700 migration

[efc]

Hello,

Anybody heard anything about the feds pushing the 700 Mhz band on the public safety groups in order to free up the 800Mhz band for nextel
etc.? I assume that public safety would still use 800 because it would be too costly to convert all law enforcement.


Thanks

[d119]

Considering the massive effort to "reband" the 800MHz spectrum to properly accomodate public safety and iDEN, I seriously doubt there's any major "push" to move people out of 800 and into 700.

What I have seen happening is 800MHz systems being augmented with additional channels in the 700MHz band and using dual band 700/800 portables (such as the XTS/XTL 2500's and 5000's) as subscriber units.

[N4DES]

700 is being utilized to augment the 800 spectrum and not to replace it.

There isn't enough spectrum in 700 to house all the current users and anyone new who might want to build a new system in 700. As an example, my County only has 20 700 MHz channels assigned to it in total, a far cry from the 30+ NPSPAC and almost 12 non-NPSPAC 800 frequencies that I have in service at this time County-Wide across almost 2500 square miles. There are also other municipal systems that total over 40 frequencies so like said there isn't enough resources.

The 700 MHz spectrum has taken the lead in the anount of reserved Mutual Aid/Interop. frequencies, to include assignments for portable trunking systems. I would think that over time the 800 Mutual Aids might become extinct with all of the dual band 700/800 radios now on the market being deployed by agencies and everyone now having some sort of portable system in their local areas where 700 may be the choice for interoperability.

[efc]

Hello,

Thank you for the responses from both of you on the 700 issue. I have had several customers bringing this up to me out of the clear blue. I figured the same as your responses and it could be some hype from other venders to sell equip, not that that would happen because all salesmen are on the up and up.

Thanks again