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11 M M coogaratiLve use of channels in terms of MXstem confiauration. tne r-wo maln Mectives wltn tne new ut:Llization 2lan 0 ith eleven (11) channels allocated at that time, the system in this county would have had to commit to eleven hundred (1,iOO) units in service or operation in five (5) years (one hundred per station or channel). The county and other agencies collectively have in excess of this many radio units being utilized presently. Because of the possibility of losing the channel allocation, on February 18, 1992, the Board of County Commissioners considered a request by staff to fund a $7,672 study of the existing communications system and the potential benefit of an 80OMHz Public Safety Trunked radio system. The study was -needed to provide staff and the Board with sufficient information to determine if an application should be filed within the window May 7, 1992,, for, securing the allocation of channels available. The original request by staff to the Board in 1992 was predicated on the fact that meetings had been held with municipality and agency representatives, several of which alluded to severe problems with interference,, dead spots, limited portable radio capability,, and skips in the current VHF and UHF spectrum being utilized. The window for filing the application was extended by the FCC to September, however, the Board decided it did not want to expend the funding required for the study. The consultants bids for the study ranged from $7,672 to $56,708. Based upon the Board's action, staff notified the Regional Committee -that an application would not be forthcoming and the Indian River County allocation of channels were returned to a pool per FCC rules and made available for any other entity to obtain and utilize in another agency communications system. Since that time, the window for filing expired and another window has now been opened. The new period for filing is May 1, 1993, to August 31.. 1993. Applications to obtain channels will only be accepted during this time frame by the regional committee, APCOI Division of Communications, and the FCC. Staff has been meeting with the various emergency providers and agencies in the county regarding current and future communications needs. The problems stated in 1992 remain unresolved and will not improve given the emphasis manufacturers are placing on newer technology. Another problem that now confronts public safety entities is the fact that the FCC is currently holding hearings on spectrum refarming in the VHF and UHF spectrums. This is contained in FCC PR Docket Number 92-235. The FCC Notice of Proposed Rule Changes concerns and will impact every public safety organization in one way or another. The one inch thick document would become effective in 1996. if approved in total, the new rules would render current equipment unauthorized and would have to be replaced due to not meeting the now specifications; the range reduction to 3 KHz deviation will result in range reduction of 40% plus problems generating sufficient receive audio output power in high noise areas; and the reduced deviation will cause CTCSS and pager decoder failure. Simply stated, the above changes mean major ezpenditure of funds for old technology,, unreliable system Performance,, reduced transmitter power which trnnslates into reduced coverager and would cause serious spurious emissions from Power amplifiers. 21 JUN - 81993 BOOK 89 FnF774