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Nocatee Florida and Sun City
Palm Desert California |
January 2014 |
Community Development Districts & Home Owner
Associations Use Micro Stations to Reach Residents |
The below examples illustrate how information radio is
making its way deeper and deeper into communities via
HOAs, CDDs and other grassroots efforts to help ensure
that property owners have as much time and pertinent
information as possible to prepare for disasters and
stay in touch with local circumstances. Collaboration
with local governments on funding and FCC licensing not
only moves the projects forward but also builds
community. |
On a
good day, Lee Hovis talks to visitors and homeowners as
they navigate the North Florida Resort Community
“Nocatee” about how to participate in events and take
advantage of the area’s amenities. On a bad day, Hovis
may be advising residents how to take steps to ride out
an approaching hurricane. It’s all made possible through
an innovative Information Radio service appropriately
named “Nocatee Radio.” Residents and visitors receive
the 1630 kHz radio signal on their car radios within a
3-5 mile radius of the community.
The station’s broadcasts (hear
sample) are designed to direct visitors and
homeowners to venues in the community, such as, the new
water park, bike trails, neighborhood developments,
community center and emergency services. The District is
developing a plan to utilize the radio service to reach
residents during the next emergency, when power outages
could restrict their ability to gain access to news and
information via the Internet, cable/TV and other methods
that depend upon electricity.
Lee Hovis, the Community Development District’s
operations manager, states, “This radio service is
getting a lot of praise. And, within the next few
months, I will even be able to update the broadcasts
from my computer at home.” The station’s programming, is
currently controlled on the District’s Ethernet network.
Because Nocatee is organized as a Community Development
District (CDD) – a unit of government under Florida law
– it can hold its own FCC license for the service.
Private community organizations such as Home Owner
Associations (HOAs) must coordinate with a local unit of
government (county, township, etc.) to obtain a license.
The first private community on record to initiate an
information radio service was the Pine Mountain Club
Property Owners Association in 1999. Located just south
of Bakersfield, California, and situated right on the
San Andreas Fault, the Pine Mountain Club station keeps
residents apprised of earthquake events, which,
according to operator Bob Clark, “Is something we, in
California, have to deal with…”
In 2004, the Wildland Residents Association near Santa
Barbara, California, began a similar service called the
“San Marcos Pass Emergency Radio Service (SMPERS),”
which has been called into action numerous times to
inform residents evacuating neighborhoods in advance of
approaching wildfires.
See "Putting
Out Fires" article. States association president
Michael Williams, “When the power goes out, telephone
lines are down, there are no computers and everything
stops, this system allows anyone to turn on the radio to
hear emergency advisories.”
The first example of a gated community implementing an
information radio service is Del Webb’s Sun City Palm
Desert Association in Southern California. The
development covers 1,600 acres and has 4,995 homes and
9,000 residents in season. The Association recently
installed an information radio station managed by a team
of resident volunteers.
According to team leader Chuck Holliman, a power outage
in the summer 2011 made obvious the need for the
station. “Many residents of our desert community lost
both air conditioning and communications – and therefore
were unable to learn about emergency cooling centers
available to them. This radio station allows us to
provide essential information to our residents in future
emergencies.” The station is powered by the
Association’s generator should grid power be lost.
Installed in 2013, the Association’s Emergency Broadcast
Radio Team is on call 24/7 and can activate prerecorded
radio messages stored in the station’s memory that match
specific threats that might impact the community:
earthquake, flooding, wildfire and power outage. Once
the threat is better known, the team can broadcast live
programming and record special updates to keep residents
and visitors apprised.
See
Sun City Palm Desert news release.
Because the 1620 kHz signal can be received for miles
outside the property boundaries, locals in their cars or
with battery-powered radio receivers can learn if they
may safely return home after an incident has occurred.
This is a real possibility in a desert community where
flash flooding, wildfires and earthquakes can sever
transportation lines or otherwise make travel unsafe for
an extended period of time.
Sun City Palm Desert Association operates the
information radio station in conjunction with the
Riverside County Fire Department, the FCC licensee for
the service. |
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|
Information Radio Stations is a generic term
synonymous with Travelers Information Stations (TIS), Highway
Advisory Radio Stations (HAR) / Highway Information Systems &
Low Power Radio Stations (LPR). Operation of the stations is
governed by FCC Part 90.242 Rules. A FCC license is required.
Information Radio Stations may be fixed or portable.
Subcomponents may include transmitter, antenna and ground
system, digital voice player, wattmeter, cabinet with
conventional or Corbin locks, lightning arrestors for RF, power
and telephone lines, coaxial cable. Most stations employ black
maximized antennas to discourage ice accumulation and security
measures to prevent unauthorized program access. Options include
synchronization, battery backup, solar power, remote programming
by local, network or telco, multi-station audio distribution via
RF or LAN / WAN or wireless network. |