Like it or not, VHF/UHF narrowbanding is going to happen—and sooner than we think. In an August interview with PSC, FCC Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau Chief Admiral Jamie Barnett (Ret.) indicated the FCC has no plans to extend the Jan. 1, 2013, deadline because public safety has long had access to the equipment. Adm. Barnett said, “[This] has been going for 10 years, and the equipment has been available for longer than that. … It’s been a process that certainly people could see coming. So while [the economics of obtaining replacement equipment is] of concern to us—and anybody can petition for a waiver—I think it’s going to be judged in the broad view of what their specific situation is. They can give the facts that are affecting them, and that will be weighed against the fact that it affects other people and that they’ve had some significant time to prepare for it.”

On Dec. 11, the FCC released a Public Notice reminding frequency coordinators and equipment manufacturers of the upcoming VHF/UHF Part 90 narrowbanding deadlines:

Jan. 1, 2011

• Applications for new 25 kHz wideband (one voice path per 25 kHz of bandwidth) licenses will no longer be accepted.
• Modifications to existing 25 kHz wideband licenses that expand the interference contour (19 dBu VHF; 21 dBu UHF) will no longer be accepted.
• Manufacture, import or FCC certification of any Part 90 VHF/UHF equipment capable of providing only one voice path in 25 kHz is prohibited.
• Equipment presented for certification must include 6.25 kHz capability.

Jan. 1, 2013

• All Part 90 Industrial/Business and Public Safety incumbent licensees must operate on 12.5 kHz (11.25 kHz occupied bandwidth) or narrower frequencies OR
• Employ a technology that provides one voice path per 12.5 kHz of channel bandwidth or a data efficiency of 4800 bits per second per 6.25 kHz.

Compliance Certification

• Licensees that already operate at 12.5 kHz bandwidth (indicated by a single emission designator of 11K3 or less) do not need to do anything further. These licensees are compliant with the 1/1/2013 deadline
• Licensees that show both wideband (greater than 11K3, typically 20K0_ _ _) and narrowband (11K3 or less) do not need to modify their licensees to remove the wideband emission. On Jan. 1, 2013, the FCC will presume that the wideband mode has been disabled and the licensee is operating with only narrowband emission.
• Licensees that show only wideband emission (greater than 11K3) must file a narrowband compliance certification. The FCC will revise a future version of the application for new, renewed, and modified station licenses to include a field in which the licensee/applicant must indicate whether or not they comply with the narrowbanding requirements.
• The FCC will begin placing a special condition on all affected Part 90 licenses reminding the licensee of the narrowbanding deadlines.

Secondary Status Not An Option

• The Public Notice clarified that wideband licensees who failed to comply with the narrowbanding requirements could not continue to operate at 25 kHz on a secondary basis.
• If a licensee fails to narrowband either by operating at 12.5 kHz or less or employing a technology that provides 12.5 kHz efficiency, that licensee is subject to potential enforcement action including fines, license revocation or admonishments.

Multi-Mode Equipment

• The Public Notice also clarified that previously certified multi-mode (dual 25/12.5 kHz) equipment could still be manufactured and imported only if the operational modes were enabled through software rather than firmware and only if users were not provided with the software required to activate the wideband 25 kHz mode.

View the full text of the Public Notice by clicking here.

APCO-AFC is offering special pricing to modify your Part 90 public safety license to add narrowband emission, in the same configuration as currently licensed, at $25 per call sign.

The time to plan is now! The FCC will terminate your license if your agency is not in compliance with narrowbanding. The final deadline is Jan. 1, 2013.

The January issue of Public Safety Communications contained a special section on narrowbanding, including stories on the basics of narrowbanding, restoring system receiver performance after narrowbanding and a comprehensive list of narrowband-compliant equipment. If you missed it or want to know if narrowbanding applies to your agency, click here.