State of Florida, Department of Management Services, Information Technology Division 12/06/99
Considerations for
MUTUAL AID COMMUNICATIONS
For Public Safety Radio Services within Florida
By Robert B. Ferrell and Carlton W. Wells, Bureau of Wireless Communications
The necessity for radio communications between public safety agencies during mutual aid
operations has been evident since the advent of mobile radio technology over half a century ago.
Numerous methods to provide mutual aid communications have been implemented, but a
standardized means of providing practical and affordable mutual aid communications to
accommodate the broad scope of mutual aid operations remains elusive. The lack of sufficient
mutual aid communications continues to have tragic consequences in the loss of life and
property. Mutual aid incidents continue to occur in which public safety officials must literally
stand next to each other to convey vital information between agencies.
Early efforts to facilitate mutual aid radio communications included the establishment of
common frequencies shared by several agencies. This approach was usually of limited benefit
since the fractured nature of FCC frequency allocations prevented common channels from being
shared by agencies of different disciplines1, or between agencies whose systems operated in
different frequency bands2.
More complex solutions using techniques such as cross-band repeaters3 have been used to satisfy
specific local mutual aid requirements. This technique is normally used when agencies operate in
different frequency bands, but it can only tie two channels together at one time. Since this
method occupies two radio channels for the duration of one call, it reduces channel efficiency by
one-half at the very time when channel availability is most needed. While useful in local
operations, it does little to improve mutual aid with outside agencies, particularly those from
different geographic areas or those in other frequency bands.
In recent years, the availability of cellular telephone service has been of benefit during
emergency and disaster operations. The low cost, small size and convenience of cellular phones
makes them attractive for communications in emergency situations. However large areas of the
state, particularly in rural environments, do not have reliable cellular coverage. In addition,
cellular phones cannot provide the group communications and priority access needed for mutual
aid, and may become unusable due to overload or outage during wide-area disasters.
Each of the above methods are useful in many situations, but they do not satisfy the overall need
for reliable, wide area communications among all public safety units that may be called to the
scene of mutual aid operations.
This document is available on the internet at http://www.techplan.state.fl.us/dms/tools/plnpol/800ma.pdf
1
FCC rules generally prohibited police channels from being used by fire agencies, fire channels from being used by
EMS, and so on.
2
All public safety radios use one of the four available frequency bands. Radios built for one band cannot operate on
frequencies in any of the other three bands.
3
Cross-banding or cross-patching enables a received signal to be re-transmitted by a base station in a different
frequency band.
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State of Florida, Department of Management Services, Information Technology Division 12/06/99
Attachment 1 is a list of each of the technologies available for public safety mutual aid
communications, together with a brief statement of the pros and cons of each. Each of these
technologies has usefulness, but the limited scope of most of them cannot satisfy the
communication needs for wide-area mutual aid operations. Most public safety agencies have
implemented one or more technologies to enable some degree of mutual aid communications, but
in most cases, the results have been insufficient during major disasters or other non-routine
mutual aid operations involving multiple agencies.
The first major effort to address this problem on a national scale was the National Public Safety
Planning Advisory Committee (NPSPAC), which produced a report to the FCC in 1987 detailing
both the problems and potential solutions4. The overall need for mutual aid radio
communications was stated in the NPSPAC Final Report5:
“The need exists for police, fire, emergency medical, and other Public Safety
operatives to routinely intercommunicate at the scene of major fires, train
wrecks, plane crashes, and so forth. Police officers are often requested for
traffic and crowd control or to assist with rescue efforts, but have no
communications with the fire ground command center to coordinate activities
as the firefighters and others carry out their operations to bring the fire
under control, or conduct rescue operations. Chemical spills and other
potential disasters are more and more frequently closing highways and
requiring areas to be evacuated. Here again, the inability of police, fire, and
other services to intercommunicate disallows adequate coordination of
efforts.”
NPSPAC recognized that solutions such as channel-sharing between local agencies, or cross-
band repeaters, while suitable for limited and localized mutual aid operations, were essentially
patchwork attempts to work around the fundamental problem. The NPSPAC report concluded
that the FCC should allocate at least five radio channels nationwide which would be available
only for mutual aid operations, and which could be used by any public safety agencies, including
federal agencies participating in the operations. The NPSPAC report and subsequent FCC rules,
together with FCC-approved Region Plans6, established all licensing and operational rules for
implementation and use of the five national mutual aid channels.
