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Wishing a safe and happy weekend for all readers of The Wireless Messaging News.

Fake News

To borrow a phrase being frequently used by President Trump, there is a lot of “Fake News” about paging too. I just read another piece about one of the many new “ultimate” pager apps. They keep posting fake news about how our so-called “outdated paging technology” is costing U.S. hospitals billions of dollars annually.

This is so sad! Some real news follows.

Emergency Communications Driving Increase in Amateur Radio Operators

Hams standing by and ready to help during disasters or other events.

BY JAMES CARELESS / APRIL 11, 2017 [source]

More Americans than ever have been licensed by the Federal Communications Commission as amateur radio operators, and those in the know say that emergency communications is driving their passion to be “hams.”

“There has been a tremendous amount of interest in emergency preparedness since 9/11 and Katrina, and this is true for the amateur radio community as well,” said Mike Corey, the emergency preparedness manager for the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). “Emergency communications is a gateway into amateur radio, and many join our ranks through an interest in being better prepared themselves and as a way to serve their community.”

“This is the third year in a row that the total number of new licenses has exceeded 30,000,” said ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator Manager Maria Somma last year. She said 32,552 were granted in 2016, 32,077 in 2015, and 33,241 in 2014. Total active FCC-issued ham radio licenses hit an all-time high of 743,003 in November 2016.

The public’s growing interest in amateur radio for emergency communications is a legacy of 9/11, when Americans saw their cellular telephone networks become overwhelmed by excess traffic and system outages. When regular phone service fails, amateur radio operators fill the communications gap with their independent transceivers and battery power backups.

“I think we have experienced an uptick in new licenses due to the emergency capabilities of ham radio,” said Jack Ciaccia, ARRL Colorado section manager. “Interest really peaks after a large-scale event where ham radio has been utilized.”

Amateur radio operators played a substantial role in restoring vital communications links in the wake of 9/11, hurricanes, tornadoes and other major disasters that have affected the United States. They assist in directing first responders to victims, providing real-time situational updates from the disaster scene to emergency management agencies, and offering victims a way to contact their families and friends when normal communications channels have failed.

“Generally, amateur radio operators assist other organizations and agencies by adding communications capacity when normal means of communications are down or overloaded,” Corey said. “Amateurs work with local emergency management, first responders, hospitals, National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center and VOADs [Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters] and the Red Cross and Salvation Army. Many also use amateur radio as part of their own family communications plan and use the skills they learn as amateurs to assist neighbors during emergencies and disasters.”

Walt Palmer is a licensed ham radio operator, and also director of broadcast operations, engineering and programming at NewsRadio WGMD 92.7 FM in Rehoboth Beach, Del. “Through an arrangement with our local EOC, I have a 2-meter ham radio set and antenna at my desk, which can be patched into our FM transmitter during emergencies,” he said. “If regular communications fail, the EOC can put the mayor or one of their officials on the 2-meter band, and I can rebroadcast it via our FM channel to our entire coverage area.”

Emergency managers have taken note the usefulness of amateur radio operators during man-made and natural disasters — and many have ongoing relationships with their local ham communities. This includes assigning amateur radio operators specific roles within each agency’s emergency response plan, and even setting space aside for hams in their EOCs.

For many years, ARRL has created special Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) units to assist during times of crisis. Each ARES unit “consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment with their local ARES leadership for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes,” according to the ARRL website. ARES members are trained to work with local emergency management; to have their own food, sleeping equipment and other supplies to survive during emergency situations away from home; and to have pre-planned for their families’ well-being during the ARES team member’s absence.

“In most cases, the amateur radio response to an emergency or disaster is handled by local ARES teams,” said Corey. “However, in the case of large-scale disasters such as a large hurricane or earthquake, ARRL headquarters will assist local and state ARES teams with equipment, media support, regulatory guidance and coordination with national partners.”

“Most of our ARES teams around the country partner with local and state emergency management,” he added. “In most cases this relationship also allows for closer work with other local response groups such as public safety, hospitals and local VOADs.”

This is certainly the case in Colorado. In 2016, the state Legislature officially designated qualified hams as members of Colorado’s new Auxiliary Emergency Communications Unit, under the authority of the state’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, in the Department of Public Safety.

As a result of this new law, Colorado ARES teams are now part of their state’s emergency management team, with their own roles with their state’s emergency management plans and facilities.

“In many EOCs, including the Colorado EOC, ARES has its own space with its own permanently installed radio gear and antenna installations,” Ciaccia said. “In Boulder, they also maintain a cache of portable equipment that can be deployed as soon as manpower is available. This way, they never have to worry about obtaining anyone's personal gear for use in an emergency.”

It is worth noting that hams also aid emergency managers in less dire situations. For instance, “throughout the United States, amateurs assist the National Weather Service’s SKYWARN program in providing ground truth reports during severe weather events,” Corey said. All told, the growing number of amateur radio operators in the U.S. are self-funding, fully equipped communicators, many of whom want to support local emergency managers and first responders any way they can.

“We have worked extremely hard over the years to become useful and professional with our assistance to our community OEMs and EOCs,” Ciaccia said. “The major capability that hams bring to emergency management is our varied modes and frequencies: We can usually make a communications path when others do not exist. Because of those two important and valuable commodities that are usually not available to public service entities, we are an important asset to local authorities in times of need.”

Wayne County, Illinois

Emergency Radio Communications Wireless Messaging Critical Messaging Two-way Radio Technology Telemetry Science Paging Wi-Fi

Wireless Messaging

This doesn't mean that nothing is ever published here that mentions a US political party—it just means that the editorial policy of this newsletter is to remain neutral on all political issues. We don't take sides.

A new issue of the Wireless Messaging Newsletter is posted on the web each week. A notification goes out by e-mail to subscribers on most Fridays around noon central US time. The notification message has a link to the actual newsletter on the web. That way it doesn’t fill up your incoming e-mail account.

There is no charge for subscription and there are no membership restrictions. Readers are a very select group of wireless industry professionals, and include the senior managers of many of the world’s major Paging and Wireless Messaging companies. There is an even mix of operations managers, marketing people, and engineers — so I try to include items of interest to all three groups. It’s all about staying up-to-date with business trends and technology.

I regularly get readers’ comments, so this newsletter has become a community forum for the Paging, and Wireless Messaging communities. You are welcome to contribute your ideas and opinions. Unless otherwise requested, all correspondence addressed to me is subject to publication in the newsletter and on my web site. I am very careful to protect the anonymity of those who request it.

