Friday fragments - comms news from around the web for 24 October 2014

A round-up of the week's critical communications and public safety radio news for Friday, 24 October 2014.

Don't mention the 'E' word. Fire Department dispatchers in New York City have been told to not use the word 'ebola' over the radio. Authorities are concerned that use of the word might lead to public concern, or even panic, as radio channels are monitored by the media and radio enthusiasts. Instead, dispatchers have been told to use the term 'fever/travel' to indicate someone who has a fever and has recently been in West Africa.

Stolen radios lead police to thief. A not-too-bright crook stole two emergency dispatch radios and began to use them intermittently, enabling authorities to ascertain his location and arrest him.

Cell phone dead zone. A 20 km-long cell phone dead zone in an Arizona canyon that's home to 300 families led to a delay in firefighters attending a potentially deadly forest fire. Travellers in the canyon spotted smoke, but had to drive 10 minutes to the nearest fire station to raise the alert. The firefighters' own radios worked in the canyon once they got there, but another problem soon arose - congestion, as there were 1200 firefighters on the scene at the height of the effort.

'Elephant' antenna farm to go. A US military Cold War-era antenna array known as the 'Elephant Cage', near the Japanese city Misawa, is being torn down. Used to intercept Soviet radio transmissions, the circular structure is 440 metres wide and 42 metres high. It's going to take a year to pull it down.

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