911 call takers need better training, said Nathan Lee, president of the Denise Amber Lee Foundation, at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials meeting in Anaheim, Calif. He has pushed for more training since 2008 and tackled the problem on a state-by-state basis, he told us, saying foundation representatives have traveled to nearly 30 states. He lobbied to get a voluntary training bill enacted in Florida in 2008, which Florida then kicked up to a 232-hour mandatory training curriculum two years later, he said. Florida telecommunicators now must pass a state certification test to “raise them to the level of professionalism they deserve to be already,” he said. Lee’s nonprofit typically tries to advocate for its policies at both APCO and the National Emergency Number Association meetings. Arkansas also has a voluntary standard instituted by a foundation push, Michigan passed legislation and the foundation is working “diligently” with Illinois to get a mandatory standard enacted in that state, Lee said. He also said there’s some interest in Missouri. The biggest obstacles tend to involve money, he said, adding that education and awareness are also occasionally concerns. Quality assurance is another important dimension to ensuring 911 functions well, he said. He started the foundation after his wife was murdered; a 911 call failed to save her life.

Level 3 Communications received a five-year contract from South Carolina to provide Web and audio conferencing to government organizations statewide, said Level 3 in a press release Wednesday (http://bit.ly/159oNF9). Through its collaboration services, agencies can “share work and collective knowledge” without the associated costs of traveling to in-person meetings, said the company.

A municipally built broadband network would not be a good choice for Baltimore, said Maryland State Sen. Catherine Pugh (D) in a Baltimore Sun editorial Thursday (http://bsun.md/17Qicgl). Such networks have “the economic chips stacked against them, and where tried, have saddled local taxpayers with a mountain of debt and half-built networks that are then sold at fire-sale prices to vulture investors,” she said. To pay down the cost of the networks, municipal networks need to sign up “tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of customers,” which is unlikely, said Pugh. The city of Baltimore hired Magellan Advisors to develop a plan for expanding Internet service in the city on Aug. 14, Jason Hardebeck, executive director of Greater Baltimore Technology Council (gb.tc), told us Monday. The city signed an exclusive contract with Comcast in 2004 through 2016, so long-term repercussions of the contract are not yet known, said Hardebeck. “The project was in conjunction with work the city was doing for the fiber communication network where the police and fire share the spectrum,” he said. “They are looking at putting additional fiber in place so there would be excess fiber as well.” The city is talking with Magellan to find the best way to proceed, he said. “We have talked about the potential for municipal Wi-Fi to be deployed and it could be facilitated by this project,” said Hardebeck.

Staff from the FCC Media Bureau demonstrated use of the Channel Finder search tool, proper filing of a construction permit application and use of the Consolidated Database System Tuesday during the first webinar on the application process for low-power FM licenses. Applicants can use the Channel Finder to search for available frequencies in their communities, said Gary Loehrs, an Audio Division staff member. “It will show you channels that meet spacing requirements,” he said. Before selecting the available channels, “there should be more investigation to see if these channels are suitable and that would require an engineering study,” he said. The tool also can help applicants determine their distance to AM stations and airports, “or if the structure your antenna is mounted on requires FCC analysis,” he said. Eligibility for applying for an LPFM construction permit requires qualification as a noncommercial, nonprofit educational entity, said Parul Desai, also of the Audio Division. Tribes, tribal organizations and entities providing public safety radio services also are eligible, she said. Applicants who are part of a university must find out if the university already has a broadcast station, Desai said. “In which case, the local chapter of the university can apply if you're separately incorporated” and there is a separate local mission that the applicant can qualify for, she said. If the university has a full-power station that isn’t run by students, then an applicant can apply for an LPFM station as long as it will be student-run, she said. Applications must be filed in the Oct. 15-29 filing window and the next webinar will be held in early October (CD Aug 12 p15).

The FCC should disregard Spartan-TV’s “informal objection” to the transfer of control of one of the TV stations involved in the Media General/Young Broadcasting merger, Young said in an opposition filing Tuesday (http://bit.ly/16trYqV). The merger includes shared service agreements, and Spartan -- which is the licensee of a station involved in an SSA with Young -- criticized the broadcaster for misusing SSAs (CD Aug 12 p9). Spartan’s objection is a “frivolous pleading” and an attempt to “coerce” Young into extending its SSA with Spartan’s station WHTV(TV) Jackson, Mich., Young said. Its SSA with Spartan is to expire at the end of the year, Young said. Spartan’s allegations that another Lansing station involved in an SSA with Young -- and sharing space with Spartan -- doesn’t have an independent management structure are untrue and aren’t backed by evidence, Spartan said. Young also said Spartan’s complaints that one of the stations involved in the SSA with Young doesn’t have a website are irrelevant. “The commission does not require that stations have a website at all,” Young said. The commission should “return Spartan’s Informal Objection without consideration,” Young said. Spartan did not comment.