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A Problem

The Motorola Nucleus II Paging Base Station is a great paging transmitter. The Nucleus I, however, had some problems.

One of the best features of this product was its modular construction. Most of the Nucleus' component parts were in plug-in modules that were field replaceable making maintenance much easier.

One issue was (and still is) that two of the modules had to always be kept together. They are called the “matched pair.”

Motorola used some tricks to keep people in the field from trying to match unmatched pairs, and force them to send SCM and Exciter modules back to the factory for calibrating them with precision laboratory equipment.

The serial numbers have to match in the Nucleus programing software or you can't transmit [in simulcast mode] . Specifically the 4-level alignment ID parameter contained in the SCM has to match the Exciter ID parameter.

Even if someone could modify the programing software to “fudge” these parameters, that would not let them use unmatched modules effectively without recalibrating them to exact factory specifications.

So now that there is no longer a Motorola factory laboratory to send them to, what do we do?

I hope someone can help us resolve this serious problem for users of the Nucleus paging transmitter.

Please let me know if you can help. [ click here ]

[Thanks to Tom Harger Chief Engineer at Contact Wireless for the correction above in red.]

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IEEE EMC Society 2017 Meeting — April 19, 2017

SPECIAL REPORT

Photo credit: Brad Dye

Speaker: Dr. Lapin, N9GL, is the Co-chair of the Spectrum and Receiver Performance Working Group of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Technological Advisory Council. He is a member of:

• IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society (IEEE-EMC);
• the American Radio Relay League (ARRL),Bioelectromagnetics Society (BEMS);
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE, Senior Member);
• IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (IEEE-EMBS);
• IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (IEEE-APS;
• Member, IEEE Committee on Man and Radiation (COMAR);
• Chairman, EM Effects Theme.

Dr. Lapin is the Chairman, American Radio Relay League RF Safety Committee. He is Registered Professional Engineer, State of Illinois and he holds the Amateur Radio License, N9GL, Extra Class. Northwestern University, B.S. (Biomedical Engineering), M.S. (Electrical Engineering), and Ph.D. (Electrical Engineering).

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC)* and the FCC Technical Advisory Council (TAC)**
Dr. Lapin detailed the work of the FCC TAC which is examining the radio noise environment and the impact to radio communications. The FCC’s Technological Advisory Council (TAC) provides technical advice to the FCC. The TAC is organized under the authority of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The current TAC, which is the FCC’s 5th Technological Advisory Council, was formed on October 21, 2010. The TAC is comprised of a diverse array of leading experts that helps the FCC identify important areas of innovation and develop informed technology policies supporting America’s competitiveness and job creation in the global economy.

Speaker: Ed Hare, W1RFI, is employed by ARRL, the National Association for Amateur Radio. After an industry career in product testing, he came to work at ARRL HQ in 1986. He started as ARRL’s "Product Review" test engineer, moved on to becoming ARRL’s "RFI guru" (notice his call!) and he now holds the position of Laboratory Manager. Over the years he has written quite a number of RFI articles, ranging from articles for QST and the "ARRL Handbook" to articles about the practical aspects of RFI that have appeared in professional trade journals. He is also one of the authors of the ARRL "RFI Book" and the author of the ARRL's book on RF exposure, "RF Exposure and You." He is very active holding a seat for Amateur Radio on various industry committees, serving as a voting membership on the IEEE EMC Society Standards Development and Education Committee, the ANSI accredited C63^® EMC Committee as Chair of Subcommittee 5 on Immunity, and is the IEEE EMC Society Vice President of Standards, representing ARRL and the interests of Amateur Radio as industry standards are developed. He is a member of the IEEE Standards Association, the IEEE EMC Society and the Power Engineering Society. His personal operating interest is QRP CW, where Ed’s motto is, “Five Watts is a Lot of Power!” He is presently doing work on HF using 10 milliwatts, reporting 30 states worked, all in the ARRL CW Sweepstakes.

Editor's note: Before I report on what I learned from these presentations on the radio noise environment, first let me bring my readers up to date with the background. In other words, before I give you the answers, let me give you the questions.

FCC Technological Advisory Council

Noise Floor Technical Inquiry, Final Revision 6/6/16

The FCC Technological Advisory Council is requesting input to help answer questions about the study of changes to the Spectrum Noise Floor over the past 20 years. Like many spectrum users we believe that the noise floor in the radio spectrum is rising as the number of devices in use that emit radio energy grows. However, in search for concrete evidence of increased noise floors, we have found limited available quantitative data to support this belief. We are looking to find ways to add to the available data in order to answer important questions for the FCC regarding this topic.

Radio spectrum noise is generated by many different types of devices. Devices that are not designed to generate or emit radio frequency energy but do so as a result of their operation are called Incidental Radiators. Most electric motors, light dimmers, switching power supplies, utility transformers and power lines are included in this category. There is little regulation governing the noise generated by these devices. Noise from such sources is expected to be minimized with “Good Engineering Practices.”

Devices that are designed to generate radio frequency energy for internal use, or send radio frequency signals by conduction to associated equipment via connected wiring, but are not intended to emit RF energy, are called Unintentional Radiators. Computers and many portable electronic devices in use today, as well as many new high efficiency lights, are included in this category. Current regulations limit the levels of emitted radio frequency energy from these devices.

Intentional Radiators are devices that are designed to generate and emit radio frequency energy by radiation or induction. Cellular phones and base stations, unlicensed wireless routers, Bluetooth devices, broadcast TV and radio stations, and radars of many types, are all examples of intentional radiators. Such emitters contribute to the noise floor with emissions outside of their assigned frequencies. These are sometimes generated as spurious emissions, including, but not limited to, harmonics of desired frequencies and intermodulation products. Regulations that permit the operation of these devices also specify the limits of emissions outside of licensed or allowed (in the case of unlicensed devices) frequencies of operation.

We are looking for responses to the following questions to help us identify aspects of a study to determine trends in the radio spectrum noise floor.