The five national mutual aid channels include one channel to serve as a “calling channel” to be
used for coordinating requests for service. The remaining four channels are designated for
“tactical” use between agencies participating in mutual aid operations. In addition to these five
national channels, the State of Florida has licensed a separate 800 MHz channel exclusively for
mutual aid within Florida.7
4
Florida actively participated in the NPSPAC proceedings of 1986-1987. The Information Technology Division
remains an active participant in the ongoing Region-9 Public Safety Planning Committee.
5
National Public Safety Planning Advisory Committee, Final Report to the Federal Communications Commission,
September 9, 1987, Page 1.
6
Florida was designated as Region-9 for purposes of coordinated planning between local, state and federal agencies.
7
This older 800 MHz channel is generally called the “Florida 800 MHz Mutual Aid Channel” to distinguish it from
the national mutual aid channels.
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State of Florida, Department of Management Services, Information Technology Division 12/06/99
In 1996, adding to the efforts begun by NPSPAC, the Public Safety Wireless Advisory
Committee (PSWAC)8 further defined the needs for mutual aid communications. PSWAC’s
Final Report to the FCC delineated the following obstacles to mutual aid communications9:
The diversity of different frequency bands utilized by public safety agencies.
The sheer scarcity of channels available for interoperability.
Certain human and institutional factors, including lack of training, and agency reluctance to
share scarce communications resources.
Lack of common communication modes among different types of systems; different
communication modes such as trunking and non-trunking, or digital and analog, prevent
intercommunication.
Lack of congruent coverage among systems for which interoperability is desired.
Limitations of commercial systems in their reliability, priority access, and command and
control characteristics, which are critical to public safety communications.
Lack of an adequate nationwide mutual aid plan and incident command system to facilitate
interoperability.
In late 1997, following some of the recommendations of the PSWAC report, the FCC allocated a
third 800 MHz band to public safety10. These frequencies are derived from vacated TV channels
and will not be fully available for several more years. Current planning efforts for the new band
include proposals for several
service-specific mutual aid Table 1 - Florida Emergency and Mutual-Aid Frequencies
11
channels , as well as more national FREQUENCY CTCSS BAND PRIMARY USE
mutual aid channels. Final FCC 39.10/39.10 156.7 VHF Low Emergency Management
rules are still pending on this 39.18/39.18 156.7 VHF Low Emergency Management
45.86/45.86 none VHF Low Law Enforcement Emergency
frequency band.
154.265/154.265 none VHF High Fire Mutual Aid (red)
Table 1 lists all of the public safety 154.280/154.280 none VHF High Fire Mutual Aid (white)
frequencies currently available for 154.295/154.295 none VHF High Fire Mutual Aid (blue)
154.950/154.950 none VHF High Law Enforcement Emergency
emergency and mutual aid use 155.340/155.340 none VHF High Medical Resource Coord.
within Florida, including the 800 155.370/155.370 none VHF High Law Enforcement Intercity
MHz channels. While this may
appear to be a sufficient number of 460.275/465.275 none UHF Law Enforcement Emergency
463.175/463.175 167.9 UHF EMS Medical Resource &
channels for any mutual aid Scene Coordination
operation, most of these channels, 463.175/468.175 167.9 UHF EMS Medical Coordination
except for the six 800 MHz mutual
853.3875/808.3875 210.7 800 Florida Mutual Aid Channel
aid channels, are service-specific
866.0125/821.0125 156.7 800 National Calling Channel
(limited to use within a specific 866.5125/821.5125 156.7 800 National Tactical Channel 1
public safety service such as police, 867.0125/822.0125 156.7 800 National Tactical Channel 2
fire, or EMS). Secondly, agencies 867.5125/822.5125 156.7 800 National Tactical Channel 3
868.0125/823.0125 156.7 800 National Tactical Channel 4
that operate within a single
frequency band, as almost all do,
8
PSWAC included members from local, state and federal agencies as well as equipment manufacturers.
9
Final Report of the Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee, September 11, 1996, page 48.
10
The newest 800 MHz band includes frequencies between 746 and 806 MHz.
11
“Service-specific” mutual aid channels are those dedicated to a particular public safety service such as police, or
fire, or EMS.
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State of Florida, Department of Management Services, Information Technology Division 12/06/99
cannot directly access frequencies of the other three bands. Consequently, local and state
agencies which operate in different frequency bands, and/or which operate in different public
safety disciplines below 800 MHz, cannot communicate with each other.
