Pursuing the SBC Mission — A Message From Your New Board President — David Adams

Education for the industry: Our seminars indicate the continuing need for training. Everywhere we travel, we see requests for more information and are reminded of the problems that can occur when people lack knowledge. The success of our book – the Complete ERCES Handbook -- has exceeded our expectations providing solid teaching material for individuals in our field. Now we need to work with the industry to leverage the information in training courses and events. We are developing partnerships with training organizations to realize this.

Cohesive best practices across jurisdictions: One of the strengths of the Public Safety Communications sector is the significant number of knowledgeable people at the local level. However, one thing is clear: There are many differences between the way radio systems and in-building coverage solutions are handled, making it difficult to assess how well the industry is doing and where work is most needed. We want to support the effort to achieve as much commonality in best practices when it comes to solving in-building coverage issues.

Proper BDA Planning, Deployment and Management: We are pleased with the growing use of BDAs as an effective in-building coverage solution. However, we are beginning to see resistance to BDAs from some public safety radio network managers who have experienced BDAs interfering with existing critical communications coverage. Interference in radio networks is extremely dangerous to first responders relying on communications. We want to support the industry in ensuring BDA designs are done well and that testing up- and downlink performance is done right to ensure minimal impact on the network. Additionally, BDAs need to be fully tracked and managed to ensure the best planning and quick resolution of problems.

I am looking forward to guiding the Board of Directors as we pursue SBC’s mission. Let's get to work!