There's nothing intrinsically wrong with wanting to provide public safety
organisations with a digital radio system. Such a system promises secure, local
and inter-service, communications, better signal quality and higher reliability.
For the police, the digital nature of the system means that it will be almost
impossible for criminals to listen-in to their transmissions, for the ambulance
and fire services, it means that they can operate their own independent systems,
but easily communicate with the other services in emergencies, where it is vital
that information gets quickly and accurately to the people who are best suited
to help.
Terrestrial Trunked Radio, or TETRA for short, promises an awful lot, but it has
not been a smooth ride as it has been brought into service.
The problems started at inception. The UK government decided that a digital
radio network was required and opened up the tendering process for suppliers of
TETRA equipment. This brought a sharp and severe rebuke from the EU because the
tender specified the system which had to be used, and instantly excluded any
alternatives which could provide the same benefits and services. This
did not stop the government from sticking with TETRA, and setting the goal that
the first working system must be in place for the Greater Manchester Police
before the 2002 Commonwealth Games, which would be held in their manor.
The Home Office and Police Information Technology
Organisation ( PITO ) were tasked
with implementing the system, or at least bringing hardware and service
suppliers together, and overseeing the roll-out of TETRA. It was generally
reported that trials in Lancashire were on the whole very successful, although
there were some problems identified.
The most unexpected problem perhaps being that the equipment was so good, and
the speech so clear, that an officer trying to have a private conversation over
the air could be heard from quite a distance away. Not what you want when you've
got a suspect at hand, and you're discussing confidential information.
Other problems with the system have been less well advertised.
The police's favoured supplier of the TETRA infrastructure was
Dolphin Telecom, but they went into
receivership in August, 2001, and haven't even released a press release on
their status since.
In some ways, this was a blessing, as it was widely rumoured that Dolphin's
systems were largely incompatible with other TETRA systems used within the
rest of Europe, but it undoubtedly left the Home Office and PITO up a blind
alley.
Luckily, British Telecom was offering its own TETRA service, Airwave, which
became part of mm02 when BT split its land and mobile businesses. Airwave has
become the only choice for TETRA, and the Home Office will have to go with it,
like it or lump it, or admit that the EU were right, and look at alternatives
to TETRA. It looks like far too much has already been invested for an about
face now though, and the deadline of the Commonwealth Games looms.
So TETRA marches on, good or bad. And there are some seriously bad things about
TETRA.
Even the Police Federation has raised serious concerns about TETRA, calling on
the government to delay the roll-out until its members have been satisfied that
it was safe to use.
The official response has been little more than a trotting out of the same old
theoretical promises of safety; there is no proven risk, studies have not shown
any medical links between phone or radio emissions and ill health and so on. As
usual, no categorical guarantees that TETRA is safe.
TETRA is alleged to be considerably worse than GSM technology which is presently
in use, and we all know the rows which occurred when the mobile phone operators
started putting radio masts in or near schools. Given the outcry then, it's a
surprise that there hasn't been much public complaint over TETRA and the siting
of its transmission masts. That is perhaps because most people know nothing of
TETRA or the technology behind it.
To provide the maximum TETRA coverage, transmission power levels are much higher
than for GSM, both at the base stations and the hand held transceivers, and fixed
in vehicle devices are four times more powerful than handheld devices. This is
the only way to cover the whole of the UK without having to have more masts
than are wanted.
With higher power comes an increased risk of danger, but TETRA has one more
nasty up its sleeve. Nearly all digital radios and phones use some clever form
of multiplexing between the base stations and the mobile device, otherwise only
one person could use the mast at a time. The speed at which the multiplexing
is done is very important, as this in itself creates pulses of electromagnetic
radiation.
Sir William Stewart's report on mobile phone safety commissioned by the UK
government didn't say mobile phones were dangerous, but nor did it say they were
safe, and offered a lot of advice on how to reduce the risks which might exist.
One primary concern was the effect of radiation in the 16Hz region. This is a
frequency the brain is highly sensitive to, being one of the frequencies
at which the brain ticks along at. Exposure to such frequencies can cause fits
and epileptic reactions.
Guess which frequency TETRA throws out; 17.6Hz.
So not only will we see massive amounts of radiated power being generated at
the base stations, but the frequency it will be done at could cause some very
severe health problems. Of course, this is all supposition, and it's not hard
to get a government lackey ( or scientist as they prefer to be called ), to
re-iterate that there is no proven problem, no definitely known risk, and
blah, blah, blah ...
It's not surprising though that the police are concerned about taking this
technology out with them. They rely heavily on their radios in their work, and
are obviously not convinced by this, "no provable risk", argument. Neither
should we be.
It was no surprise either that as concern mounted about TETRA, Sir William
was contacted for his opinions. What was very surprising was his response.
It appears that the government officials who provided input to the Stewart
Report were well aware of the Airwave specifications at the time, but chose
not to inform the Independent Expert Group about the TETRA technology, and
remained quiet when it came to the issues of low frequency effects.
