"How many more disasters do there have to be?" asked Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Penn., who said he had visited the devastated city of New Orleans at the end of last week and found recovery work was being hampered by communications problems among first responders - much as it was in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.

News reports this week have highlighted the fact that police forces in New Orleans City and the three surrounding parishes all use different and incompatible radio equipment.

Experts say that, along with proper equipment and training, freeing up more and better frequencies is one of the essential pre-requisites for reaching the holy grail of full communications interoperability for first responders.

Weldon, and Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said that a congressional panel had in 1995 recommended that, as TV broadcasters transitioned to digital transmission - which takes up a much smaller fraction of the spectrum - the frequencies freed up would be allocated to first responders.

"We have not kept the promise we made 10 years ago," said Harman, calling the situation "a black eye" and "an embarrassment" for lawmakers.

She and Weldon have written to Speaker of the House Rep. Denny Hastert, R-Ill., to ask for a suspension of the normal rules of debate so that a bill to enforce a deadline for handing the relevant frequencies to first responders can be passed next week.

In the Senate, a similar measure, sponsored by John McCain, R-Ariz., and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., is currently before the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Weldon said the sponsors were working with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R.-Tenn, to try and get that bill to the floor soon, too.

The parts of the spectrum identified by the 1995 Public Safety Wireless Advisory Committee report are in the high 700 Mhz range - which experts say is ideal for use by emergency services because signals sent over these frequencies can penetrate walls and travel long distances.

"This (part of the spectrum) is prime real estate," said Yucel Ors of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, a non-profit that represents first responder and emergency management communications specialists.

But, he added, "There are squatters on it," referring to the TV broadcasters.

The law passed in response to the 1995 report set a Jan. 1, 2007, target date for broadcasters to free up that part of the spectrum.

"But there's a huge get out for them," a congressional staffer who has worked on the issue told United Press International. Broadcasters are not required to relinquish their spectrum allocation until 85 percent of households in their market have the equipment needed to receive digital signals.

The staffer said that this creates "a chicken and egg" problem - without a firm date for the transition from analogue, there is no incentive for viewers or broadcasters to upgrade to digital equipment, and penetration remains well below the 85 percent baseline in most major markets.

Broadcasters and their supporters say that imposing a deadline would penalize those viewers who cannot afford new equipment, and that households replace electronic goods like TV sets every few years, arguing this should lead eventually to major markets crossing the 85 percent threshold.

But Michael Powell, then chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, testified last year to the Senate commerce committee that the 85 percent penetration test could result in transition being delayed for "decades or multiple decades."

"It is time to tell the broadcasters to get out of the way," said Weldon, blaming "the lethargy of congress - both parties and both chambers" for the failure to move on this issue before.

Ors said that broadcasters had also lobbied hard against a deadline. "They have more resources than we do," he said, "First responders are busy on the front lines, we don't have as much time as they do to lobby congress."

Experts are keen to stress that spectrum is just one of the pieces in the interoperability jigsaw.

"Even if the ... deadline is imposed," said the congressional staffer, "this is going to take some time."

The other pieces of the puzzle include equipment and training, but as Ors points out, even in these areas, delays in freeing up the spectrum become a problem.

"Until there's a firm date (for the transition) public safety agencies can't make the investments in the equipment they need" to make use of the new frequencies, he told UPI, adding that manufacturers were also loath to spend money developing and marketing equipment which could remain effectively unusable until some yet-to-be-determined date in the future.

But the trickiest piece of all, according to the congressional staffer, is what he called "the human element," and Ors refers to as planning.

"Without clear planning (by neighboring jurisdictions), without proper staffing and training, you can have all the spectrum and equipment you need and it won't get you there," said Ors.

"There are cultural problems between fire departments and police forces and (emergency medical services)," said the congressional staffer.

And in huge disasters like Hurricane Katrina has caused, a lack of interoperability can be the least of first responder worries.

Kenneth Moran, acting director of the homeland security office in the Federal Communications Commission, told a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing Wednesday that interoperability had been only one among many problems in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- which blew down transmission towers and cut power in huge swathes of the Gulf coast.

"We did see interoperability problems," he said, "But the biggest problems we saw initially were things that were needed to get the (cellular and broadcast) networks up and that tended to be security issues, staging of personnel to get them in there and ... also trying to get fuel (for generators) into the areas until the power would come up."

But responders say that - in a situation of prolonged crisis like the one in Louisiana - the time before and after the towers go down and the power goes off is as important as any other.

"Good, strong communications help you prepare better and recover faster," said Harlin McEwen, a retired FBI official and the chairman of the communications and technology committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

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