1. Is there a noise problem?
   1. If so, what are the expected major sources of noise that are of concern?
   2. What services are being most impacted by a rising spectrum noise floor?
   3. If incidental radiators are a concern, what sorts of government, industry, and civil society efforts might be appropriate to ameliorate the noise they produce?
2. Where does the problem exist?
   1. Spectrally
      1. What frequency bands are of the most interest?
   2. Spatially
      1. Indoors vs outdoors?
      2. Cities vs rural settings
      3. How close in proximity to incidental radiators or other noise sources?
      4. How can natural propagation effects be accounted for in a noise study?
   3. Temporally
      1. Night versus day?
      2. Seasonally?
3. Is there quantitative evidence of the overall increase in the total integrated noise floor across various segments of the radio frequency spectrum?
   1. At what levels does the noise floor cause harmful interference for particular radio services?
   2. What RF environment data from the past 20 years is available, showing the contribution of the major sources of noise?
   3. Please provide references to scholarly articles or other sources of spectrum noise measurements.
4. How should a noise study be performed?
   1. What should be the focus of the noise study?
   2. How should it be paid for?
   3. What methods should be used?
   4. How should noise be measured?
      1. What is the optimal instrumentation that should be used?
      2. What are the measurement parameters for the instrumentation used?
      3. At what spatial and temporal scales should noise be measured?
      4. Is directionality an important measurement?
      5. Is there an optimal height above ground for measurements?
   5. What measurement accuracy is needed?
      1. What are the statistical requirements for sufficient data? Would these requirements vary based on spectrum, spatial and temporal factors?
      2. Can measurements from uncalibrated, or minimally calibrated, devices be combined?
      3. Is it possible to “crowd source” a noise study?
   6. Would receiver noise measurements commonly logged by certain users (e.g. radio astronomers, cellular, broadcast auxiliary licensees) be available and useful for noise floor studies?
   7. How much data must be collected to reach a conclusion?
   8. How can noise be distinguished from signals?
      1. Can noise be characterized and its source identified?
      2. Is there a threshold level, below which measurements should be ignored?

More information will be added to this SPECIAL REPORT in future issues of this newsletter.

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Q&A: Qualcomm Chairman Paul Jacobs discusses the Tricorder XPRIZE and the winners

After a five-year mission, the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE finalists are prepared to turn sci-fi into reality.

The invention revolution has always been inspired by technology from fiction — how do we pluck a device out of TV science fiction and make it real? Back in 2012, the Qualcomm Foundation and the XPRIZE Foundation worked together to develop the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, a Star Trek-inspired competition that set out to provide anyone with the ability to diagnose health conditions by using a real-world version of the Tricorder.

After five years (the same duration as Starship Enterprise’s original mission) of competition, we’re excited to announce that Final Frontier Medical Devices takes the top prize.

I sat down with one of the drivers behind the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, former Qualcomm Foundation Chair and current Qualcomm Chairman Paul Jacobs, to ask him a few questions…

How did the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE come about?

Paul Jacobs

It was purely coincidental. Back in 2010, I was speaking at a panel up in Silicon Valley with Jon Rubinstein and Kara Swisher. We were making predictions about which Star Trek device will be developed next. Because Qualcomm had been working in mobile health for quite some time, my prediction was “Bones” McCoy’s Tricorder, a handheld device that diagnoses illnesses and collects data on a patient’s body.

Turns out, my colleagues were also thinking of mobile health care. A few weeks later, Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, the founder and executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, pitched me on the same concept: “We’ve got this great idea. We want to do an XPRIZE around the Tricorder.”

What did this specific XPRIZE award entail?

Between 2012 and 2016, we managed to whittle 312 teams from 38 countries down to seven teams from five countries, with each team engineering their own prototypes.

And we had three basic rules:

1. Each team can take its own approach to its Tricorder’s design, but the finished product must weigh five pounds or less.
2. The systems are required to diagnose 10 core health conditions, including anemia, diabetes, and pneumonia; a choice of three elective health conditions in a list that includes hypertension, melanoma, and shingles; and all five of the required vital signs.
3. Each Tricorder system must include a way for consumers to input basic health information, be accessible remotely via the internet, and be compatible with any smartphone or tablet.

In the final round, the two finalist teams had to create 45 kits for testing, ensuring that each kit could be used by a non-medical professional. The kits underwent diagnostic experience evaluations and consumer testing. Teams were scored on three categories — disease diagnostics, vital signs, and consumer experience.

Tell us about the finalists.

After three more years of competition, it came down to two finalists that were very different — one team brought a traditional academic approach while the other is a family of inventors: Dynamical Biomarkers Group and Final Frontier Medical Devices, both with different takes on the Tricorder.

Dynamical Biomarkers Group from Taiwan is a research group from the Center for Dynamical Biomarkers and Translational Medicine at National Central University. The team is led by Dr. Chung-Kang Peng and they created a three-module system that’s composed of a Smart Vital-Sense Monitor, Smart Blood-Urine Test Kit, and a Smart Scope Module. Each module is wirelessly connected to one main smartphone, which is equipped with a user-friendly app that guides the user through the specific tests needed for an accurate diagnosis. Their goal is to reduce the cost of health care and to provide basic medical care with basic technology.

Final Frontier Medical Devices is led by an emergency room doctor, Dr. Basil Harris. His team is made up of three siblings and three friends. They invented an autonomous kit called DxtER that’s based on an artificially intelligent engine that diagnoses using data analysis from actual patients with a variety of medical conditions. The kit’s sensors are non-invasive and are custom-designed to collect data about a patient’s vitals, body chemistry, and biological functions. It then cross-examines the data for a quick and accurate assessment.

Both teams' combined efforts actually exceeded the competition’s benchmarks for disease diagnosis, and both surpassed the requirements for user experience. We’re thrilled the judges selected Final Frontier Medical Devices for the top prize, and to award the team $2.6 million. As the runner-up, the Dynamical Biomarkers will receive $1 million for their technical achievements.

And more good news is that the Qualcomm Foundation has committed $3.8 million to further promote the digital health ecosystem.

How would you sum up the competition?

I’m very excited to see that the teams actually built the Tricorder. We thought it was possible, but it seemed like a bit of a stretch. But now, we’ve come to a point where we know that this worked. It’s really impressive.

What does the Tricorder competition mean for mankind?

When everybody can get access to a Tricorder, that means everybody has access to some form of health care. Unfortunately, that’s not the case today.

The competition is an opportunity to spread the availability of health care to anyone anywhere, even those in developing countries with few skilled health care professionals. With a working Tricorder, the vision is consumers will not only know if they’re sick, but also if they’re about to get sick. Parents all over the world will be able to diagnose their children without having to bring them to the emergency room in the middle of the night.