Although Sir William hasn't publicly committed himself either way on the risks
of TETRA, it is clear that his recommendation that technology which could have
effects on health be approached in a precautionary way stand, and he appears
concerned that TETRA is being rolled-out wholesale, without additional
research.
The official response to Sir William's comments was, once again; everything's
hunky dory, don't worry your little heads about it.
Ambulance and paramedic services also have their concerns. Particularly the risk
that the use of high powered TETRA devices will have inside hospitals and in
other areas where radio interference can be life threatening. The fire brigade
are equally concerned that the use of TETRA devices could present an explosive
risk in the environments in which they are used. The dangers of using TETRA
devices extends well beyond hospitals and petrol stations, where the use of
mobile phones is met with severe castigation because of the risk of use. There
are also obvious risks in airports and on planes, and anywhere where electronic
equipment is used to ensure a correctly functioning and safe working
environment.
If TETRA becomes fact, which it looks like it will, how are the police or any of
the public safety services going to work in those environments and retain the
ability to communicate ? This is a question which has not been answered. Most
possibly because it hasn't been thought through, or the authorities know that
it's such a monumental cock-up that they want to pretend that the issue doesn't
exist.
At the moment it doesn't look like the ambulance and fire services are prepared
to accept TETRA, leaving the police and army ( who have little choice ) to go
it alone.
Recent police experience hasn't been too satisfying either. Greater Manchester
Police, as they ramp up towards complete implementation, are reporting serious
problems and are still regularly using their old radio systems. Not only have
there been problems trying to
place calls, but calls are being cut off; not what one wants to occur in a life
or death emergency. A lot of handsets and fixed vehicle radios have also been
reported to make extremely loud and unpredictable 'squawking' noises which has
put officers at risk, not just from the surprise when they go off, but as they
attempt to turn equipment off.
It is not clear if the TETRA system will be in place for the Commonwealth Games
in Manchester, or if it will be the only system in use at the time. The official
comment is unlikely to be anything other than, "plans are proceeding as we
expected", which means neither yes, nor no.
On a wider scale, mm02 are reporting that the national roll-out for TETRA is
being delayed as people are opposing the siting and erection of TETRA masts.
Obviously the fears over TETRA safety are starting to spread.
That mm02 have predicted a 13% failure rate in the TETRA system and equipment
must worry those who will be using it, and should worry us too, as failures
there will have consequences for those requiring emergency services.
Eventually though, the TETRA system will be in place, pushed onwards by
government determination, and everyone will be told to be happy with it, and
we'll hear lots about how it's been worth it in the fight against crime, and
how it has been a cost effective project.
However, not everyone is happy with the cost at the moment, not even some parts
of the government. The Public Accounts Committee has expressed its concerns over
the agreement with mm02, supporting an earlier report from the National Audit
Office which said the police were paying over the top.
The Public Accounts Committee wants to know why PITO has agreed to pay Airwave
some 1.5 billion GBP for its service, which includes a 17% profit margin, when
there was no competition. It has also expressed its concern with the 170 million
GBP 'alleged risk cover' and 70 million GMP 'contingency charge' which mm02 are
taking. Obviously they too consider that there may be some major risk to the
users of the TETRA system or the public at large. It's ironically amusing that
the police are paying mm02 to provide the compensation to themselves if it turns
out that there are health risks involved.
It is hard to not turn right back to the initial tendering process and ask why
the competing TETRAPOL system was never considered, which supporters say could
have been implemented for a tenth of the cost, and would be much safer as it
doesn't use any dangerous frequencies during operation.
TETRA could turn out to be one of the most expensive, and disastrous mistakes
that has been made in recent years. While many large-scale projects go down the
pan, taking many millions of pounds with them, very few destroy the health of
the population on their way.
The man in the street might also like to know that the frequency TETRA operates
on is very close to that used in radio key fobs, as used for opening car
doors and garages, and some car and house burglar alarms. Although most modern
key fobs will use different frequencies, or be immune to TETRA interference,
the first many will know that a TETRA mast has been installed near them is when
they are unable to get in their cars, or can't turn the house alarm on when they
go out.
This could explain why the TETRA system around Manchester is running on much
reduced power. If it's not to minimise the dangers posed by high power operation,
it's to keep interference down.
Of course, it could just be that the authorities and equipment suppliers don't
want to draw attention to the problems that TETRA poses, so installing it
completely without causing complaint, means that once it's turned on it will
be too late to turn back the clock.
Let's just hope that when it is turned on, and cranked up to full power, we
don't see people falling in the street, frothing and screaming in epileptic
fits. Alien invaders destroying our brains with their weapons of evil are
tales of science fiction. Not something we want to do by intention.
Links
Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones - The Stewart Report
Minutes from the National Radiological Protection Board
Police Federation concerns on TETRA
Commentary upon Police Federation concerns - vnunet.com
Response to Police Federation with comments by Powerwatch
TETRA is dangerous says top scientist - vnunet.com
Powerwatch comments on TETRA's 17.6Hz
Is TETRA mind control ?
mmO2 police profits come under the microscope - Silicon.com
