-
January 26, 2022
Last of a three-part series. We all know they’re out there — people who can’t be bothered with getting their two-way radios (walkie-talkies) licensed by the FCC. Even though the product packaging states clearly and explicitly that FCC licenses are required for most two-way radios, people ignore the requirement. Perhaps, if you keep your head down and stay out of trouble, you may be able to use radios unlicensed for years. If your signals are not interfering with anyone else’s, there’s a chance the FCC will never find out. But those are big “ifs.” The truth is, going unlicensed is not worth the risk.
What Can Go Wrong if Your Radios are Unlicensed?
Let’s say you run a small construction firm in your town and you need a few mobile radios in your trucks and half-a-dozen portables for your work crews. If the FCC does not know you’re using these radios,
-
August 30, 2020First of a three-part series. The toughest decisions about two-way radios (walkie-talkies) should be determining which models have the features you need. FCC licensing should be the easy part, and it can be — provided you leave licensing complexities to the professionals.
Radio Basics: Getting your Paperwork Together
What information does the FCC require? The agency needs to know your business name, address and federal tax ID, if you have one. It also needs to know how many radios you are buying (or using) and the latitude and longitude in which they will be operating. If you’re installing a large network, the FCC will need to know about your base stations, repeaters and tower heights. There are all -
September 08, 2015Second of a three-part series. If you’re buying two-way radios (walkie-talkies) for your organization, you need to do it right and get an FCC license. If you don’t, you’re probably breaking the law.* Besides, there are also ample rewards for operating your radios by the book. For example, you have recourse if other radio operators are making a nuisance of themselves on channels assigned to you. If you’re unlicensed, you’re out of luck. Though people can find plenty to gripe about when it comes to the government, wireless communication is one place where we need an agency to set rules that reasonable people can agree on — getting the most equitable use of our limited airwaves. What are the key components of our regulated radio spectrum and why is FCC supervision the glue that holds it all together?
Radio Basics: Bandwidth is a Scarce Resource
The laws of physics determine that radio -
August 17, 2015The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has added more teeth to its edict requiring business radio users to migrate to narrow band frequencies. If you have not heard of narrowbanding before, FCC regulations mandate that all “Part 90” business, education, industrial, public safety; and local and state government two-way radio system licensees currently operating legacy wideband (25 kHz) radio systems must make the transition to the narrowband technology (12.5 kHz). With the narrowband conversion deadline of January 2013 fading into memory, the FCC is now telling coordinator companies who assign radio frequencies that they can ignore any frequencies assigned to licenses that have not been migrated to narrowband. That means if you have an old analog radio licensed for wideband and have not migrated to narrowband, your assigned frequencies can be handed over to someone else.
Narrow Band Frequencies are now essential
-
August 21, 2013By now, people all across the wireless industry know BearCom is different. We're the only dealer and integrator of wireless communications equipment with a nationwide presence. Our network of 26 branch locations across the country is unique in the industry. But what specifically does the BearCom branch network do for customers? "Many of our customers offer their services nationally," said BearCom Executive Vice President Brent Bisnar, who directs our rental operations. "As the only supplier with nationwide points of presence, we have the ability to service customers wherever they happen to be. So if an Orlando customer is traveling to Las Vegas, we have a local presence." So how exactly does the nationwide branch network help customers, especially those looking to us for two-way radio rentals? What capabilities
-
May 22, 2013Nearly five months after the FCC's narrowbanding deadline, people are still talking about the mandate for users of two way radios to convert to 12.5 kHz technology. Among them is Al Ittner, Senior Manager of Spectrum Strategy for Motorola Solutions. Ittner was in Houston last week to speak at the Utilities Telecom Council's annual conference. His topic was "Narrowbanding: I Missed the Deadline. Now What?" The narrowbanding mandate from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is familiar to most everyone who works with two way radios. After all, the FCC began the narrowbanding initiative way back in 1992 in order to increase capacity and efficiency for the industrial/business and public safety radio pools in the private land mobile radio services category. In its simplest form, the mandate requires public agencies and companies that use two way radios to upgrade their technology. The FCC set the deadline of January 1, 2013,
-
April 02, 2013The latest public notice from the Federal Communications (FCC) on its narrowbanding mandate confirms two points that should be of interest to organizations that depend on two-way radio communication. First, the FCC intends to go ahead with plans to verify compliance with the mandate, and second, users who have yet to make the technology switch can still avoid the promised penalties. The FCC said the purpose of its March 14 Public Notice was to "provide guidance" to various stakeholders about the conversion from 25 kHz to 12.5 kHz technology, the deadline for which was January 1. Despite years of reminders, many licensees pushed the deadline or missed it entirely, leaving the FCC with a backlog of waivers and waiver requests with which to deal. Statistics kept by the Department of Homeland Security indicate that nearly 22% of
-
4G Analog Apps BearCom Colleges and Universities Construction Data Applications Digital Education FCC Federal Communications Commission Government GPS IP K-12 Schools Land Mobile Radio LMR LTE M2M Motorola Narrowbanding Public Safety Retail Safety Security Text Messaging Two-Way Radios Video Surveillance Walkie-Talkies Wireless Analog Technologies K-12 Schools and Universities Motorola SolutionsJanuary 15, 2013
Analyzing Wireless Trends
Again this year, I asked Jerry Denham, BearCom's President & CEO, for his thoughts about the coming year in wireless communications. And while some of his predictions reflect those he made a year ago, there are several new ones worthy of discussion as 2013 shifts into high gear: 1. Narrowbanding will continue to be an issue, despite the passing of the January 1, 2013 deadline set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The massive effort to convert users of the private land mobile radio spectrum to 12.5 kHz narrowband technology is not yet complete. Thousands of two-way radio users clearly missed the deadline set by the FCC to obtain new licenses. And though many have filed applications that now are being processed and others were granted waivers, there are still thousands of users nationwide who failed to act. While there are indications that strict enforcement may be some months off, we know it will come. We're already working