Frequency Auction Steals from Amatures

Auction of radio spectrum for broadband wireless could affect amateur radio, emergency management volunteers
Matt Vande Bunte | The Grand Rapids Press

Posted:06/13/2011 10:22 AM
A federal bill aimed at improving public-safety communication 10 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks instead could hamper emergency-management response, local officials said.

A proposed auction of radio spectrum to fund a broadband wireless network for public-safety agencies would reduce the available frequencies for amateur radio users and emergency-management volunteers, said Dave Dahl, emergency management director for the city of Hudsonville.

“Radio communication is critical to all our operations,” he said. “The frequencies that would be taken away by this bill are the frequencies we use. It would significantly reduce our coverage in Ottawa County.”

The Broadband for First Responders Act would auction the frequencies used by emergency-response teams for search-and-rescue operations, storm spotting and management of events such as Tulip Time, the Coast Guard Festival and the Hudsonville Holiday Parade, Dahl said. It also would restrict frequencies available to radio hobbyists and render useless certain radio equipment often used in outdoor activities like camping or hiking, he said.

Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office also uses ham radio volunteers in many ways, said Beth Thomas, the county’s emergency management director.

“They assist the Red Cross with First Aid at large events. They help line up parades. They are communication in the event that any other type of communication would not be available,” she said. “They also do our Skywarn spotter system.”

A U.S. Senate version of the bill would pay for the proposed wireless network without affecting those frequencies. Lobbying by the American Radio Relay League may result in similar tweaks to the U.S. House bill that local radio ham Ron Fredricks called “ill-conceived.”

“We’re like second responders or third responders,” said Fredricks, a former Grand Rapids Amateur Radio Association officer who has a “ham shack” in his Georgetown Township home. “They would take this band, use it for first responders, and then they would sell to commercial people space in the 420 (mega-hertz) to 440 (mega-hertz) part of the band that the hams use right now.

“There are thousands of hams operating on (those frequencies). They must have thought that nobody ever used it.”

The American Radio Relay League opposes the House version of the bill, but has stated support for either of two Senate versions that would not impact amateur radio. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland, will evaluate the bill when it comes out of committee, spokeswoman Lauren Phillips said.

E-mail the author of this story: localnews@grpress.com



- Posted using iTouchBlogPress mobile