Through the Tricorder XPRIZE, we’ve proven to people that this is doable, and in turn, inventors will work on improving the device, sparking a cycle of innovation and making all this possible.

Why should people care about mobile health care solutions?

The biggest upsides about mobile health care is that it’s ubiquitous, personal and in real time — mobile health care will allow us to be measured all the time, so we’ll immediately see if we’re better, if the treatment is working, and if the medication needs to be changed. It will no longer be “Take this pill and call me in the morning.”

We expect that the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE will spark more inventors to create devices that offer medical detection, prevention, and management. It’s a big frontier with lots to explore.

[Qualcomm] Editor’s Note: Following the close of the competition, XPRIZE and Qualcomm will continue working with the teams on several initiatives and additional award funding to support the two finalist teams, as well as the other four semifinalists, to scale the impact of their innovations through a first‐ever post‐competition series of investments, dedicated to continued product development and consumer testing, trial implementation in developing countries, and industry adoption of the devices. For more information, visit: Family-led team takes top prize in Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE competition.

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Almost every technology went from analog to digital except fire paging. So it’s time to think about digital paging! The Disaster-Proven Paging Solution (DiCal) from Swissphone offers improved coverage, higher reliability and flexibility beyond anything that traditional analog or digital paging systems can provide. 

Swissphone is the No. 1 supplier for digital paging solutions worldwide. The Swiss company has built paging networks for public safety organizations all over the world. Swissphone has more than 1 million pagers in the field running for years and years due to their renowned high quality.

DiCal is the digital paging system developed and manufactured by Swissphone. It is designed to meet the specific needs of public safety organizations. Fire and EMS rely on these types of networks to improve incident response time. DiCal systems are designed and engineered to provide maximum indoor paging coverage across an entire county. In a disaster situation, when one or several connections in a simulcast solution are disrupted or interrupted, the radio network automatically switches to fall back operating mode. Full functionality is preserved at all times. This new system is the next level of what we know as “Simulcast Paging” here in the U.S.

Swissphone offers high-quality pagers, very robust and waterproof. Swissphone offers the best sensitivity in the industry, and battery autonomy of up to three months. First responder may choose between a smart s.QUAD pager, which is able to connect with a smartphone and the Hurricane DUO pager, the only digital pager who offers text-to-voice functionality.

Bluetooth technology makes it possible to connect the s.QUAD with a compatible smartphone, and ultimately with various s.ONE software solutions from Swissphone. Thanks to Bluetooth pairing, the s.QUAD combines the reliability of an independent paging system with the benefits of commercial cellular network. Dispatched team members can respond back to the call, directly from the pager. The alert message is sent to the pager via paging and cellular at the same time. This hybrid solution makes the alert faster and more secure. Paging ensures alerting even if the commercial network fails or is overloaded.

Swissphone sets new standards in paging:

Paging Network

• It’s much faster to send individual and stacked pages digitally than with analog voice.
• If you want better indoor coverage, you put sites closer together at lower heights.
• A self-healing system that also remains reliable in various disaster situations.
• Place base station where you need them, without the usage of an expensive backhaul network.
• Protect victim confidentiality and prevent unauthorized use of public safety communications, with integrated encryption service.

Pager

• Reliable message reception, thanks to the best sensitivity in the industry.
• Ruggedized and waterproof, IP67 and 6 1/2-feet drop test-certified products.
• Battery autonomy of up to three months, with a standard AA battery.
• Bluetooth enables the new s.QUAD pager to respond back to the dispatch center or fire chief.

Dispatching:

• Two-way CAD interfaces will make dispatching much easier.
• The new s.ONE solution enables the dispatcher or fire chiefs to view the availability of relief forces.
• A graphical screen shows how many of the dispatched team members have responded to the call.

Swissphone provides a proven solution at an affordable cost. Do you want to learn more?
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Friday, April 21, 2017	Volume 5 | Issue 79

Siting Hurdles Knocked Down in Unanimous FCC Vote

FCC Commissioners share a lighthearted moment yesterday. Photo by Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers

Wireless providers large and small have been asking the FCC and Congress for help to clear away regulatory barriers to broadband deployment; they especially have sought help with what they say are uneven prices charged by municipalities for pole attachments and lengthy, costly delays to siting wireless infrastructure, Inside Towers reported.

The FCC yesterday voted 3-0 to open a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to accomplish these goals; it invites public comment on regulations for pole attachments such as how to ensure pole attachers are not charged multiple times for certain capital costs and establishing a shot clock for FCC consideration of complaints.

The retirement of legacy copper is discussed too, and the agency seeks comment on how to streamline that as providers transition to IP networks. The commission asks for public input on questions such as eliminating rules requiring carriers to maintain outdated equipment.

Although Commissioner Mignon Clyburn voted for the item, she cautioned her colleagues that rollbacks must be carefully considered. “The Commission seems to view legacy customers as an impediment to broadband deployment.” Yet a Rand study concluded some 20 percent of Americans prefer landlines, according to Clyburn. “I have yet to see a landline customer clamoring to have that replaced with VoIP.”

Chairman Ajit Pai said doing nothing can harm consumers too. “Costly permitting processes can make it extremely difficult to deploy infrastructure.” Some of the current rules double the waiting period for retiring copper plants, “some of which has been in the ground since the Roosevelt administration,” he said. “Every dollar the FCC forces companies to [use to] maintain obsolete, low capacity copper lines is, by definition, a dollar that cannot be spent deploying high-capacity fiber and other next-generation technologies.”

The NPRM also examines FCC rules for complying with the National Historic Preservation Act and National Environmental Policy Act. The Commission seeks input on the costs and benefits in both and asks what changes could be made to minimize expenses and delays.

Wireless Communication Solutions

USB Paging Encoder

• Single channel up to eight zones
• Connects to Linux computer via USB
• Programmable timeouts and batch sizes
• Supports 2-tone, 5/6-tone, POCSAG 512/1200/2400, GOLAY
• Supports Tone Only, Voice, Numeric, and Alphanumeric
• PURC or direct connect
• Pictured version mounts in 5.25" drive bay
• Other mounting options available
• Available as a daughter board for our embedded Internet Paging Terminal (IPT)

Paging Data Receiver (PDR)

• Frequency agile—only one receiver to stock
• USB or RS-232 interface
• Two contact closures
• End-user programmable w/o requiring special hardware
• 16 capcodes
• POCSAG
• Eight contact closure version also available
• Product customization available

Other products

Please see our web site for other products including Internet Messaging Gateways, Unified Messaging Servers, test equipment, and Paging Terminals.

