Five Day Update
Yesterday I made a trip that was over 62 miles one way back into the mountains. On a ridge top about 29 miles from the nearest phone tower I tried the cell phone and OnStar without success. Clear sky back towards the known tower was lacking. A few mile more and I took a 4x4 road towards a drainage. I noticed clear sky out to the SE and gave OnStar a try. I had a very poor connection but was able to speak to my wife a short time. The signal was poor and we broke off the call. I could not get a connection on the cell phone.
Later that evening I went out on a logging road that was 25-29 miles from the nearest know cell tower. I had a clear view to the NW. I was able to get a good connection to my home number. I was not able to get a connection with my cell phone.
My 2005 version OnStar unit works both on Analog and Digital. Could I made the same phone call on a Digital only version. I think not! Digital does not have the coverage(range) that analog has. Congress rolled over some years back to the electronics industry to switch the Nation to Digital. They promised that technology would create more frequency space, that more users would benefit from better communications, and campaign funds would grow.
The bottomline is that rural America has not benefited, and it has cost the taxpayers a huge amount of money. Very good public safety radio systems have been replaced with weaker ones. A portable radio that use to cost an agency $500, now cost more then $2500. Many radio's have not been changed over from wide-band to narrow band. All part of the great plan. Nothing like talking to a helicopter from a narrow band system to the helicopter who is on a wide band radio. Or talking car-to-car with a LEO from another agency when one radio has been brought up to date, but the other has not. They are just close enough to provide broken, frustrating communications. Have we not heard about the communication problems in the area hit by the hurricanes. I wonder how the campaign chest are doing?
Idealistically there will be thousands of new cell phone towers constructed across the US and Canada by 2008 when analog cell phone service will go away in the US. We have seen an increase in cell phone towers along the Interstate Highway system, and areas of rapid growth. And outdoorsmen have benefitted. But the biggest benefit has been on near densely populated areas and along the Interstate Highway system. One of my hunting partners has both a 3-watt analog bag phone, and the little .6-watt cell phone. Every fall he goes to his local cell phone service provider and signs his bag phone. I have seen the difference out in the woods. Nothing on the little phone, but the old ugly bag phone does the job. Of course part of the gain is the larger antenna on roof.
What about cell phones, OnStar, and 911. In the OnStar system there is a gps chip that sends a position description along with your signal. The OnStar people can provide that information to 911. But what about when you are out in the woods or on your way down the Coast and have a 911 emergency. At the end of 2005 all area are suppose to have "Enhanced 911" systems in place. The Enhanced 911 systems are dependent on a number of factors. The cell phone providers, the customers, and the 911 centers.
The 911 centers are taxpayer funded and many States have collected taxes to pay for the enhancements. In New York these funds have been used to buy fire fighters boots, and pay for dry cleaning of uniforms. In California $$$53 million of enhancement funds have been spent otherwise. These two States are not alone. At least three States had done nothing towards funding or enhancing the system.
Verizon's and some other carriers system are two fold. Their new phones have a gps chip in it. So when one of their chip equipped phones is in service it is transmitting it's location. If you are a long time customer and you have not upgrade your cell phone or if you have an old bag phone you maybe out of luck. Verizon and others are also upgrading their equipment to process the gps signal. Verizon says that they are 91% in compliance in California.
Other providers are using a program that uses triangulation of the signal between cell phone towers. This is great if you staying in an area surrounded by cell phone towers. That means that two or more cell phone towers must be receiving you signal.
So you need to call 911. Hopefully your battery is charged up. Give 911 you emergency need. Your phone number including area code. 911 I need an ambulance for a broken leg, I am located at.................., my phone number is 530-...-..... I am in a white Toyota. I smell gas, send the fire department, and police. 911 will ask your name, and phone number because they may need to call you back.
So what is happening in the 911 Center, one dispatcher is talking to you and getting your information and typing it, into the computer. Another dispatcher is monitoring the call and responding fire, ambulance and law enforcement. There is a time element, but things are moving fast. Using the information provided by you, or using data from an enhanced system the dispatcher creates an incident card. Once the location is imputed on the card the Computer Aided Dispatch System selects the proper fire stations, IMS, and LE units for the response. The units are then responded by radio, paging systems, or telephone to other agencies. Or by voice to other dispatchers in a mulit-agency center.
What bogs down 911. There is a roll for the press during major emergencys. Be they fire, flood or earthquake. Systems are in place to get information out to local radio and TV stations. In the West local radio stations do a good job of working with fire information officers. Listen to the radio station, do not call 911 for information.
911 centers are handling numerous emergencies at the same time, not just the structure fire at the end of street. There are vehicles accidents, sick kids, old deer hunters with a faulty pacemaker, and little old ladys who have fallen out of bed. They are giving directions to a caller on how to perform life saving CPR to a loved one. These people need help. Callers wanting general information are bogging down the system. They delay assistance to those who need help. 911 Centers many times cover more then one county, not just a neighborhood.
Call 911 to report an emergency, not to update your gossip. If emergency equipment is not at an emergency do not assume somebody has reported it. I must admit that I stereotype people at times. A while back I left out early towing my boat when I came across a roll-over accident. Three or four white, males dressed in black with their caps on backwards were walking around. I could not see any blood. They looked like a gang. I did not stop, but I called 911 on the cell phone. I got the California Highway Patrol dispatch center. I asked them if they had a roll over accident reported at the location. They had not. They took my name and confirmed my phone number. I would have swore that I spotted one of those boys on a cell phone. I learn the next day they were arrested for stealing the car they rolled over.
I know the California Highway Patrol dispatch centers have been able to identify cell phone numbers for a long time. I was passing through Sacramento on I-5 around 4 a.m. one morning when I came across a smashed vehicle in the center lane. I called 911 and talked to the CHP. A few minutes later they called me back asking if there was a second vehicle. No it was a hit-and-run accident. I know that I did not give them my number on the first report. I think a lot of responses depend on local technology. The CHP has made it clear they want to get out of the general 911 business. Originally cell phone 911 calls were routed to State units that handle traffic because cell phones were pictured as being car-phones. We are beyond that stage.
I have eight months to decided if I will re-new my subscription for OnStar. At this point I do not think I will. I will still have the emergency service, and I can call the wife on the cell phone when I get closer to home.
XM Radio. As I travelled up the mountain roads yesterday the radio kept cutting out when I was in big timber or steep canyons. It worked fine on standard am, and fm radio. Frankly I switched over to the cd player after a bit. Nice to select what you want to hear from the get go. Yesterdays mail had a notice to renew the service, I tossed it. It is okay, but not for me.
.
