Meeting the challenge of limited resources — In the allocations of the radio spectrum for use by the public safety radio services

Abstract

This paper begins with the allocations of the radio spectrum under Docket 6651; the discovery after just three years that the Land Mobile Radio Services were already in need of more frequencies for operating their radio systems. Starting in 1951 the Joint Technical Advisory Committee (JTAC) worked "under great pressure" to find a solution and in 1953 it presented a report to the FCC supporting channel splitting in the 152-162 MHz band as a means of providing additional channels. In 1959 the FCC held a Statutory Inquiry into the use of the frequencies between 25 and 890 MHz (Docket 11997). The occupancy of the 800 MHz band continues to grow. New technologies have been implemented.