Contact

Hark Technologies 717 Old Trolley Rd Ste 6 #163 Summerville, SC 29485

Tel: 843-821-6888

Fax: 843-821-6894

E-mail: sales@harktech.com CLICK

Web: http://www.harktech.com CLICK

SEE WEB FOR COMPLETE LIST:

www.preferredwireless.com/equipment

Rick McMichael
Preferred Wireless, Inc.
Telephone: 888-429-4171
(If you are calling from outside of the USA, please use: 314-575-8425)
rickm@preferredwireless.com

Selected portions [sometimes more—sometimes less] of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update and/or the BloostonLaw Private Users Update — newsletters from the Law Offices of Blooston, Mordkofsky, Dickens, Duffy & Prendergast, LLP — are reproduced in this section of The Wireless Messaging News with the firm’s permission. Contact information is included at the end of the newsletter.

FCC Form 481 Due July 3

The Universal Service Administrative Company has posted a reminder that the FCC Form 481 filing for 2017 is due on July 3. Importantly, USAC also notes that while draft versions of the FCC Form 481 Template, filing instructions, and all necessary upload templates are available on the High Cost and Lifeline Forms web pages, these documents are all drafts until the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) provides Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) approval. Therefore, carriers may begin and save FCC Form 481, but will not be able to certify the filing, as the certify button will be disabled until OMB approves the form.

Carriers interested in obtaining assistance preparing and filing Form 481 should feel free to contact the firm.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Gerry Duffy and Mary Sisak.

Headlines

FCC Releases Incentive Auction Data; Forward Auction Deadlines Established

On April 13, the FCC issued a Press Release announcing the results of the recently-concluded broadcast incentive auction. According to the Release, more than $10 billion will go to 175 winning broadcasters that elected to participate in the incentive auction and repurpose their airwaves for mobile use, and wireless carriers bid $19.8 billion on that mobile broadband spectrum.

The same day, the FCC issued its Incentive Auction Closing and Channel Reassignment Public Notice which, among other things, established to following deadlines for forward auction winners:

By way of background, the broadcast incentive auction itself was comprised of two separate but interdependent auctions -- a reverse auction, which determined the price at which broadcasters voluntarily relinquish their spectrum usage rights; and a forward auction, which determined the price wireless carriers are willing to pay for flexible use wireless licenses.

Of the reverse auction winners, 30 stations will receive money for agreeing to move to a lower channel and 133 others will relinquish their broadcast licenses and indicated their intent to remain on air through channel-sharing agreements with non-winning stations.

The FCC also announced the new channel assignments, and effective dates of those assignments, for 957 non-winning stations that must change channels to clear the new wireless airwaves for use. The first group of stations to move channels is scheduled for November 30, 2018.

In the forward auction, a total of 50 winning bidders won 70 MHz of licensed spectrum nationwide. A total of 14 MHz of spectrum is available for unlicensed use and wireless microphones. On a nationwide basis, 70 MHz is the most mobile broadband ever auctioned below 1GHz by the FCC. Among the largest winners are T-Mobile, Dish, Comcast, and US Cellular. A full list of winners can be found in Appendix B of the Public Notice: https://www.fcc.gov/document/incentive-auction-closing-and-channel-reassignment-public-notice.

Here’s a breakdown of the auction results by the numbers:

Reverse Auction

Forward Auction

BloostonLaw Contacts: John Prendergast, Cary Mitchell, Richard Rubino, and Sal Taillefer.

Chairman Pai Writes USAC about “Serious Flaws” in E-Rate Administration

On April 18, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai sent a scathing letter to the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) regarding its performance as Schools and Libraries (a.k.a. E-Rate) program administrator. According to the letter, the specific problem involves USAC's development and roll-out of the online E-Rate Productivity Center (EPC).

Issues highlighted by the Chairman include the fact that the EPC was originally scheduled to be fully operational by the opening of the funding year 2016 filing window, but apparently several critical E-Rate processes are still operated out of the legacy IT system instead of EPC; the fact that many applicants are still waiting for funding commitment decision letters for funding year 2016; and the fact that the EPC is already $11 million over budget, and estimates for the final total may place it $41 million over budget.

In light of these issues, Chairman Pai asked USAC to commit to three directives for improvement:

• “USAC must focus on administration of E-Rate. — USAC must ensure that it is taking all necessary measures to swiftly resolve issues that continue to plague the system. These efforts should focus first on supporting and completing the basic EPC functionality needed to ensure that applicants can apply for and receive their funds, and perform other necessary tasks, in a timely fashion. Only after these basic system issues have been resolved should USAC focus on activities ancillary to proper administration.”
• “USAC must be fully transparent with and accountable to the Commission. — It is unacceptable for Commission staff to first learn of problems from applicants rather than USAC itself. USAC must give the Commission timely and accurate information. That means USAC must be fully transparent with the Commission so that we may work together to achieve the goals of the E-Rate program.”
• “USAC must identify alternative options to assist applicants even in the event of ITfailures. — USAC must work to proactively identify and implement alternative options to assist applicants when EPC fails, consistent with the program's rules. This may mean that USAC manually issues commitments, commitment adjustments, revised funding commitment decision letters, and appeals resolutions outside of the EPC system. Notably, USAC currently has a contract with SaLIX valued at $38 million to process applicant funding applications and other application requests. SaLIX should make sure applicants receive timely assistance, even if this requires SaLIX to use manual processes. In short, USAC must be solution- and customer-service oriented no matter the IT situation.”

