Seeking help for an emergency system

[N2WQ]

Hello,

I was wondering if someone can help me with advice and engineering guidance, if it makes sense to use D-star, on using off-the-shelf D-star equipment for commercial emergency applications (with a proper FCC license of course). I am looking for a solution for my employer where we need a communication system to support crisis management. Since we are concerned about the possibility of the building being destroyed as well, the idea is to have a repeater on the NJ side of the Hudson river. Furthermore, assuming that the building is gone, we assume that the RF space will be overcrowded with all sorts of other communications and thus the idea of using a digital repeater instead of plain analog.

Rudy N2WQ

[Dean AE7Q]

... I am looking for a solution for my employer where we need a communication system to support crisis management ....

You are considering using Amateur Radio for an employer   My understanding of the rules is that ANY use of Amateur Radio in the furtherance of any business (even a non-profit one) is not allowed.

If I'm mistaken on this, let me know.

[N2WQ]

... I am looking for a solution for my employer where we need a communication system to support crisis management ....

You are considering using Amateur Radio for an employer   My understanding of the rules is that ANY use of Amateur Radio in the furtherance of any business (even a non-profit one) is not allowed.

If I'm mistaken on this, let me know.

Yes, I am using considering the equipment, not the frequencies. A VHF radio is a VHF radio and what makes it amateur vs. commercial is the license. We currently have a bunch of VHF radios that are pretty bad and won't be much of a help in a disaster. So I want to use our existing commercial FCC license with different type of equipment, in this case D*Star. Icom radios cover the frequency for which we have a license.

Rudy N2WQ

[Dean AE7Q]

A VHF radio is a VHF radio and what makes it amateur vs. commercial is the license. We currently have a bunch of VHF radios that are pretty bad and won't be much of a help in a disaster. So I want to use our existing commercial FCC license with different type of equipment, in this case D*Star. Icom radios cover the frequency for which we have a license.

Rudy N2WQ

Well, as I understand it, outside of amateur radio, any radios used for transmitting have to be type-certified for the purpose.  I don't think D-Star radios are type certified for any frequencies outside of the amateur bands, and they won't transmit outside of the amateur bands anyway without modification.  Modification of such radios would certainly invalidate any type-certification, if it existed.

[n5ebw]

Icom radios cover the frequency for which we have a license.

Are you sure they cover the transmit frequency for your licensed pair?  A lot of radios have wideband receive, but most won't do transmit outside of their designated amateur range without firmware or hardware mods.  As stated, if any of that comes into play, FCC type acceptance is invalidated.  While the radio's might be able to work in that range with open transmit, I'm not sure Murphy is on your side in regard to the repeater stacks having the same capability.

[N2WQ]

As it turns out, a bigger obstacle to possible deployment is the user interface. In other words, the ham Icom radios have a complex UI that will be bad to try to figure out when the building is collapsing. I also found out that Icom sells other digital radios and repeaters (IDAS) that are much more suitable for emergency operation.

Now I have to figure out how to contact whoever is doing frequency/repeater coordination to see what it takes to convert our license from one that is radio-to-radio based to repeater-based. Any idea who is doing this type of coordination? The building manager left the firm and I have never dealt with this type of coordination.

Rudy N2WQ