Meeting Minutes

Region 19 700MHZ Committee

 

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

 

Kennebunkport Fire Dept.

32 North Main St.

Kennebunkport, ME

 

 

Mr. Jerry Zarwanski chaired the meeting. The meeting started at 10:15AM. An agenda was emailed to all committee members and copies were available for those attending the meeting. Several members called in on the telephone conference bridge.

 

First item on the agenda: Approval of Minutes

 

A copy of the minutes from the last meeting was passed out. A motion was raised to approve the minutes. The minutes were approved by Mr. Jeff Otto and seconded by Mr. Blair Sutherland.

 

Second item on the agenda: Committee Membership/Annual Elections

 

Mr. Jerry Zarwanski identified every September Region 19 holds its annual elections. Mr. Otto made a motion the incumbents be reelected to their current positions. Mr. Sutherland seconded the motion. The Region 19 committee members voted and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Mr. Zarwanski stated he encourages all States have fair representation on the Region 19 committee. Mr. Zarwanski requested if anyone would like to be a member or knows of anyone whom would like to be a member of the Region 19 committees, please have them contact me. Mr. Zarwanski identified the 700MHz planning committee has 11 available slots per state and the 800MHz planning committee has 6 available slots per state.

 

Third item on the agenda: State Updates

 

Mr. Steven Verbil provided the committee with the State of Connecticut update. The State of Connecticut is installing a 10 Gig Public Safety Data Network (PSDN) for the purpose of delivering NG911, Connecticut On-Line Law Enforcement Communications Teleprocessing (COLLECT) and P25 interoperability. Light River Inc. has been contracted to install a portion of the PSDN and to train selected State staff from the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and Department of Information Technology (DoIT) to install the remaining portion of the PSDN. The project is currently ahead of schedule in terms of deployment and installation.

 

Mr. Verbil identified the State of Connecticut has been awarded 93 million dollars of Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grant money to extend the PSDN network. The current PSDN network topology consists of 6 interconnecting fiber rings. The PSDN will serve as the backbone for the additional sites identified in the BTOP grant application. Mr. Warakois inquired about the network redundancy. Mr. Verbil stated the PSDN’s interconnecting rings and redundant card configuration will allow the PSDN to have a 50ms failover/reroute.

 

Massachusetts: Mr. Blair Sutherland stated the State of Massachusetts interoperability committee is reviewing how 700MHz “state licenses” will be coordinated and where the “state licenses” will be best served. He also identified the Massachusetts State Police will be submitting an application for low power channels.

 

New Hampshire: Mr. James Kowalik informed the committee he is unaware of any potential 700MHz applications. He stated he has made a recommendation to the New Hampshire State Police to look into utilizing the “state licenses” for the State Marine Patrol RF system.

 

Mr. Kowalik stated the State of New Hampshire received 66 million from the BTOP grant. The grant money has been allocated to construct a fiber network utilizing a ring topology similar to the State of Connecticut.

 

Vermont: No Report

 

Rhode Island: Mr. Michael Walsh reported the State of Rhode Island has a purchase order to start implementing a Motorola High Performance Data (HPD) system on one site in the center of the State operating on 5 channels. Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) received a grant to implement 10 additional sites of HPD with three channels at each site. Mr. Walsh anticipates the project will start in late spring when the State radio system is updated to version 7.9.

 

Maine: No Report

 

Fourth item on the agenda: FCC Update

 

Mr. Zarwanski stated FCC Section 90.529 “State Licenses” has been modified. FCC Section 90.529 (b)(1) requires each state holding a 700MHz State License provide or be prepared to provide “substantial service” to one-third of their population or territory by January 1, 2012. FCC Section 90.529 (b)(2) requires each state holding a 700MHz State License provide or be prepared to provide “substantial service” to two-third of their population or territory by January 1, 2017. FCC Section 90.529 (d) if a state licensee fails to meet any condition of the grant the state license is modified automatically to the frequencies and geographic areas where the state certifies that it is providing substantial service. FCC Section 90.529 (e) any recovered state license spectrum will revert to General Use. However, spectrum licensed to a state under a state license remains unavailable for reassignment to other applicants until the Commission’s database reflects the parameters of the modified state license. Currently the only state in Region 19 that does not hold a “state license” is Vermont.

 

Mr. Zarwanski recommended State Interoperability Executive Committees (SIEC) members of neighboring states should meet and discuss the use of “State Licenses” amongst the states.