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

Law & Regulation

FCC Releases Official Agenda for April 20 Open Meeting

On April 13, the FCC issued the official agenda for its next Open Meeting, scheduled for April 20 at 10:30 a.m. ET. At the meeting, the FCC will consider:

• an Order on Reconsideration that would amend the construction project limitation within section 54.303 of the Commission’s rules to permit carriers to report, for universal service purposes, capital expenses per location up to the established per-location per-project limit, rather than disallowing all capital expenses associated with construction projects in excess of the limit.
• a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Notice of Inquiry, and Request for Comment that would propose to remove regulatory barriers to infrastructure investment, suggest changes to speed the transition from copper networks and legacy services to next-generation networks and services dependent on fiber, and propose to reform Commission regulations that are raising costs and slowing, rather than facilitating, broadband deployment.
• a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Notice of Inquiry that commences an examination of the regulatory impediments to wireless network infrastructure investment and deployment, and how the Commission may remove or reduce such impediments consistent with the law and the public interest.
• a Report and Order that recognizes the strong competition present in the business data services market and modernizes the Commission’s regulatory structure accordingly to bring ever new and exciting technologies, products, and services to businesses and consumers.
• an Order on Reconsideration to reinstate the UHF discount used to calculate compliance with the national television audience reach cap.
• a Report and Order that would adopt rules permitting NCE stations not funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to alter or suspend regular programming in order to conduct fundraising for third-party non-profit organizations so long as such stations do not spend more than one percent of their total annual airtime on such activities.
• an Order on Reconsideration that would allow noncommercial broadcasters greater flexibility to use a Special Use FRN for ownership reporting purposes and avoid the need to submit personal information to the Commission.

The meeting will be webcast live at the appointed time on www.fcc.gov/live. A draft copy of the documents to be considered is available on the FCC’s website.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and John Prendergast.

FCC Proposes $400,000 Fine for Illegal Operation on NYPD Radio Channels

On April 14, the FCC proposed to fine New York City resident Mr. Jay Peralta for apparently operating a radio transmitter on frequencies that the FCC has licensed to the New York Police Department (NYPD), causing interference with the NYPD’s radio system. Mr. Peralta faces a proposed fine of $404,166.

According to a Press Release, Mr. Peralta allegedly transmitted threatening messages directed at NYPD officers. These messages included false bomb threats and false officer-in-distress calls to NYPD dispatchers. The investigation began in August 2016 when an FCC employee observed a Twitter post about an unlawful intrusion on the NYPD’s radio system. The NYPD provided the FCC with a written statement by Mr. Peralta, who is currently in police custody for related charges, in which he apparently acknowledged making nine unauthorized transmissions on the NYPD’s radio spectrum. Specifically, according to his statement to the NYPD, on at least one occasion, Mr. Peralta allegedly made unauthorized transmissions on the NYPD’s radio channels in order to distract officers while his accomplices allegedly committed a robbery.

BloostonLaw Contacts: John Prendergast and Cary Mitchell.

Effective Dates for Video Relay Order and Comment Deadlines for VRS FNPRM/NOI Established

On April 13, the FCC’s Report and Order on video relay service (VRS) improvements was published in the Federal Register, establishing an effective date of May 15 for those rules not requiring approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The accompanying Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Notice of Inquiry were published in the Federal Register the day before (April 12). As a result, comments regarding the VRS compensation rates, server-based routing, and research and development funds must be filed on or before April 24, and reply comments on these issues must be filed on or before May 4. Comments pertaining to performance goals and service quality metrics, “phony” VRS calls, VRS use of enterprise and public videophones, direct video calling customer support services, per-call validation procedures, non-service related inducements, and non-compete provisions in VRS employment contracts must be filed on or before May 30, and reply comments on these issues must be filed on or before June 26.

As we reported in a previous edition of the BloostonLaw Telecom Update, in the Report and Order, the FCC authorized a voluntary trial of skills-based routing by any of the currently certified VRS providers, for calls pertaining to legal, medical, and technical computer support, to be conducted for a period of eight months under certain conditions. In the same eight-month trial period, the FCC will also conduct a voluntary trial of the provision of deaf interpreters for VRS calls. The FCC also amended its rules to authorize a voluntary pilot program of at-home VRS call handling, subject to specified safeguards, for a twelve-month period, beginning November 1, 2017, and ending November 1, 2018. During this period, in any month of the program, a participating VRS provider may be compensated for minutes served by at-home communications assistant workstations.

In the Notice of Inquiry, the FCC sought comment on establishing performance goals and service quality metrics to evaluate the efficacy of the VRS program, so that the FCC might make objective determinations about the extent to which the VRS program is providing functionally equivalent communication services and in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.

In the FNPRM, the FCC proposed a four-year plan for VRS compensation, an amendment to permit server-based routing of VRS and point-to-point video calls, safeguards around who may use enterprise and public VRS videophones, and an amendment to allow customer service support centers to access the TRS Numbering Directory for direct video calling. The FCC also seeks comment on whether to direct the TRS Fund administrator to continue to request funding for research and development, whether to prohibit non-service related inducements to register for or use VRS, and whether to prohibit the use of non-compete provisions in VRS CA employment contracts.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

Industry

Verizon Purchases $1 Billion in Fiber from Corning

On April 18, Verizon announced that it has agreed to purchase at least $1.05 billion in optical fiber from Corning Incorporated. Specifically, Corning will sell up to 12.4 million miles of optical fiber to Verizon each year from 2018 through 2020, with a minimum purchase commitment of $1.05 billion. Verizon said the deal would help it meet its rollout schedule for a fiber-optic network in Boston.

According to an article in Reuters, “The company also views fiber as critical for a next generation, or 5G network. Verizon is testing a 5G fixed wireless service with equipment maker Ericsson in 11 U.S. markets and expects a commercial launch as early as 2018.”

In a statement on the deal, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said, “…I’m pleased to see that Verizon and Corning have reached a $1.05 billion agreement under which Corning will manufacture and Verizon will buy up to 12.4 million miles of optical fiber each year. This agreement heralds the construction of ‘densified’ 5G networks that will benefit American consumers. It will create thousands of high-quality jobs building and laying fiber. And it will go a long way toward closing the digital divide.”

FCC Approves Time Warner Sale of Atlanta TV Station

On April 17, Reuters reported that the FCC approved Time Warner Inc's sale of a broadcast station in Atlanta to Meredith Corp, a transaction that could, according to the article, help speed Time Warner's planned merger with AT&T Inc. Specifically, AT&T had said it expected to be able to bypass the FCC because it would not seek to transfer any significant Time Warner licenses, and the broadcast station Time Warner is selling to Meredith is the only FCC-regulated broadcast station Time Warner had.

In a statement on Monday, Reuters reports that Meredith said it was pleased the FCC approved the application and that it anticipated "moving forward expeditiously to close this deal."

