Batboard

Can anyone tell me what the FCC's requirements are regarding how a repeater must ID. The repeater in question is a local fire department. Aren't they suppose to have a CW ID that ID's every so many minutes? Does anyone know the FCC docket # that covers this?

Thanks

Every 15 minutes for commercial, every 30 for public safety. CW or voice, no faster than 20wpm.

Its in Part 90 somewhere....

Thanks

§ 90.425 Station identification.
Stations licensed under this part
shall transmit identification in accordance
with the following provisions:
(a) Identification procedure. Except as
provided for in paragraphs (d) and (e) of
this section, each station or system
shall be identified by the transmission
of the assigned call sign during each
transmission or exchange of transmissions,
or once each 15 minutes (30
minutes in the Public Safety Pool) during
periods of continuous operation.
The call sign shall be transmitted by
voice in the English language or by
International Morse Code in accordance
with paragraph (b) of this section.
If the station is employing either analog
or digital voice scrambling, or nonvoice
emission, transmission of the required
identification shall be in the unscrambled
mode using A3E, F3E or G3E
emission, or International Morse, with
all encoding disabled.

If you're listening in PL mode try kicking it into Monitor, many public safety systems ID in the clear if you haven't already tried it.

The rules notwithstanding, the fact is that many more people/agencies ignore the ID rules than comply with them.

Tom in D.C. wrote:The rules notwithstanding, the fact is that many more people/agencies ignore the ID rules than comply with them.

And many Beacon, transmit the ID right over co-channel users.

Bottom line, the transmitter/repeater is not required to transmit a station ID unless it is in use.

I once encountered an "overkill" ID situation with the Virginia State Police, at least on one of their Division radio systems. The dispatcher gave the callsign on EVERY SINGLE transmission, if you can believe that. I don't think they do that any longer but the callsign was real mouthful consisting of four letters and three numbers and the dispatchers got so good at slurring it that unless you knew what they were trying to say you'd never understand it. Every time a state gets a new governor (and Virginia gets a new one every four years because the incumbent can't succeed himself) it seems there is new state police radio policy. Sometimes it involves turning off the repeater input retransmission, or giving the callsign on every transmission.

Tom in D.C. wrote:I once encountered an "overkill" ID situation with the Virginia State Police, at least on one of their Division radio systems. The dispatcher gave the callsign on EVERY SINGLE transmission, if you can believe that. I don't think they do that any longer but the callsign was real mouthful consisting of four letters and three numbers and the dispatchers got so good at slurring it that unless you knew what they were trying to say you'd never understand it. Every time a state gets a new governor (and Virginia gets a new one every four years because the incumbent can't succeed himself) it seems there is new state police radio policy. Sometimes it involves turning off the repeater input retransmission, or giving the callsign on every transmission.

I always thought it was overkill too! At least here in Richmond, they still ID after most (but not every, every single one) transmissions but they at least say it slow enough to understand.

Tom in D.C. wrote:The rules notwithstanding, the fact is that many more people/agencies ignore the ID rules than comply with them.

This is totally true. Every public safety and commercial system that I encounter that has an integrated identifier that is turned off, I do the research, get the call sign, and turn it on.

This usually results in someone at the agency bitching about it (because inevitably someone's always running in monitor in big fleets). My response is always directly to the person responsible for the system, and consists of "It's the law, and it'll keep you out of trouble with the FCC".

I've never had anyone complain after I explain it to them.

The other bonus is that it really helps with resolving co-channel interference issues when you can pull a call sign off the air and know exactly who it is, especially on frequencies that have MANY co-channel users listed in the FCC database.

Finally, if you want to get down to the nitty-gritty of it, it also removes a certain level of liability from the person or agency who maintains the system (which is not always the person/agency that owns the system) in that if the system doesn't identify and the FCC decides to make a case of it, it's gonna inevitably roll down hill to the person or agency that maintains the system.