U.S. negotiators and Industry Canada agreed on three “interim” spectrum sharing arrangements, the FCC said Tuesday. The arrangements “will help pave the way for improved wireless broadband deployment along the U.S.-Canada border for consumers and businesses, among other multiple public and commercial benefits,” said acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn. “The arrangements are also critical to maximizing interference protection for commercial licensees operating along our common border with Canada, and will also promote more efficient use of spectrum.” Clyburn said the announcement follows negotiations by her agency, NTIA and the State Department and Industry Canada. More information is at http://fcc.us/14zibMD. The first agreement, Arrangement V, covers fixed services in the 71-76, 81-86, 92-94 and 94.1-95 GHz bands. “This new Arrangement ... will facilitate deployment of fixed services within the border area, and will allow licensees to provide a broad range of products and services, including backhaul for mobile broadband networks, high-speed wireless local area networks and broadband Internet access over high bandwidth point to point links,” the FCC said. The second covers air-to-ground services in the 454.6625-454.9875 and 459.6625-459.9875 MHz bands. “This new Statement of Intent allows for creation of a nationwide digital system covering the sharing and coordination of spectrum for the establishment and operation of general aviation air-ground services,” the FCC said. “It provides for sharing of spectrum when operations are located within various distances (ranging from approximately 490-580 kilometers) of the common border.” A third agreement, Arrangement U, covers Specialized Mobile Radio Services at 896-901 and MHz 935-940 MHz. “This new Arrangement, which governs the sharing and coordination of such services operating within 100 kilometers of the common border, simplifies the criteria for permitting secondary users in the band, thus enabling more efficient use of the spectrum while protecting primary users,” the FCC said. “Because Arrangement U may become part of a larger treaty or replacement agreement governing services operating above 30 MHz, the operational provisions of Arrangement U will be applied on an interim basis pending further review by legal officers.”

Public outreach is necessary for wireless emergency alerts in California, said Karen Wong, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CAL OES) assistant director-public safety, at a hearing Tuesday. The California State Joint Legislative Committee on Emergency Management held a hearing, broadcast on The California Channel, on the state’s emergency response capabilities to learn more about the interoperability, fire, law enforcement and health efforts in emergency situations. Wong said CAL OES has four pilot programs for next-generation 911 in the northern part of the state and is looking into a pilot program in Ventura County for Phase 2 information to provide location-based routing. Through NG-911, citizens will get “robust support” and first responders will be able to get text messages, photos and video, she said. In its pilot programs, CAL OES has saved 29 hours in call times between September and December 2012 through location-based routing calls. Committee Chairwoman Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D) asked Wong how much the network would cost and when the system would be operational statewide. The system would be a joint project with providers, and it would cost “$2,000 to $3,000 for each initial hook-up” to the service,” said Wong. While this technology is available now, Wong said the system should be available within five years. Committee Vice Chair Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal (D) asked Wong if CAL OES had enough funding to implement its NG-911. Wong said costs still need to be identified and the State Emergency Telephone Number Accounts fund might need to be used. “We need to look more into using this technology on any device,” said Wong. The SETNA fund may help sustain the project in the long term, said CAL OES Director Mark Ghilarducci who also testified at the hearing. “Right now, we are figuring out the costs through our pilot program,” said Wong.

The 911 community will need to embrace voice over LTE (VoLTE), said TeleCommunications Systems Chief Marketing Officer Timothy Lorello. “Availability -- it’s a complex problem in our ever-changing world of emergency communications,” he told Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials members at a Tuesday breakfast session, noting that was no surprise to anyone there. “You've dealt with wireless and voice over IP. You've dealt with sign language and foreign language.” TeleCommunications Systems completed its first VoLTE 911 call this summer and is looking at other solutions in that sphere, including some that tap satellite communications, he said. He said such satellite solutions for restoring 911 are “compact, deployable, scalable.” He praised text-to-911 as the “catalyst for next-gen 911” and described a suicide that was averted in Vermont due to text-to-911’s presence there. “That silent call was answered,” he said. “That life was saved. You saved that life.” His company estimates there are about 250,000 attempts to text 911 every year, he said.

EchoStar, Intelsat, SES and the Satellite Industry Association urged the FCC to forego action on allegations that incumbent satellite operators are harming competition and warehousing their spectrum. The companies supported dismissing the claims, in reply comments to a notice of inquiry into whether incumbent satellite operators are operating in ways that inhibit competition (CD June 10 p8). The NOI’s proposals “would deter future investment and cast a regulatory cloud over the deployment of new satellites and assets,” SIA said in comments in docket 13-147 (http://bit.ly/12mBk6V). The NOI is premised on misplaced concerns that alleged satellite warehousing practices are restricting consumers’ access to new services and “preventing newer more efficient spacecraft technologies from entering the market,” it said: The industry is highly competitive, “with many providers ... aggressively competing to serve customers in the U.S and abroad.” Unused capacity exists in all terrestrial and satellite communications networks, and for many good reasons, it said. EchoStar agreed, saying unused capacity “benefits consumers by ensuring that supply exceeds demand, thus placing inherent limits on price” (http://bit.ly/172u55P). EchoStar suggested the FCC open a rulemaking proceeding, instead, “to provide satellite licensees with greater flexibility to manage their fleets and implement their systems,” it said. The allegations of vertical foreclosure don’t warrant FCC action, SES said (http://bit.ly/14TMQUn). There is “simply no evidence that would warrant revision of the commission’s policies,” it said. The premise that any slot not occupied by a satellite “operating across all available frequencies and substantially full is being warehoused and restricting competition is totally wrong,” Intelsat said (http://bit.ly/14TOxB0). “If warehousing is to be considered as a competitive constraint, the commission must develop evidence that some enhanced operation is in fact being impeded by less than full utilization of existing licenses.” The NOI stemmed from allegations by Artel, Spacenet and other integrators against Intelsat (CD May 9 p3).

The FCC Public Safety Bureau has set comment deadlines for its further NPRM to delete filtering rules for Travelers’ Information Stations, said a public notice released Tuesday (http://bit.ly/167NKwI). The proposal would eliminate the requirement for filtering TIS audio frequencies above 3 kHz. The filtering decreases the audibility of the TIS broadcasts while “adding little” to interference protection for commercial broadcasts, said the FCC in an order released in July (CD July 25 p20). Comments on the FNPRM must be filed in docket 09-19 by Sept. 18, while reply comments must be filed by Oct. 3, the public notice said.