Deadlines

MAY 1: FCC FORM 499-Q, TELECOMMUNICATIONS REPORTING WORKSHEET. All telecommunications common carriers that expect to contribute more than $10,000 to federal Universal Service Fund (USF) support mechanisms must file this quarterly form. The FCC has modified this form in light of its decision to establish interim measures for USF contribution assessments. The form contains revenue information from the prior quarter plus projections for the next quarter. Form 499-Q relates only to USF contributions. It does not relate to the cost recovery mechanisms for the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) Fund, the North American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA), and the shared costs of local number portability (LNP), which are covered in the annual Form 499-A that is due April 1.

BloostonLaw Contacts: John Prendergast and Sal Taillefer.

MAY 26: STUDY AREA BOUNDARY RECERTIFICATION. In addition to the obligation to submit updated information when study area boundaries change, all ILECs are required to recertify their study area boundary data every two years. The recertification is due this year by May 26, 2017. Where the state commission filed the study area boundary data for an ILEC, the state commission should submit the recertification. However, where the state commission did not submit data for the ILEC and the ILEC submitted the study area boundary data, then the ILEC should submit the recertification by May 26, 2017.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Mary Sisak.

MAY 31: FCC FORM 395, EMPLOYMENT REPORT. Common carriers, including wireless carriers, with 16 or more full-time employees must file their annual Common Carrier Employment Reports (FCC Form 395) by May 31. This report tracks carrier compliance with rules requiring recruitment of minority employees. Further, the FCC requires all common carriers to report any employment discrimination complaints they received during the past year. That information is also due on May 31.

The FCC encourages carriers to complete the discrimination report requirement by filling out Section V of Form 395, rather than submitting a separate report. Clients who would like assistance in filing Form 395 should contact the firm.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Richard Rubino.

JULY 3: FCC FORM 481 (CARRIER ANNUAL REPORTING DATA COLLECTION FORM). All eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) must report the information required by Section 54.313, which includes outage, unfulfilled service request, and complaint data, broken out separately for voice and broadband services, information on the ETC’s holding company, operating companies, ETC affiliates and any branding in response to section 54.313(a)(8); its CAF-ICC certification, if applicable; its financial information, if a privately held rate-of-return carrier; and its satellite backhaul certification, if applicable. Form 481 must not only be filed with USAC, but also with the FCC and the relevant state commission and tribal authority, as appropriate. Although USAC treats the filing as confidential, filers must seek confidential treatment separately with the FCC and the relevant state commission and tribal authority if confidential treatment is desired.

BloostonLaw Contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Sal Taillefer.

JULY 3: MOBILITY FUND PHASE I ANNUAL REPORT. Winning bidders in Auction 901 that are authorized to receive Mobility Fund Phase I support are required to submit to the Commission an annual report each year on July 1 for the five years following authorization. This year, July 1 falls on a Saturday; therefore, the report is due July 3. Each annual report must be submitted to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, clearly referencing WT Docket No. 10-208; the Universal Service Administrator; and the relevant state commissions, relevant authority in a U.S. Territory, or Tribal governments, as appropriate. The information and certifications required to be included in the annual report are described in Section 54.1009 of the Commission’s rules.

BloostonLaw Contacts: John Prendergast and Sal Taillefer.

JULY 31: FCC FORM 507, UNIVERSAL SERVICE QUARTERLY LINE COUNT UPDATE. Line count updates are required to recalculate a carrier's per line universal service support, and is filed with the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). This information must be submitted on July 31 each year by all rate-of-return incumbent carriers, and on a quarterly basis if a competitive eligible telecommunications carrier (CETC) has initiated service in the rate-of-return incumbent carrier’s service area and reported line count data to USAC in the rate-of-return incumbent carrier’s service area, in order for the incumbent carrier to be eligible to receive Interstate Common Line Support (ICLS). This quarterly filing is due July 31 and covers lines served as of December 31, 2013. Incumbent carriers filing on a quarterly basis must also file on September 30 (for lines served as of March 31, 2014); December 30 (for lines served as of June 30, 2014), and March 31, 2015, for lines served as of September 30, 2014).

BloostonLaw contacts: Ben Dickens, Gerry Duffy, and Mary Sisak.

JULY 31: CARRIER IDENTIFICATION CODE (CIC) REPORTS. Carrier Identification Code (CIC) Reports must be filed by the last business day of July (this year, July 31). These reports are required of all carriers who have been assigned a CIC code by NANPA. Failure to file could result in an effort by NANPA to reclaim it, although according to the Guidelines this process is initiated with a letter from NANPA regarding the apparent non-use of the CIC code. The assignee can then respond with an explanation. (Guidelines Section 6.2). The CIC Reporting Requirement is included in the CIC Assignment Guidelines, produced by ATIS. According to section 1.4 of that document: At the direction of the NANPA, the access providers and the entities who are assigned CICs will be requested to provide access and usage information to the NANPA, on a semi-annual basis to ensure effective management of the CIC resource. (Holders of codes may respond to the request at their own election). Access provider and entity reports shall be submitted to NANPA no later than January 31 for the period ending December 31, and no later than July 31 for the period ending June 30. It is also referenced in the NANPA Technical Requirements Document, which states at 7.18.6: CIC holders shall provide a usage report to the NANPA per the industry CIC guidelines … The NAS shall be capable of accepting CIC usage reports per guideline requirements on January 31 for the period ending December 31 and no later than July 31 for the period ending June 30. These reports may also be mailed and accepted by the NANPA in paper form. Finally, according to the NANPA website, if no local exchange carrier reports access or usage for a given CIC, NANPA is obliged to reclaim it. The semi-annual utilization and access reporting mechanism is described at length in the guidelines.

BloostonLaw contacts: Ben Dickens and Gerry Duffy.

Calendar At-A-Glance

April
Apr. 24 – Comments on Section IV A, B, and F of VRS NPRM are due.
Apr. 24 – Reply comments are due on Separations Freeze FNPRM.
Apr. 26 – Comments are due on Mobility Fund Phase II FNPRM.
Apr. 26 – Deadline to file opposition to disclosure of 4G Form 477 data.
Apr. 27 – Deadline for Forward Auction Down Payments (6 PM ET)
Apr. 27 – Deadline for Forward Auction Forms 601 and 602 (6 PM ET).

