The Georgia Emergency Management Agency/Homeland Security (GEMA/HS) with support from the Georgia Technology Authority (GTA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is hosting a webinar for the January 1, 2013 FCC VHF and UHF narrowbanding mandate deadlineto provide information and resources to understand the depth of the upcoming mandate that affects over 90 percent of radio systems within the state of Georgia. The FCC mandate requires all VHF and UHF radio system users in the nation to reprogram, reconfigure or in some instances replace existing equipment to make it more efficient to today's technology standards. This mandate is referred to as "narrowbanding" which many of your public safety first responders may be familiar with through various workshops and exercises we've conducted over the past 3 years. This webinar is provided at no cost and is scheduled for Thursday March 1^st from 2pm-4pm.

Who should attend?
Radio system users of VHF and UHF frequencies (150-512 MHz)
        -Public utilities (power, water, sewer system voice dispatch and data monitoring systems)
        -Public safety (Law enforcement, fire services, emergency medical services, 911 dispatch centers, incarceration facilities, etc)
        -Hospital and Medical facilities using the 155.340 (Hospital Emergency Ambulance Radio-HEAR and UHF MED channels)
        -Boards of Education (school radio communications, pupil (bus) transportation, etc.)

Users of 700 and 800 MHz radio systems may also be affected by this federal mandate if they operate any VHF and UHF frequencies as secondary or back up radio systems.  It is recommended that agencies inquire on the types of FCC licenses held and frequencies operated by their agency in order to determine the impact of this mandate.

Registration for this webinar is required and can be completed at the following weblink:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Narrowbandregistration
Once you submit your registration, you will be added to the attendee list.  A confirmation email will be sent to the email account used for your registration and it will contain the webinar access information.  That email should be sent to you no later than 12 noon on Tuesday February 28th.