Strict Narrowbanding Deadline Less Than a Year Away

He continues, “Then if you’re going to do that, we have to go through a fairly complicated series of steps to figure out, gee am I going to do it on this band, or gee should I look at other options as to what to do to meet my radio needs? Is there a possibility of going on the statewide 800 mHz radio system instead of replacing my system? I’m just going to tear it down and go on the statewide system. There are pluses and minuses to each of those things.”

Once you make the decision on what you are going to do, it’s important to make a business case for it since ultimately you will need to take this plan to a boss or city council. You will need to tell them what you plan to do and why this is best for the agency and why you want to do it this way.

Einsig encourages agencies to not look at the new requirement as simply another federal regulation holding them back.

“Instead of looking at it as hey this is another federal mandate coming down that I have to comply with, if they kind of step back and say if I’m going to go through this expense and I’m going to put the agency through this change is there something really positive that can come out of it,” Einsig says. “Many agencies have done that; many agencies have really kind of done a holistic approach and said we’re going to use this opportunity because you only replace radio systems every 15 years or so. We’re going to take that opportunity to really do a technology refresh of the system and serve passenger needs. That to me is a very mature approach.”

The change to 12.5 kHz may be a requirement, but it offers plenty of opportunities for overall improvements to your system.

For more information on narrowbanding:

www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/vhfuhf-narrowbanding-information

http://transitwireless.org/website/information-topics/narrowbanding/additional-narrowbanding-information