safety services. Mr. Kowalik indicated that a meeting of New Hampshire public safety officials will be conducted soon. Mr. Kowalik is the Chairman of the New Hampshire interoperability committee. The State of New Hampshire has purchased Raytheon Interoperability Equipment
Maine: No report
Vermont: No report
FCC Update:
The FCC has issued a date certain of February 18, 2009 for public safety use
of 700MHz frequencies. Public Safety should begin initiatives and plans for
this spectrum.
NPSTC is looking for representation from the Regional planning committees to be members on their committee. NPSTC has divided the Regional Planning committees in to 5 zones and is looking for a member from each zone. Region 19 falls into the East Coast zone. Region 19 has limited funds available to send anyone to a meeting. Mr. Carbonell has been asked if he would be willing to become a Region 19 representative on this committee. NPSTC is making available a conference call bridge for anyone to participate.
NPSTC is working on 700MHZ and 4.9GHz standards. NPSTC is looking for additional participants on the standards committee.
The current CAPRAD database is under consideration for a move from NLECT -Department of Justice to a new location yet to be determined. Mr. Kowalik has updated the Region 19 section of CAPRAD with the FCC approved 700MHz plan
NARPC is a newly created committee that is looking for membership. It is unknown if this a formally recognized group. Steve Devine is the Chairman of this group. NARPC is planning on holding a meeting on May 15 – 16, in Las Vegas.
4.9GHz
Chairman Pohorilak discussed the need to review the draft plan for the final time. There have been no written comments submitted to date. We are awaiting comments and if there are no comments we will vote to accept the plan at the next meeting.
A discussion was held on the notification of current 4.9GHz license holders of the existence of a Region 19 4.9GHz plan . Any 4.9GHz license holder must conform to the guidelines of the plan.
A discussion was held on membership of the 4.9GHz committee.
There may be a need to pole members of the 700MHz committee to confirm their
membership on the 4.9GHz committee. The FCC report and order issued may have
authorized the Regional Planning Committee members to be the members of the
4.9GHz subcommittee.
Mr. Zarwanski indicated that membership on the 700MHz has to be reviewed once again. There has been several changes that need to updated into the 4.9GHz. Mr. Kowalik indicated he would verify the membership from New Hampshire. Mr. Carbonell indicated that he is the ASHTO representative and Mr. Brown is the DOT. Mr. Carbonell identified Mr. Plant as an ASHTO representative.
New Business
The annual schedule for 2006 meetings has been distributed. However, the meeting schedule has not appeared on the FCC Daily Digest. Several attempts have been made to have the FCC place the meeting schedule on the FCC Daily Digest. Mr. Carbonell indicated that he would place a call to the FCC to find the status.
Mr. Carbonell suggested that two 25KHz channels of the 700 allotment be reserved for assignment to transmission of differential correction of GPS measurements. He noted the current practice is to assign such transmission to frequencies in the UHF PS pool. The bandwidth requirement is 19KHz. The channels could be reserved from either/both the general use or state pool
Mr. Kowalik motioned to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Mr. Carbonell.
Meeting adjourned 11:16 a.m.
Minutes taken by Jerry Zarwanski, in the absence of James Warakois, Secretary.