From the AP WIRE Today's stories Friday, April 30, 2004 1:45 pm
ALFRED, Maine — York County officials believe someone is deliberately jamming emergency radio frequencies, putting firefighters and potentially other emergency workers at risk.
There have been eight incidents of emergency radio communications blocked over the past two months, said county electronics technician Keith Page.
Page and York County Sheriff´s Department Lt. Gary Fecteau believe the interference is deliberate, not an accident caused by the proliferation of cell phones or a dead spot where radio transmissions transmit poorly.
Waterboro Fire Chief Frank Birkemose recalls trying to use his radio to contact firefighters inside the burning structure to convey some information while battling a mobile home fire recently. Birkemose couldn´t get through, authorities believe, because someone with a two-way radio intentionally blocked his communication.
Birkemose ended up sending someone inside to relay the message, and he had to use a cell phone to communicate with York County dispatchers because he couldn´t reach them on his public safety radio.
"It boils me," he said. "I had people in the building in a dangerous situation and we couldn´t maintain communication with each other."
The incidents take place mostly on weeknights after 5 p.m. and on weekends. In most cases, Page said, the interference consists of silence but sometimes noise is broadcast. Fecteau said the Federal Communications Commission is participating in the investigation.
An FCC spokeswoman declined to comment on specifics but confirmed a report of interference on a frequency used by the fire departments. She said the agency is involved in investigating the incident.
There are 21 agencies that use York County Communications. The interference has been broadcast on the primary fire frequency used by 16 departments.
Limerick Fire Chief Roland LePage said the incidents seems to happen when fire departments are the busiest. "It seems like it happens when there´s multiple calls going on," LePage said.
Penalties for deliberately interfering with emergency radio traffic are hefty. In situations where someone is apprehended, a $10,000 fine can be levied, and the cases are turned over to federal prosecutors.
JERUSALEM (AFP) Apr 30, 2004
A joint US-Israeli test of an anti-missile laser cannon was partially successful, the Israeli defense ministry said Friday.
"The trial was conducted at the White Sands US army base (in New Mexico). In accordance with the principal objective, we managed to locate the missile" and track it, "without being able however to attain our secondary objective, which was to destroy it," the statement said. The statement added that "the trial consisted, first and foremost, in locating the missile and trace it," and only "incidentally" to neutralize it.
The test was part of the THEL/MTHEL (Tactical High Energy/Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser) project on which the United States and several Israeli armament firms have been working since the late 1990s.
The MTHEL (a mobile version of the THEL with a lesser range) has already successfully been tested against Katyusha rockets fired individually or in salvos. Experts say the THEL/MTHEL's most interesting feature, compared with a classic anti-missile missile, lies in its low operating costs and ability to be repeatedly fired at short intervals.
Israel views the MTHEL as a good way to protect itself against Katyusha rockets, typically fired across its northern frontier by the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah on its northern frontier. Link