| Publisher: Information Station Specialists |
| The FCC says "Yes"
to a 200-watt test. |
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| Waldo County, ME, has been granted a special FCC license to test their new AM antenna at an elevated power level. | ||
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Technicians Install High Efficiency AM Antenna near Knox, ME |
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| BELFAST, ME: On
August 10th, emergency managers in Waldo County, Maine,
were issued a Special Temporary Authority (STA) by the
Federal Communications Commission to test their
RadioSAFE Emergency Broadcast System from a atop a
mountain near Knox, ME. The two-day license allows the testing
to be conducted with 200 watts of transmitter power –
far exceeding the 10 watts normally allowed for a
station of its class. This is the largest power
output ever granted a
Travelers Information Station.
The closest contenders: 100 watts
for LAX Airport in Los Angeles and the 100-watt
temporary emergency station currently operating at
Hudson County, NJ. A waiver of the standard power and signal level rules was part of the authorization to conduct the test, and the County was required to provide engineering to demonstrate that interference to the signals of area broadcasters would not result. |
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| Waldo County Emergency Management Director Dale Rowley and the HPR.0990 Antenna | ||
| Waldo County Emergency Managers normally operate the station at 10 watts or less, according to their regular license. But the High Efficiency HPR.0990 Antenna the County has installed is capable of significantly more, allowing for enhanced signal coverage during a future emergency – with FCC permission. The County is the first in the nation to employ the new antenna system. Other agencies installing these antennas are listed below. | ||
| Agencies Utilizing the HPR.0990 High Performance AM Radio Antenna | ||
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| Stephen Shipman, Washoe County, NV, Public Health Emergency Response Coordinator |
| Communities aim to be
"Radio Ready" before the next round. |
| Preparing for new, vexing variants amid "regular" emergencies, agencies leverage grants to add radio to communication arsenals. |
| Cities and
counties are making ready for the next round of
communication challenges that involve getting critical
safety information to locals in their vehicles. Some are
inbound to COVID facilities. Some are outbound due to
evacuations. Others lack a better means of receiving
critical information. But COVID grants, available to
local governments to help better communicate with
citizenry, are being utilized to fund localized AM radio
systems intended to bolster public health and safety –
perhaps more so now because no one know what’s next.
Edgar Ruiz, Emergency Manager with the Park and Recreation in Broward County, Florida, recently brought onboard five portable RadioSTAT systems to get information to locals lining up in cars for COVID shots at five county parks. At the Upper Missouri District Health Unit in North Dakota, Executive Director Javayne Oyloe is distributing four RadioSTAT systems to her constituent counties in preparation for future situations. |
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| Santa Barbara County’s Roof-Mounted AM Broadcast Antenna at Santa Maria, CA |
| In July, the Santa
Barbara County Office of Emergency Management (OEM)
installed three
RadioSAFE Broadcast Systems in the County’s
challenging north county area, which includes
communities such as Santa Maria, Solvang and Lompoc.
Three more are planned for 2022. A spokesperson for the
Agency tells The Source that the signals will
be used for emergency preparation and for the
ever-possible wildfire and earthquake evacuations. “And,
of course, if we have future mass testing and
vaccination operations,” they add. "The broadcasts are
controlled via network (IP) from the County offices in
Santa Barbara." Communities in the County’s more populated “Front Country” area have operated similar systems for 20 years. The OEM intends to integrate these radio stations in Montecito, University of California Santa Barbara and San Marcos Pass into the new emergency radio network. “We have very limited egress from many of our communities,” an agency spokesman points out. "And especially when US-101 gets blocked by heavy traffic, there are very few ways to get into and out of places like Santa Barbara.” The 100,000 acre Thomas Fire in 2018, required the evacuation of the cities of Montecito and Carpentaria and the complete closure US Highway 101 for an extended period. Just to the Southeast, the City of Malibu has also secured an AM frequency in the anticipation that it may be needed for evacuation information. US-101 is the only means of egress from Malibu, and based on the situation, drivers need minute-to-minute intel on the direction to drive that will yield the best result. If implemented, the City will employ a High Efficiency HPR.0990 Radio Antenna to effect wide-area signal coverage. |
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| Smoke from the Woolsey Fire near Malibu in 2018 billows above evacuating residents. |
| Cyclonebiskit, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons |
| Washoe County,
Nevada, which includes the City of Reno, had the
foresight to obtain four
portable Emergency Radio Systems on trailers a
decade ago and has utilized them heavily of late during
mass testing and vaccination efforts. Public Health
Coordinator Stephen Shipman works beside his Amateur
Radio Emergency Services (ARES) Organization to deploy
the units when and where needed. The Bay Area Community of Fairfield, CA, has just been granted the emergency temporary authority to operate their city’s Information Station at a higher signal level than would normally be allowed. This special FCC license permits Communications Manager Bill Way to speak to motorists more effectively on Interstate 80, which bisects his community, when the presence of wildfires bring traffic to a crawl . Says Way, “After last years’ LNU Lightning Complex Fire, we determined an emergency radio broadcast would’ve increased our reach to all audiences, especially during an evacuation." Not far from Fairfield, Placer County Radio Services Division rented an EventCAST Radio System for three months to inform citizens arriving at their vaccination site near Roseville. The County has submitted for funding to purchase a RadioSTAT portable system that can roam their expansive county to assist with communications in future emergencies of all kinds. The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services in California took the same approach at vaccine distribution sites in Los Angeles and Oakland. Rental radio systems typically include a temporary FCC license that is specific to the application, and assistance with broadcast message production. |
PO Box 51, Zeeland, Michigan, USA, 49464-0051, Phone 616.772.2300, Email
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