Historically, the service-specific mutual aid channels below 800 MHz have been essential for
intra-service communication during disaster operations, but have been of limited benefit for
communications between multiple public safety services. Likewise, techniques such as cross-
banding or channel sharing have proven valuable for agencies which reside within a local area,
but are inadequate when outside agencies are called to assist local disaster operations. These
experiences indicate that mutual aid communications involving wide-area, multi-agency
response must be accomplished on radio channels that are not exclusive to, or dependent on, the
local day-to-day public safety communications system or its channels. Within the spectrum
currently available to public safety, only the 800 MHz mutual aid channels are designed
explicitly for this purpose. The 800 MHz mutual aid channels are the only channels available to
all public safety agencies, and which are recognized nationwide for mutual aid use by local,
state, and federal agencies.
Within Florida, at least 28 counties or major
metropolitan areas have implemented an
800 MHz public safety communications
system or are planning to do so as of mid-
1998. The geographic areas covered by
these 800 MHz radio systems are shown by
the shaded areas in Figure 1. These systems County or municipal 800 MHz
public safety radio systems
are predominately in the most populated
areas of the state, representing nearly 90%
of Florida’s population. Those that have Florida’s Joint Task Force 800 MHz
radio system (Phases 1 & 2 only)
been constructed in the newer 800 MHz
band12 have generally included the
capability for communication on the
national mutual aid channels. Systems built
using the older 800 MHz systems13 have
incorporated the national mutual aid Figure 1
channels in some cases, but not in others.
The State of Florida Joint Task Force radio system, which includes two of the national 800 MHz
mutual aid channels14, has been completed in 15 counties as of mid-1998, representing about
50% of Florida’s population. The hashed portions of Figure 1 indicate these areas. Together, the
state and local 800 MHz systems provide 800 MHz radio coverage over 32 counties or
12
The newest of the 800 MHz bands includes the 821-824 / 866-869 MHz frequencies. This band also includes the
five national mutual aid channels.
13
The older 800 MHz band includes the 806-821 / 851-866 MHz frequencies. This band includes the Florida Mutual
Aid Channel.
14
Florida’s Joint Task Force 800 MHz radio system includes the national mutual aid Calling Channel as well as
mutual aid Tactical Channel #1.
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State of Florida, Department of Management Services, Information Technology Division 12/06/99
metropolitan areas, representing over 90% of the state’s population15. Upon completion of the
remaining phases of the Joint Task Force radio system, 100% of Florida’s population and
geography will have coverage with at least two of the 800 MHz national mutual aid channels.
Approximately half of Florida’s land area has no local implementation of 800 MHz systems. In
these primarily rural areas, all local government and public safety radio communications are
completely dependent on VHF and UHF communications. In addition, some state agencies such
as the Division of Forestry of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services operate
entirely in bands below 800 MHz, and will continue to require mutual aid communications in the
VHF and UHF bands. Supplemental 800 MHz radios for mutual aid will not entirely supplant the
need for these agencies to maintain mutual aid capability in the lower frequency bands.
In view of these considerations, the Information Technology Division provides the following
recommendations to improve mutual aid radio communications within Florida:
1. That the Information Technology Division develop a set of guidelines for implementation
and use of mutual aid channels within Florida. These guidelines will be applicable to all state
and local public safety agencies, and will include the emergency and mutual aid channels in
all frequency bands. The Information Technology Division will provide coordination and
engineering assistance for the implementation of the guidelines, as well as assistance in the
implementation of the following recommendations.
2. That each public safety agency not currently operating on 800 MHz for its primary
communications, and not planning to do so, procure 800 MHz mobile radios16 capable of
operating on the five national mutual aid channels as well as the Florida 800 MHz mutual aid
channel. These agencies include local law enforcement operating in the 39 counties not using
800 MHz17, an estimate of one-half of all Fire and EMS vehicles in the state18, and all
Forestry vehicles. Approximate costs for purchasing these radios are shown in Table 2
below.
3. That each public safety agency currently operating in the 800 MHz band, but which has not
implemented the 800 MHz mutual aid channels, modify its mobile and portable radios so that
each is capable of operating on the five national mutual aid channels as well as the Florida
800 MHz mutual aid channel. The number of agencies and radios in this category is not yet
determined, but would generally include the oldest of the 800 MHz radio systems within
Florida.
15
The percentage of population which has 800 MHz mutual aid channel coverage is somewhat less than 90%, since
some of the local 800 MHz systems have not included those channels.
16
Less costly portable (hand-held) radios may be used in lieu of mobile radios in some circumstances. Portable
radios provide less coverage range, making them unusable for repeater communications in some areas.
17
Using the total population of these 39 counties (1.6 million), and a factor of 2.2 local law enforcement officers per
1000 population, we estimate that 3600 officers are not currently using 800 MHz radios. The factor of 2.2/1000 is a
statewide average derived from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s 1986 Annual Report “Crime in
Florida”.
