Public Safety WI-FI 4.9 Ghz Licenses

I wanted to make everyone aware of the new 4.9 GHz licenses that the FCC has made available. This is used like the unlicensed 802.11b,g, etc, for the wireless internet and point to point communications. The difference is this is licensed only to public safety. The idea is that there won't be any interference from the public unlicensed stuff and more secure because only public safety will have access to it. There are 18 channels and one license includes all 18 which totals up to 50 MHz. There is no construction deadline to build and the license is good for 10 years. To check out more on the subject go to www.publicsafetycommunications.org/Wi-Fi.php and goto presentations.

I think we will license it up for our fire district. Once the hardware is out we will set up an internet "Hotspot" around our fire department. We are in a rural area and other public agencies (Sheriff, Forestry, other Fire Departments)will be able to access the internet when passing through the area. Is anyone else thinking about the protential uses?

What is going to be the purpose of this "hotspot"? Just to surf the internet?

A hotspot is an internet access point for I.P. But, can be used for wireless LANS for incident scene management, mobile data, video security, VOIP, PDA connectivity.

If you surf the net with your computer that is up to you. If thats what you do at starbucks I guess you will do it at your fire house too. The transmitter power allowable is higher than the unlicense stuff. That being the case the foot print can be much larger than your starbucks. Depending on the distance that your home is from the fire house, the topograph, RF power, atenna height it may even reach your home and beyond.

So I assume you'll also need a special higher power card for the computers too. Say bye-bye to laptop battery life.

I am going to set it up as point to point system. It will be used to seperate the recievers and transmitters from dispatch. The mechanical filtering need with such close frequency spacing is MUCH more expensive than putting the recievers 1/2 mile away on a higher tower.

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Originally posted by caffder
A hotspot is an internet access point for I.P. But, can be used for wireless LANS for incident scene management, mobile data, video security, VOIP, PDA connectivity.

If you surf the net with your computer that is up to you. If thats what you do at starbucks I guess you will do it at your fire house too. The transmitter power allowable is higher than the unlicense stuff. That being the case the foot print can be much larger than your starbucks. Depending on the distance that your home is from the fire house, the topograph, RF power, atenna height it may even reach your home and beyond.

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I know what a Hotspot is. You initial description of what you wanted to do made it sound like you were setting up a glorified drive-up internet hookup for people to "play" on rather than for official use.

Power does not neccesarily make range. In fact, power has very little to do with range. Obstructions such a buildings, trees, hills, etc are going to stop most anything at 5Ghz. You need height to get above these obstructions if you want any kind of distance beyond the immidiate area of the access point.

This communication is TWO way. If your access point has all the height and power to go the distance but you field unit has a PCMCIA card shoved in the side of a laptop, it's still not going to work. You need to have the talk-back power and range for this to be successful.

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Originally posted by chtucker
I am going to set it up as point to point system. It will be used to seperate the recievers and transmitters from dispatch. The mechanical filtering need with such close frequency spacing is MUCH more expensive than putting the recievers 1/2 mile away on a higher tower.

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Can you elaborate a little on this. You got my interest with this, I'm curious to exactly what your trying to do and how.

nmfire, I think the this fellow is full of somthing, I know not what, but I am sure it must be something.

He may only have part of all the information that he is feebly, trying to communicate to the forums.

Can Someone please translate this thread into English?:eek:

Sure. You know how you can get wireless networking for your home and office? 802.11B and 802.11G are the two common standards. They use 2.4Ghz. It's all off-the-shelf consumer equipment.

This is basicly the same concept except:

1. It is on 4.9Ghz.
2. It is reserved for public safety
3. You need a license to use the airwaves
3. You have a lot more options an uses and can be deployed on a large scale.