Ofcom publishes illegal broadcasting factsheet

On Tuesday the UK regulator Ofcom published an illegal Broadcast fact sheet.

The factsheet can be found at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/enforcement/
illegalbroadcast/factsheet.pdf

It infers that the legacy VHF 70/80 MHz radio equipment in use by the London Fire Brigade can be subject to "blocking" when in close proximity to 100 watt transmitters operating on frequencies above 88 MHz.

Clearly reliable communications is an imperative for a "safety of life" service and the London Fire Brigade is planning to move to the secure UHF Digital Tetra radio communications service in November 2008. In addition they have deployed over 200 ACCOLC enabled mobile phones.

If the changeover does take place as planned at the end of 2008 the legacy 70 MHz VHF equipment may well end up on the second-hand market during 2009.

London Fire Brigade response to the London Assembly recommendations http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/reports/7july/evidence-aug07/LFEPA-letter-update-130607.pdf

London Assembly 7 July Review Committee, follow-up report, August 2007 http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/reports/7july/follow-up-report.pdf