18
Actual quantities of Fire and EMS vehicles not using 800 MHz are not yet known. We suggest 50% of the known
numbers of vehicles as an initial estimate only.
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State of Florida, Department of Management Services, Information Technology Division 12/06/99
4. That each public safety dispatch center and emergency operations center implement radio-
frequency (RF) control stations to enable communications with mobile radios over the state
or local 800 MHz mutual aid repeater stations19. At least two RF control stations would be
required for each agency20, at a cost of approximately $5,000 per station. We estimate that
3200 such stations will be needed for complete statewide operation21, for a total of
$16,000,000. Of that total, we estimate that 25% ($4,000,000) is currently needed within the
15-county area in which the State’s Joint Task Force is already operational, and that 75%
($12,000,000) will be needed in the remainder of the state upon completion of the Joint Task
Force system in those areas. These costs are shown in Table 2 below.
5. That implementation of the Joint Task Force 800 MHz radio system be continued throughout
the remainder of Florida, and that its scope in the remaining project phases be expanded to
include base station repeaters on all five of the national mutual aid channels in areas of the
state which have not installed (nor planned to install) those channels (43 counties). Its scope
should further be expanded to implement base station repeaters on the Florida 800 MHz
mutual aid channel in the most populated regions of the state22. Approximate costs for
implementing this expansion of the Joint Task Force system is shown in Table 2 below.
These costs represent the additional monies required for the Joint Task Force to expand its
base station systems over and above the two national mutual aid channels already being
implemented.
19
Implementation of RF control stations can only occur in areas where base station repeaters have been established
on the mutual aid channels. As of mid-1998, approximately 24 counties have either installed such stations, plan to
install them, or are provided with coverage by the Joint Task Force radio system.
20
One of the RF control stations will be dedicated to the national mutual aid calling channel. The second station will
be capable of multi-channel (but not simultaneous) operation on any of the national mutual aid tactical channels,
and on the Florida 800 MHz Mutual Aid Channel in areas where it is available. Some local configurations will
require more than two RF control stations in order to control interference, or to enable simultaneous operation on
multiple channels.
21
The total number of RF control stations is based on an estimated quantity of 450 police departments, 450 fire
departments, 300 hospital emergency departments, 242 ambulance services, 67 sheriff’s departments, and 67 county
emergency operations centers.
22
These are proposed to include the 15 counties having over 250,000 population, which are Brevard, Broward,
Dade, Duval, Escambia, Hillsborough, Lee, Orange, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, Seminole, and
Volusia
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State of Florida, Department of Management Services, Information Technology Division 12/06/99
TABLE 2 - 800 MHz MUTUAL AID EQUIPMENT COSTS
800 MHz Mutual Aid Mobile Radios for agencies not operating in the 800 MHz band
Quantity Description Unit Extended Cost
Cost
3600 Mobile Radios for Law Enforcement Agencies $2,000 $7,200,000
880 Mobile Radios for Fire Agencies $2,000 $1,760,000
1150 Mobile Radios for Emergency Medical Service Agencies $2,000 $2,300,000
1500 Mobile Radios for Forestry Vehicles $2,000 $3,000,000
7130 Installation $150 $1,069,500
Total Mobile Radio Costs $15,329,500
800 MHz RF Control Stations for local and state public safety agencies
Quantity Description Unit Extended Cost
Cost
800 RF control stations for use in the JTF Phase 1 and 2 areas (15 counties) $5,000 $4,000,000
2400 RF control stations for future use in the JTF Phase 3, 4, and 5 areas (52 $5,000 $12,000,000
counties)
Total RF Control Station Costs $16,000,000
Additional Mutual Aid Base Stations for the Joint Task Force
Quantity Description Unit Extended Cost
Cost
116 Base Station Repeater for National Mutual Aid Tactical Channel #2 $35,000 $4,060,000
116 Base Station Repeater for National Mutual Aid Tactical Channel #3 $35,000 $4,060,000
116 Base Station Repeater for National Mutual Aid Tactical Channel #4 $35,000 $4,060,000
77 Base Station Repeater for the Florida 800 MHz Mutual Aid Channel $35,000 $2,695,000
Total Base Station Costs $14,875,000
TOTAL COSTS $46,204,500
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State of Florida, Department of Management Services, Information Technology Division 12/06/99
ATTACHMENT 1
Communications Technologies for Public Safety Mutual Aid Communications
COMMUNICATIONS PROS CONS
TECHNOLOGIES
Plain Old Telephone Service Inexpensive to implement and Offers only fixed communication;
(POTS) maintain mobile capability not possible
Interoperable May be unreliable due to overload
Simple to operate or outage during disasters
Cellular Telephone Mobile operation Offers one-on-one
