Tag: safety cast

Yesterday the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology dismissed a wacky scheme that would have equipped police cars, school buses and other vehicles with broadband, low-power AM and FM transmitters. Safety Cast’s Interceptor™ technology would’ve allowed these vehicles to flood all AM and FM channels within a quarter-mile with emergency bulletins and information.
After granting, scuttling, and resurrecting Safety Cast’s experimental license in June, the FCC finally decided to open up the whole issue for some public comment, the deadline for which was today. But the FCC’s dismissal without prejudice of Safety Cast’s application seems to put the whole matter to rest – lights and sirens will have to do. Continue reading “Safety Cast Gets Dissed”

Weirdness in the name of “homeland security” – In April, a Florida company called Safety Cast applied for an experimental FCC license to test its Interceptor™ technology, which is designed to quickly inform communities about terrorist alerts, lost children messages, and other emergency situations.
Although radio stations are required to have equipment installed that can decode (and, in most cases, automatically relay) such bulletins via the Emergency Alert System, Safety Cast ups the ante. Using remote transmitters installed on emergency response vehicles, the Interceptor™ will broadcast these bulletins on all AM and FM frequencies – simultaneously – with a maximum coverage area of about a quarter-mile for each vehicle. Continue reading “Like Pump Up the Volume in Reverse”