CELL PHONE GRIDLOCK POLICE, FIRE SIGNALS JAMMED, JEOPARDIZING PUBLIC SAFETY.

Byline: James Nash Staff Writer

Cell phone users have become so numerous in Los Angeles they have crowded out police and firefighter services that use the same bandwidth, creating a sweepstakes with potential life-and-death consequences as public safety transmissions are drowned out by stronger cellular phone signals.

The problem lies in the 800 MHz bandwidth, which is occupied by the Los Angeles Police Department for data transfers, the Fire Department for voice signals and a growing number of cellular phone users, particularly those using Nextel Communications.

The airwave congestion isn't unique to Los Angeles. But in a city full of cell phone users, and where hills and mountains already interfere with emergency radio signals, experts and officials say the problem is magnified.

``We can talk to dispatchers, but in areas where the Nextel interference is significant, we are unable to hear the dispatcher clearly and in some cases, not at all,'' fire Capt. Kevin Nida said.

``It probably happens many, many times, but we don't know how often it happens. It's significant.''

Police and firefighters say the problem is particularly vexing because there's no way to distinguish between dispatch calls lost due to cellular interference and those lost because of blockage by hills and buildings, equipment malfunctions or sunspots.

Cellular interference emerged in the late 1990s as the Federal Communications Commission allocated larger chunks of the 800 MHz bandwidth - long occupied by police and fire departments - to cellular companies. Although public and private users don't share frequencies, the stronger cellular broadcasts often bleed over into the police and fire channels.

In Los Angeles, where the chief cellular user of the 800 MHz bandwidth is Nextel Communications, company spokesman Tim O'Regan said engineers are working with local police and fire departments to reduce interference.

``There's no way we can proactively find out where the interference is. We need to hear from the source, which is the public safety agency, and we'll work with them to correct any problems.''

Nextel has proposed a broad reallocation of frequencies in the 800 MHz bandwidth that would separate public safety channels from those used by cell phone companies.

The company has offered $850 million to subsidize the cost of retuning police and fire radios, although many public safety departments say the costs would run into the billions.

O'Regan said Nextel would pay ``100 percent'' of the cost of retuning local radios as part of its plan, which also grants the company new bandwidth at no cost.

One brokerage firm estimates the value of the new bandwidth at $3 billion.

Nextel wants to disentangle its frequencies from police and fire frequencies in the interest of public safety and uninterrupted cell phone broadcasts. The new bandwidth is crucial to accomplishing those goals.

``No one is at fault,'' O'Regan said. ``Nextel is not at fault. We are operating within the lawful confines of the FCC. The only way to solve this problem is to reband.''

The FCC, which ultimately must approve any solution, has ruled out any federal funding to subsidize the cost of retuning local police and fire radios, a spokeswoman said.

Los Angeles police and fire officials also don't want to get stuck with the bill.

``The companies that are responsible for causing the interference should be responsible for solving it,'' Nida said. ``The taxpayers are going to bear the brunt of either having delayed (emergency) response or having to pay to retune our system.''

The Fire Department's radio system cost $50 million while the LAPD's cost $60 million, officials said. They could not estimate the cost of retuning the radios.

Cellular interference is less of an issue for the LAPD, which broadcasts voice calls on a different frequency. But the LAPD's data transmissions, which include routine dispatch calls and information on suspects, go over the 800 MHz bandwidth and often run into interference.

The interference is more of a nuisance for officers using portable computers in their patrol cars than in life-and-death matters.

``It's not considered a lifeline,'' said Sgt. Kurt Miles of the LAPD's radio tech unit. ``If an officer can't run the call on the computer, he can always call the dispatcher.''

Miles and Jeffrey Jantz, commanding officer of the LAPD's Emergency Command Control Communications System Division, said it's often difficult to finger cellular signals as the culprit in dropped data transmissions. Jantz said the FCC places the burden of proof on the public safety agency to show that cell phone signals are at fault.

``When cell phone usage goes down, our problems go down,'' Miles said. ``You just die on Mother's Day because everyone is calling.''

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, which serves unincorporated areas and some cities such as Santa Clarita and Lancaster, hasn't experienced interference because it broadcasts at different frequencies, Lt. Jim Davis said.

Even at the Los Angeles Fire Department, which has a team of radio technicians working part time on the interference issue, not everyone believes cell phone signals block their broadcasts.

``We know there are problem spots - elevators, canyons, some high- rises,'' said Battalion Chief Ron Leydecker. ``We've had no problem with cell interference that we know of.''

Nida has had firsthand experience with garbled and staticky dispatch calls near Nextel antennas, which he said broadcast at twice the intensity of Fire Department antennas. In one instance, the Fire Department dispatched another engine after failing to reach his unit, resulting in a delay in getting to the scene.

Cellular interference has spawned two rival solutions: the Nextel-backed frequency reallocation dubbed the consensus plan and a proposal to force cellular companies to eliminate interference at their own expense within 60 days of a police or fire agency pinpointing the problem.

The second proposal is supported by the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association. The trade group argues that the Nextel plan would take years to implement while its plan would solve problems within weeks.

Nextel calls that a Band-Aid approach, saying the only permanent solution is to separate the conflicting users. An FCC official who spoke on condition of anonymity agreed and said the commission is eyeing a long-term fix.

The official could not say when the FCC will formally decide on a plan.

Meanwhile, local police and firefighters are looking to Washington for solutions, saying there's little they can do without federal intervention.

``We don't have any teeth to stop Nextel from doing what they're doing,'' Nida said. ``They're killing our system.''

James Nash, [phone]

james.nash(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

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Chart:

PUBLIC SAFETY, CELL PHONES COLLIDE

SOURCES: Project Consensus; Associated Press, LAPD and L.A. Fire Department

Warren Huskey/Staff Artist