Friday fragments - comms news from around the web for 9 May 2014

A round-up of the week's critical communications and public safety radio news for Friday, 9 May 2014.

South Korea eyes 700 MHz for safety. The South Korean Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning is considering implementing a national disaster wireless comms system using the 700 MHz band. Following the vacation of the band by terrestrial analog broadcasters in 2012, the ministry has allocated 40 MHz to the communications sector, with another 68 MHz presently available.

Military communications report. A 371-page report from Visiongain assesses the state of the gamut of military communications globally in 2014. The report, which covers terminals and payloads, Satcom, encryption, interception and jamming, and technical services and support, says the market will be worth US$16.35 billion this year.

US hams in cross-band comms test. Amateur radio operators across the US will take part in the 2014 Armed Forces Day Cross-Band Communications Test on 10 May. The test will see military-to-amateur cross-band communications on both SSB and CW, and will involve more than 20 military radio stations.

Town plans dispatch regionalisation. Officials in Newtown, Connecticut, are considering a proposal to hand the town's 911, fire, police and ambulance dispatch over to a private, non-profit dispatching facility. The plan is drawing criticism from some quarters.

DARPA wants to deal with congestion. US military research agency DARPA has two programs underway to attempt to deal with spectrum congestion. The Advanced RF Mapping (RadioMap) and Shared Spectrum Access for Radar and Communications (SSPARC) efforts aim to map spectrum usage and find ways in which to share spectrum between military and civil users.

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