May
May 1 – FCC Form 499-Q (Quarterly Telecommunications Reporting Worksheet) is due.
May 4 – Comments on Regulatory Flexibility Act Rule Review and Elimination Proceeding are due.
May 4 – Reply comments on Section IV A, B, and F of VRS NPRM are due.
May 8 – Comments on State of Mobile Wireless Competition Report are due.
May 11 – Reply comments are due on Mobility Fund Phase II FNPRM.
May 11 – Final payments for Forward Auction are due (6 PM ET).
May 15 – VRS Rule Revisions are Effective.
May 17 – Short Form Tariff Review Plans are due.
May 26 – Study Area Boundary Recertification is due.
May 30 – Comments are due on remaining VRS FNPRM sections.
May 31 – FCC Form 395 (Annual Employment Report) is due.
May 31 – Comments on Short Form Tariff Review Plans are due.

June
Jun. 1 – Deadline to increase local residential rates above $18 to avoid reductions in support.
Jun. 2 – Deadline for CMRS to certify compliance with E911 location requirements.
Jun. 7 – Reply comments on Short Form Tariff Review Plans are due.
Jun. 7 – Reply comments on State of Mobile Wireless Competition Report are due.
Jun. 16 – 15-Day Tariff Filings are due.
Jun. 23 – Petitions regarding 15-Day Tariff Filings are due.
Jun. 26 – Reply comments are due on remaining VRS FNPRM sections.
Jun. 26 – 7-Day Tariff Filings are due.
Jun. 27 – Replies to Petitions regarding 15-Day Tariff Filings are due.
Jun. 29 – Petitions regarding 7-Day Tariff Filings are due (NOON EST).
Jun. 30 – Replies to Petitions regarding 7-Day Tariff Filings are due (NOON EST).

This newsletter is not intended to provide legal advice. Those interested in more information should contact the firm.

— CONTACTS —

Harold Mordkofsky, 202-828-5520, hma@bloostonlaw.com
Benjamin H. Dickens, Jr., 202-828-5510, bhd@bloostonlaw.com
Gerard J. Duffy, 202-828-5528, gjd@bloostonlaw.com
John A. Prendergast, 202-828-5540, jap@bloostonlaw.com
Richard D. Rubino, 202-828-5519, rdr@bloostonlaw.com
Mary J. Sisak, 202-828-5554, mjs@bloostonlaw.com
D. Cary Mitchell, 202-828-5538, cary@bloostonlaw.com
Salvatore Taillefer, Jr., 202-828-5562, sta@bloostonlaw.com

Motorola addressing issues with new paging system for emergency responders [using Unication Pagers]

Published: Wednesday, April 19th 2017, 5:31 pm CDT
Updated: Wednesday, April 19th 2017, 5:55 pm CDT
By Amy Lipman, Reporter
WMBF NEWS

WMBFNews.com, Myrtle Beach/Florence SC, Weather

[Unication Pager] (Source: Amy Lipman)

New pagers for emergency personnel aren't being used right now after they experienced issues.

HORRY COUNTY, SC (WMBF) — The new paging system volunteer firefighters and other emergency personnel around Horry County use to get dispatched has been having issues, so now it's being worked on.

“They seem to work better when they’re in their chargers than they were on the hips, so they’re looking at now what the reasons are,” Myrtle Beach Fire Chief Alvin Payne said. “Is it a toning issue or is it a programming issue with the pagers? It could be a multitude of different things.”

Horry County Fire Rescue personnel received a letter Tuesday instructing everyone to switch back to the old pagers by 10 a.m. Wednesday. Lisa Bourcier, spokesperson for Horry County, said there have been issues with the new pagers while they’ve been in a testing phase.

She said both the old and new pagers were on for the past two weeks sending out information.

According to Bourcier, recipients weren’t always able to read what they received on the new pagers. They receive what look like text messages from dispatch with information about a call.

“The older pagers actually are an audio pager,” Payne said. “The new pagers are an alphanumeric pager, where it actually tones you and you have to read the location and type of call.”

The second part of Horry County’s switchover to a digital radio system for all emergency response personnel in the county that happened two weeks ago involved updating the pager system as well.

Certain emergency responders, such as HCFR volunteer firefighters and MBFD emergency medical technicians, use their pagers to get dispatched.

Myrtle Beach Fire has switched its pagers back to the older ones while the issues get sorted out. Payne said the department uses them for ambulance dispatch only.

Crews didn’t get dispatched through the new pagers twice that Payne said he knows of. He added that firefighters listen to the radios and dispatch also will send out the signal again if first responders don’t respond in a minute and a half.

“We only had a couple of instances where we didn’t get dispatched where it didn’t work,” Payne said, adding that response times weren't affected. “I don’t know of any issues we had on the type of calls we ran.”

Now, Motorola is working on fixing the issues with the new paging system, according to Bourcier. She said the county hasn’t been told when that process will be complete.

“I think what they’re doing now, really, is probably the most advantageous for the whole county because it ensures everybody does get that quick response,” Payne said.

Bourcier said no significant delays were reported for Horry County Fire Rescue responses.

Brad Dye, Ron Mercer, Allan Angus, Vic Jackson, and Ira Wiesenfeld are friends and colleagues who work both together and independently, on wireline and wireless communications projects.

Click here for a summary of their qualifications and experience. Each one has unique abilities. We would be happy to help you with a project, and maybe save you some time and money.

Note: We do not like Patent Trolls, i.e. “a person or company who enforces patent rights against accused infringers in an attempt to collect licensing fees, but does not manufacture products or supply services based upon the patents in question.” We have helped some prominent law firms defend their clients against this annoyance, and would be happy to do some more of this same kind of work.

Some people use the title “consultant” when they don't have a real job. We actually do consulting work, and help others based on our many years of experience.

---

“If you would know the road ahead, ask someone who has traveled it.”
— Chinese Proverb

Wireless Network Planners
Wireless Specialists

R.H. (Ron) Mercer Consultant 217 First Street East Northport, NY 11731
Telephone: 631-786-9359
www.wirelessplanners.com
wirelessplannerron@gmail.com

I wish that I had done more.

On and On • War & Pierce • Playing For Change

Published on Feb 23, 2017
We are excited to share a video from a 21st Century Blues singer/songwriter duo and friends of ours, War and Pierce. “On and On” is a powerful testament to how far we've come as a human race but also speaks to how far we have to go in order to reach freedom and justice for all. Let us not forget that WE have to be the change we want to see in the world and as the song says, “It's our right, to right the wrong.”