Inexpensive to implement and communications, but group
maintain communications is limited
No infrastructure required May be unreliable due to overload
No FCC licensing required during disaster situations
Simple to operate Public safety features not
available
Personal Communications Mobile operation Offers one-on-one
Systems (PCS) Inexpensive to implement and communications, but group
maintain communications is limited
No infrastructure required May be unreliable due to overload
No FCC licensing required during disaster situations
Simple to operate Public safety features may not be
available
Specialized Mobile Radio Inexpensive to implement and User costs increase as group size
Systems (SMR) maintain increases
No infrastructure required Systems integrity and reliability
Interoperable in the U.S. usually not public safety grade
Simple to operate Public safety features may not be
Offers one-on-one and group available
communications Subject to equipment
obsolescence due to system
changes
Requires FCC licensing
VHF-Low Band Public Fixed and mobile operation Public safety grade equipment has
Safety Systems Established technology become less available
Relatively inexpensive equipment Subject to noise and skip
Interoperable interference
Simple to operate Repeater pairs difficult to achieve
within bandwidth of antenna and
mobile equipment
Mobile and portable antennas
become undesirably long
Few public safety services
currently have systems in place
for mutual aid communications
Requires FCC licensing
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State of Florida, Department of Management Services, Information Technology Division 12/06/99
VHF-High Band Public Fixed and mobile operation Established mutual aid channels
Safety Systems Established technology offer no repeater operation for
Relatively inexpensive equipment mobile-to-mobile operation
Interoperable Not all public safety agencies
Simple to operate have this band for mutual aid
Public safety grade equipment operation
readily available Limited channel availability
Repeater pairs are possible within prevents establishing more mutual
bandwidth of antenna and mobile aid channels in this band
equipment Most populated areas have
Mutual aid channels implemented migrated from this band to 800
in various areas of Florida MHz for mutual aid
Propagates better than higher Requires FCC licensing
bands
Mobile antenna less obtrusive
than with lower bands
UHF Public Safety Systems Fixed and mobile operation Not all public safety agencies
Established technology have this band for mutual aid
Relatively inexpensive equipment operation
Interoperable Limited channel availability
Simple to operate prevents establishing more mutual
Public safety grade equipment aid channels in this band
readily available Most populated areas have
Repeater pairs are established in migrated from this band to 800
this band for antenna and mobile MHz for mutual aid
equipment MED-8 compromised due to lack
Mutual aid channels implemented of funding and enforcement
in various areas of Florida MED-8 traffic ignored due to
MED-8 still specifically required frequent traffic not intended for
by the EMS Communications listener
Plan Requires FCC licensing
Up to two mutual aid channels
established for statewide
implementation
Provides improved building
penetration
Mobile antenna relatively smaller
size
800 MHz Pubic Safety Fixed and mobile operation Equipment more costly than in
Systems Established technology lower bands
Interoperable on conventional More expensive infrastructure for
channels trunked or simulcast operation
Simple to operate Not all public safety agencies
Public safety grade equipment have this band for mutual aid
readily available operation
Provides improved building Requires FCC licensing
penetration
Standard repeater pairs are
established in this band
Mobile antenna relatively small
size
The most populated areas have
migrated to this band
9
State of Florida, Department of Management Services, Information Technology Division 12/06/99
Two mutual aid channels to be
implemented statewide by the
State of Florida
Up to 6 mutual aid channels are
established for implementation
statewide
More mutual aid channels are
expected from new 24 MHz of
spectrum allocated
Monitoring more likely due to
disciplined channel assignments
by Network Control Centers for
each defined area
Satellite Communications Coverage worldwide Public safety features not
Systems May be used as backup or for available
supplementary use during Dispatcher operation not available
disasters Public safety agencies subject to
No infrastructure required equipment obsolescence due to
No FCC licensing required system changes
Cannot control coverage
geographically
Provides no interagency
communications other than
telephone
No dedicated emergency button
Cannot use common public safety
mutual aid frequencies
Coverage requires line-of-sight
paths (bridges, buildings, etc. may
block signals)
Cross-patch between systems Offers flexibility in mobile band Not simple to implement
of operation Reduces channel efficiency by
Can satisfy limited local needs one-half
during emergencies Requires all potential bands of
operation implemented into
backbone systems
Limited to 2 channels per patch
10