Meeting of the

FCC Region 19

700 MHz Technical Advisory Committee

Tuesday March 9, 2004

Massachusetts State Police General Headquarters

470 Worcester Road

Framingham, MA

The meeting was called to order by the Chairman at 10:05 AM.

Present: Mr. Pohorilak, Chairman, Mr. Zarwanski, Vice Chairman, Mr. Warakois, Secretary.

All members present were asked to initial the attendance roster next to their printed names

and correct any associated errors. Any one attending for the first time was asked to compete all the

columns at the end of the attendance roster.

Previous Minutes discussion:

Mr. Kowalik moved to correct the minutes of the December 2003 meeting, second paragraph to read ?.... Mr. Tom Bardwell...? Moved to accept minutes as corrected.

Accepted by unanimous vote.

The Chairman requested representatives from each State provide an update of State activities.

Connecticut.

Mr. Pohorilak reported that representation from multiple agencies has been coordinated and meetings conducted to form the ?Interoperability Committee.? This committee will implement the distribution of technology to aid communications interoperability and future communications planning. Mr. James (Skip) Thomas is the Chairman. Mr. Pohorilak has offered to share information with Mr. Sutherland of Massachusetts.

Massachusetts

Mr. Sutherland reported that the Executive Office of Public Safety has convened

an ad hoc working group for interoperability. Meetings have been held at various regions

throughout the State to expand existing infrastructure. Consultant studies have been made and approved by the ad hoc group. The effort has gone into planning for the orderly release of Federal Interoperability funds when they become available. Funding will be disbursed to identified consortiums to aid with their interoperability planning. Effort is being made to coalesce such groups where they are not organized. The Office of the Secretary of Public Safety is supporting this activity.

New Hampshire

Mr. Kowalik noted that several interoperability projects have begun. The ? I-95?

corridor project with the New Hampshire Department of Transportation and other State agencies. The New Hampshire State Police infrastructure is expanding gateways into

other frequency bands. Another Interoperability Committee is working with Fire and EMS communities to bring them together using ICAL, ITAC and ITIA gateways.

The separate working groups have yet to congeal into a single Interoperability group.

Rhode Island

A communications working group has been formed under the Governor?s Disaster Subcommittee. A virtual radio channel called ?Right Turn? connects all of state dispatch facilities through an 800 MHz backbone. Washington County, the southern most part of the State, will eventually merge into a statewide 800 MHz system. The current DOT and RIPTA (Rhode Island Public Transit Authority) systems will be merged to form part of a larger statewide system.

Maine -

No report

Vermont -

No report

NCC

NCC filed the final report.

FCC

Mr. Carbonell noted that the FCC notice regarding license cancellations will

take effect very soon. Letters of Construction should be completed and on file with the

FCC.

CAPRAD

The Committee is ready to utilize CAPRAD when the time comes to assign frequencies.

Two Committee members have been sent for CAPRAD training. More will be sent when

funding becomes available.

4.9 GHz

The 4.9 GHz meeting will follow the end of the 700MHz meeting. A separate agenda has

been created for a 4.9GHz meeting.

700 MHz Plan Update

The Chairman reviewed the progress of the 700MHz meeting to date and acknowledged

the editing efforts of Joan Carrasqillo, CT OSET and Vice Chairman, Mr. Zarwanski.

Comments have been received from Bette Reinhardt, Motorola and others. Conference

calls among technical members of the committee have been held to finalize aspects of the

document.

Discussion:

Mr. Sutherland inquired as to the number of plans that have been already submitted to the

FCC. Mr. Zarwanski indicated that two or three plans have been submitted to the FCC,

none have been accepted. The FCC has provided reply comments back to those plans that

have been reviewed.

Most plans have been developed around the NCC and NPSTC suggestions.

The Chairman suggests that all members thoroughly review the plan before the next meeting in June 2004. Vote for adoption of the plan will occur in the next meeting in Vermont .

Mr. Warakois questioned the tables of allocation based on county allotments whereas the

New England states frequently identify population bodies by municipal boundaries, being

contiguous with one and another. Mr. Kowalik noted that Appendix L will be updated as

the allocations commence. Mr. Carbonell noted that the Region borders might generate

some problems in assignment of frequencies.

Mr. Zarwanski noted that the Drafts of the Plan were distributed to the Region 8 and Region 30 committees for preview.

Mr. Carbonell questioned if Part I Section 3, 2.4. Suspension or Removal from the

committee would be in effect for the next meeting. The Chairman noted that attendance

issue would be considered for the final acceptance. The suggestion was made that video

conferencing should be considered for some of the future meetings. The

benefits/drawbacks were discussed by the committee. The availability of such video

conference bridge facilities was discussed.

The Chairman noted that a pre June meeting would be held by telephone conference bridge in May, the date to be determined. All members will be notified.

Mr. Carbonell wished a clarification of Part I Section 6, page 6, -second paragraph, Procedures for frequency coordination. He noted that to reduce confusion, distances should be noted consistently in units of English or metric values.

Mr. Derdak noted further changes to be made in the text regarding the ?20-foot rule? being also known as the ?6.1-meter rule?.

This concluded the 700MHZ meeting. The meeting continued on as the 4.9 GHz

Advisory Committee Meeting.