 

Mr. Paul Zito identified the State of New Jersey has provided him with their 700MHz application. The application identified New Jersey’s plan to build out a 700MHz system utilizing “state licenses”. The application was forwarded to him for the purposes of an interference review. He indicated the New Jersey’s application identified the use of omni-directional antennas. Mr. Zito expressed his concerns; New Jersey’s use of omni directional antennas will cause severe interference to Connecticut. New Jersey was notified of Connecticut’s concerns and stated they would take corrective actions. Mr. Zito indicated a meeting was held in Westchester County, New York to hash out state guidelines for operating on “state licenses”. The attendees concurred a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) should be created identifying agreed upon guidelines when operating on “state licenses”.

 

Fifth item on the agenda: Region 19 Plan/Applications

 

Mr. Zarwanski stated approval letters have been sent to the two Window 1 applicants to move forward with licensing and construction.

 

Mr. Sutherland identified he will be submitting a 700MHz application for the Massachusetts State Police. The Massachusetts State Police is looking to license 700MHz low power channels.

 

Mr. Zarwanski identified the National Regional Planning Committee (NRPC) has required all Regional Planning Update Committees (RPUC) adopt both CAPRAD application filing and CAPRAD frequency allocations filing. Region 8 has requested this format with applicants submitting their applications. Mr. Zarwanski expressed his concerns with CAPRAD’s inability to retain .rs2 files. The manual input of Region 8’s application data into Comstudy will be extremely time consuming.

 

Sixth item on the agenda: FCC Broadband Auction

 

Mr. Zarwanski provided the committee with several handouts identifying Senate and House of Representative bill(s) going in front of Congress. In addition, FCC update to the auction/distribution of the D Block spectrum. Anyone supporting any of these bills should contact your State Representatives requesting endorsement of these public safety bill(s).

 

Seventh item on the agenda: Region 8 and Region 30 700MHz Plans

 

Mr. Zarwanski announced Region 8 has filed a request for concurrence to Region 19 for 8 applications in their Window 1 opening. All their application information has been placed on CAPRAD along with their frequency selection. Mr. Zarwanski stated Region 8 Window 1 filing period was from January 1^st to January 30^th. There are a total of 158 frequencies being requested in their Window 1 filing.

 

Mr. Zarwanski stated Region 19 will be forming a technical subcommittee to review the eight (8) Region 8 Window 1 applications. Mr. John Masciadrelli is appointed Chairman of the Region 19 Technical Subcommittee by Mr. Zarwanski. Mr. Zarwanski requested volunteers willing to be committee members of the technical subcommittee speak with Mr. Masciadrelli.

Mr. Zarwanski stated he is composing a letter to Region 8 requesting an extension of 60 business days to review the 8 applications. Mr. Sutherland suggested adding a statement to the letter requesting .rs2 files be provided to Region 19 to expedite the review process. Mr. Zarwanski requested a motion from the floor to request an extension of 60 business days to review Region 8 Window 1 concurrence filing. Mr. George Carbonell made the motion and Mr. James Warakois seconded the motion. The Region 19 committee members voted and the motion passed unanimously.

 

Mr. Carbonell asked the meeting attendees if anyone present would like administrative access to CAPRAD. Mr. Zarwanski suggested every committee member should have administrative access to CAPRAD and individuals on the Region 19 technical subcommittee should also have access to CAPRAD. Mr. Zarwanski identified Mr. Kowalik and Mr. Carbonell are assigned CAPRAD Managers for Region 19.

 

Eighth item on the agenda: 4.9GHz

 

Mr. Zarwanski stated Region 19 has not received notification this quarter of any public safety entity building out 4.9GHz in Region 19. He requested entities either submitting for a 4.9 GHz license or already operating on 4.9 GHz to please notify Region 19.

 

Ninth item on the agenda: New Business

 

Mr. Zarwanski provided the committee with an article from the magazine Electronic Products. The article provided information on mobile technology Long Term Evolution (LTE).

 

With no further comments or business, Mr. James Warakois motioned to

adjourn. Mr. Steve Brown seconded the motion. The next meeting will be held at the Rhode Island Emergency Operations Center, 645 New London Avenue, Cranston, Rhode Island on December 14, 2010.

 

All present agreed to adjourn at 11:35AM.