The FCC Public Safety Bureau denied a request...

The FCC Public Safety Bureau denied a request by Del Norte County, California, for a permanent waiver of the commission’s rule requiring the narrowbanding of all private land mobile radio licensees operating in the 150-174 MHz and 450-512 MHz bands. The county told the FCC it had completed the narrowbanding but as a result experienced a 40 percent loss of coverage in its operational area, the bureau said. Del Norte County told the commission it would have to build three to five towers to supplement its current two-tower system to restore its network to its previous capacity but doesn’t have the funding to do that. The county didn’t offer “sufficient facts” to justify a permanent waiver, the bureau said (http://bit.ly/1qHvon8). “We recognize the financial constraints Del Norte faces to construct additional towers, but this circumstance is not unusual or unique among licensees that have been subject to the narrowbanding requirement,” the bureau said. “While Del Norte’s financial constraints could weigh in favor of a temporary waiver to afford the County additional time to upgrade its system, they do not justify a permanent waiver.” The FCC has required licensees to use narrower channels to remedy congestion in the VHF and UHF bands.