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INTEROPERABILITY

Working towards a common radio frequency

The lack of a common radio frequency has been one of the biggest obstacles to seamless search and rescue (SAR) among SAR providers. Often they have had to create work-around solutions when they were unable to communicate on a common frequency. The status quo is no longer acceptable.

Now, a working group established by the National Search and Rescue Secretariat under Marc Parent, who is on assignment from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is paving the way to an efficient and affordable solution for a search and rescue inter-agency national calling frequency (SARIAN F).

The first job of the working group was to develop a good understanding of the extent of the problem across the country. The group is comprised of experts in the field of SAR operations and radio communications.

"An important step," said Inspector Parent, "was getting Industry Canada, the federal department responsible for assigning radio frequencies, on board. They have been a great help with this issue and agreed to participate in the working group."

Other members of the group include 35 representatives from national volunteer groups, Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, provincial and territorial emergency management programs, provincial police departments and federal departments involved in SAR.

At the first meeting, a conference call was held in June 2004. Each jurisdiction outlined their situation and the degree to which a lack of a common frequency hinders search and rescue. A more detailed approach is underway to look at the various agencies within a jurisdiction and their current communications infrastructure.

A SAR inter-agency national frequency
There is unanimous support for identifying one frequency to make initial contact among SAR responders from different agencies.

The group advocates an additional two simplex and three duplex frequencies to ensure the ground SAR component has adequate spectrum to conduct their operations. The group also advocates establishing a national air-to-air frequency for SAR operations so volunteer groups, commercial and private aircraft can communicate more effectively when involved in a search.

The biggest challenge is to identify frequencies that would be available in the VHF range between 136 and 174 MHz, which was seen as the most effective for ground SAR operations which mostly use those frequencies now. In most cases, it would simply be a matter of reprogramming existing radios rather than buying new equipment. However, teams using wide banding might need new equipment. The working group realizes the potential issues and is looking for solutions.

Increasingly, first responders are moving towards spectrums other than VHF, because of a lack of efficiency, but more as a result of a lack of available VHF frequencies. Resorting to other spectrums, for example UHF or 800 MHz, would pose additional problems to SAR responders because of the nature and requirements of their work.

Related concerns
Cost is a constant concern throughout the discussions. Various funding mechanisms were discussed by the working group, including an application to the New Search and Rescue Initiatives Fund to assist with the potential cost of new equipment.

For aircraft, which use VHF AM, a common frequency poses an additional challenge, notably in the North where air assets are used in most incidents. The Civil Air Search and Rescue Association, a member of the working group, is seeking solutions.

Once the frequencies are identified, two other needs emerge - communicating the frequency to everyone concerned and reducing radio license fees, particularly for the volunteers. Current Industry Canada regulations require every radio owner of land frequency to register and pay a fee for use of the frequency. The working group believes that ideally volunteers should not have the burden associated with licensing fees for the registration of radio equipment used to save lives.

Next steps
Looking down the road, the implementation of the SARIAN F will not only enhance SAR operations, but it will also facilitate radio communications between other first responders such as police and fire departments who could use the SARIAN F to make initial operational contact. It is also conceivable that Canada and the United States could expand the common frequency to create a seamless North American search and rescue system on either side of the border.

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