Technology
Enter the Cameras
April 29, 2011Prospect Park in Redlands, Calif., is a charming and beautiful wooded area that hosts the yearly Redlands Theatre Festival. But it wasn’t always a desirable place for an afternoon stroll or a place to spend Sundays with your family. For too long, the park was a prime location for drug-related crimes, but that was before “the cameras.”
Read full articleNew Radios Operational for Franklin County’s Emergency Responders
April 29, 2011Chambersburg, Pa. — Franklin County’s digital emergency communications system is in full operation, but the county will continue to simultaneously use the older analog system.
Read full articleAPCO’s Orlando Roundtable
April 20, 2011The evolution of technology, from Next Generation 9-1-1 to social media, is increasing the number of platforms citizens can use — or want to use — to reach emergency services and the backbones by which these “calls” are transmitted. This concept was a common thread throughout the technical and operations discussions during APCO International’s third Technology Roundtable.
Read full articleRadios Draw More Fire
April 19, 2011York County, Pa. — On the heels of a county announcement that a fix for its radio-patching problem is coming, York County emergency responders say they’re still having issues with other important radio functions as they try to fight fires. But county officials say that part of the system is working fine, and a couple of dropped calls at fire scenes are unfortunately par for the course.
Read full articleDHS Office of Emergency Communications Releases ‘A Practical Guide to Narrowbanding’
April 13, 2011To assist the Nation’s public safety community and government officials in meeting the narrowband mandate, the US Department of Homeland…
Read full articleKenwood Introduces New Ultra Compact Design for NEXEDGE Portables
April 7, 2011Suwanee, GA: Further extending the usefulness of the NEXEDGE® brand, Kenwood has released a new 5 Watt UHF/VHF portable, the…
Read full articleNew Kenwood P25 10 Series ‘G-Model’ Radios Offer Multiple Improvements
April 7, 2011Suwanee, GA: Kenwood announces the new 10 Series “G-Model” P25 mobiles and portables with expanded memory, improved digital voice performance…
Read full articleIt’s Time
April 7, 2011A countdown clock on the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau website is ticking away the days, hours and minutes left to comply with a federal mandate designed to ensure more efficient use of the radio spectrum used by public safety organizations. The mandate calls for narrowbanding, meaning existing licensees operating on a 25 kHz channel (wideband) operating at VHF (150–174 MHz) and UHF (421–512 MHz) using Part 90 frequencies must reduce their emissions to 12.5 kHz. All Industrial/Business and Public Safety Radio Pool licensees must comply by Jan. 1, 2013.
Read full articlePractical Applications
March 24, 2011Security, survivability, sustainability—these were the three concepts that participants kept coming back to during the APCO Technology Roundtable, held March…
Read full articleRegional Communications Upgrade to Narrowband Set for July
March 18, 2011Paris, Maine — A planned upgrade to the county’s emergency communications will finally happen in July. According to James Miclon, regional communications director for Oxford County, the federally-mandated switch to narrowband radio communication has been paid for with a $289,000 federal grant from the Department of Homeland Security.
Read full article