WARNING! After Jan. 1, 2013, licensees not operating at 12.5 KHz efficiency (narrowband) will be in violation of the FCC’s rules and could be subject to enforcement action, which may include admonishment, monetary fines or loss of license.

How Does This Affect Me?

The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) can take up to three months to review and grant licenses, which doesn’t give you a lot of time. If your agency has not yet submitted an application to modify your call sign to add narrowband emission to your license(s), NOW is the time. If you wait too long, your application may not be processed in time to meet the deadline.

How Do I Become Compliant?

The Association for Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) spectrum management arm, AFC, provides comprehensive radio frequency management for public safety agencies. AFC can help you become compliant.  Start by following the steps below:

Review Your License

To review your license to determine if you need to add narrowband emission, go to http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp. Type in your call sign, click on the call sign on the next page. go to the “Frequencies” tab and click on “Emissions.” Narrowband emissions will show a bandwidth of 11K3 or lower. For example, if the emission designator is 20K0F3E (wideband analog voice), the narrowband equivalent would be 11K3F3E or lower.

Submit Your Application

APCO can process your application for you. Simply click here to submit your application or email phelpsc@apcointl.org. If you are anticipating a large project requiring a competitive bid, be sure and contact AFC immediately. We specialize in high performance processing for bulk applications, and will provide responsive bids with significant discounts to our published fees.

Please note that the fee to process an application to add narrowband emission equivalent to what is already shown on the license is $100 per call sign. If there are ERP’s missing on the license, the FCC will require that the applicant provide it. If the ERP is the same or lower than the output power, the application can be processed as a minor modification. If the ERP is higher than the output power, the frequency will require official frequency coordination and additional fees would apply.

Waiver Requests

If your agency is diligently working on converting to narrowband operations, but you have determined that you will not meet the Narrowbanding Deadline of January 1, 2013, you must submit a waiver to the FCC NOW to allow time for the FCC to review and act on it before the deadline date. Refer to the following link for guidelines for submitting a Narrowbanding Waiver request to the FCC: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-11-1189A1.pdf.

For More Information

For additional information about the deadline and a list of FAQs, click here.

Who Is AFC?

With the most experienced staff and the largest network of volunteer experts, AFC is the only organization that provides full radio frequency management services, including frequency coordination and engineering, and license preparation and management for public safety agencies. AFC is a Federal Communications Commission certified public safety coordinator and, as a division of APCO, AFC’s revenue is invested back into the public safety communications community. For more information, click here.

Receive Discounts by Becoming a Member

Become a member of APCO today and receive discounts on engineering and licensing services. Click here to learn more.