Dallas cops' new radios break Plano's $5m remote-control irrigation system
A new police communications system in suburban Dallas is interfering with radio-controlled sprinkler systems thirty miles away in Plano, according to complaints received by the FCC. From The Dallas News:
...what started as a quirky technical matter has taken on a life of its own, stirring tensions between the Collin County suburb and its neighbors south of Dallas. The dispute also shows how crowded the nation’s airwaves have become in an era when municipal radio systems and other wireless networks are virtually everywhere.Plano officials say they should have been notified of the new police system in advance.
The best part is that the police are openly not giving a damn about their new system shutting down the city's sprinkler systems: "Which comes first: Watering plants or protecting police and fire?" said the local 911 chief, Tim Smith.
(I like the suggestion that the authorities are considered as recipients of protection, not something that protects others. Perhaps it's a typo!)
Given the $5m cost of Plano's water system, the question on its lips is "Which came first." Ultimately, it will be a test of legal guidelines that give precedent to emergency services: will they be allowed to "eminent domain" airwaves without even notifying the current occupant?
When I lived in southeast New Mexico, our garage door opener would never work when fighter jets from Portales were wheeling around the area. I figured complaining about them might be the kind of thing that gets one added to the wrong sort of list.
Plano complains to FCC after police radio signals disrupt sprinklers [Dallas News] — Thanks, Travis!
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My first question, why did they spend $5million on a wireless system instead of a traditional system in the first place?
It's probably less egregious than Minneapolis budgeting $500,000 for ten drinking fountains, though.
By the way, it's The Dallas Morning News.
I happen to live in Plano. (Not terribly far from that point on the map, as it happens.)
Yeah, $5 million is a LOT of bucks, but it all didn't go into radio control. The control boxes are solar powered - part of a larger green energy initiative. You can't tell on the above map, but Plano is fairly spread out, as are many of the suburbs here. This kind of thing ain't gonna be cheap no matter how you look at it - wireless or no.
The city doesn't just use wireless for the sprinklers. They've been building a muni wi-fi system of their own. Most of their vehicles have connectivity, though that system is most likely on a different frequency than the sprinklers. It's very cool stuff.
Which brings me to another question: What would have happened if the public safety system in Cedar Hill/Duncanville/De Soto had played havoc with Plano's public safety system?
If you read the DMN article, you'll notice that they installed the transmitters on hills. What they don't tell you (because the locals all know this) is that Cedar Hill is one of the highest points in the DFW metro area. This is where the TV and radio stations put their towers.
Plano is not the city experiencing interference problems. Coppell (out near DFW airport) uses wireless technology to monitor levels in water towers, and they've had problems. I'd say that getting water to your residents was a public safety issue.
So, yeah. They should have informed the other cities in the area about what they were doing and what frequencies they were planning to use. Other cities are probably planning similar systems, and it just makes sense to communicate.
But I'm asking too much of the bureaucrats.
(@Anonymous #2: The Morning News site is dallasnews dot com, which may lead to some confusion.)
Isn't part of FCC certification making sure different pieces of equipment play nice with each other?
The police and fire departments protect the citizens; the radio system helps to protect them (by, for example, allowing an officer to scream for backup as they're descended upon by a crowd of rude people with guns). So the quote is accurate, in a sense.
Rather unfortunate technological collision. I'm quite surprised actually that they can be using the same part of the spectrum - I would have expected a wireless sprinkler or water monitoring system to use something in an unlicensed band, while police radios would have a bit of spectrum set aside for them.
But then I suppose that would be sensible, and sensible is rather rare these days.
I think the 911 chief's attitude tells you exactly where the problem is. For some reason police and fire officials often seem to have a very binary view of the world. You either do things exactly the way they want (or believe it should be done) or you don't care about safety/health/law etc...
I mean, really, how hard would it have been to contact the surrounding communities (before they bought anything) in order to find out what frequencies they used or giving them a heads up when they were close to selecting the new equipment? I'm certainly no expert, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were options for which frequencies they used even within the same system and I would imagine that a communications system would have more options of that sort than the wireless used in sprinklers.
I'd be willing to bet that their attitude is a function of having decided what they think is best for THEIR needs while completely disregarding anyone else's needs.
I live in Dallas, near Plano.
"Protecting Police and Fire" is not a typo.
"(by, for example, allowing an officer to scream for backup as they're descended upon by a crowd of rude people with guns)"
is more likely than people suspect - though most of our street criminals are too stupid and vicious to seek safety in numbers.
I've inherited - from my father - a police-band scanner and occasionally listen to the dispatches and such. It's illegal to sell new police-band scanners in the United States, and I think that's a shame - listening to the police is very enlightening.
(The crooks that /do/ manage to put aside the guns and band together end up running the City Council.)
Although I agree that there should have been communication so some sort of agreement could have been reached... I can't help but laugh that Plano is really complaining about $5 million dollars.
I mean, Plano has a lot of money to throw around.
While the entire North Texas area still was uneasy about the area's water supply in 2006 (Collin County was under Stage 3 water restrictions), the city of Plano voted 6-1 in approval of moving forward with a plan to to investing $1 million in a fountain that would consume 220,000 gallons of community water. A Vegas style water fountain that cost $3 million. Really.
Now, with that said, I'm not saying Plano wasn't in the right or wrong. I'm just saying the price tag shouldn't be a concern in the matter. If the FCC rules in Plano's favor, awesome. Against Plano...I'm sure they can scramble a few dollars together to do something else(just knock on a few doors in Willow Bend).
"It's illegal to sell new police-band scanners in the United States..."
Somebody forgot to tell Universal Radio and a couple dozen other ham/CB/scanner dealers, then.
@7 "It's illegal to sell new police-band scanners in the United States, and I think that's a shame - listening to the police is very enlightening."
That's very odd. What's the stance on owning a scanner? Because your old scanner can still hear the police I assume that they're still transmitting in analogue. If that's correct, it would be trivial to build receivers capable of listening to the police bands for a few dollars. A proper scanner (i.e. one that monitors several frequencies and automatically selects whichever one is being used at the moment) would be more difficult, but I know a few people who could jury-rig a crude one in a weekend.
Most (possibly all) of the UK's services switched to digital radio communications years ago, making it impossible for anyone without the decryption unit to listen in. It's a great shame; my family used to keep a few radios permanently tuned to the police, fire and ambulance bands to hear what was going on in the town. We also lived under the approach path for a large(ish) airport and got to listen to the chatter between the aircraft and the tower. As BardFinn says, knowing what the authorities are getting up to can be fascinating stuff.
Also, listening in to the rare car chases was really, really cool.