[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee of the Township
of Mansfield 8-24-2016 by Ord. No. 2016-10. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
Unless as otherwise provided, no person shall maintain, own,
erect, or construct any building or structure (or any part thereof)
or cause the same to be done which fails to support adequate radio
coverage for public safety entities, including, but not limited to,
police officers, firefighters and Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
workers.
A.
This chapter shall not apply to single-family, residential buildings
or any building 35 feet high or less as long as none of the aforementioned
buildings make primary use of metal or concrete construction or contain
below-grade storage or parking areas. For purposes of this chapter,
parking structures are included in the definition of "building." Stair
shafts are included in the definition of "all parts of a building,"
but elevator shafts may be excluded.
B.
Buildings constructed prior to the implementation of this chapter
shall not be required to comply with public safety radio coverage
provisions of this chapter. However, should the exempted structures
undergo renovation, restoration, or significant modification to the
original structure, exemption from the provisions of this chapter
shall not apply.
A.
Minimum radio coverage into a building: a minimum signal strength
of -95dBm available in all areas of the building when transmitted
from the agency's radio system. For purposes of this chapter,
ninety-percent building coverage is considered to be all areas of
the building.
B.
Minimum signal strength out of a building: a minimum signal strength
of -95dBm received by the agency's radio system when transmitted
from all areas of the building. For purposes of this chapter, ninety-percent
building coverage is considered to be all areas of the building.
The agency shall maintain a document of technical information
specific to its requirements. This document shall contain (as a minimum)
the frequencies required, the location and effective radiated power
(ERP) of radio sites used by the in-building system, the maximum propagation
delay (in microseconds) and other supporting technical information.
Buildings and structures which cannot support the required level
of radio coverage shall be equipped with a radiating cable system
and/or a distributed antenna system (DAS) with Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) certified single boosters (aka bidirectional amplifiers)
or systems otherwise approved by the agency in order to achieve the
required adequate radio coverage.
The active components of the installed system or systems shall
be capable of operating on an independent battery system for a period
of at least 12 hours without external power input. The battery system
shall automatically charge in the presence of an external power input.
If used, signal boosters shall meet the following requirements
as well as any other requirements determined by the agency:
A.
All signal booster components shall be contained in one NEMA4 type,
waterproof cabinet. Permanent external filters and attachments are
not permitted.
B.
The battery system shall be contained in one NEMA4 type, waterproof
cabinet.
C.
The system shall include automatic alarming of malfunctions of the
signal booster and battery system. Any resulting alarm shall be transmitted
to the agency's designated recipient by means specified by the
agency, including, but not limited to, automatic standard telephone
dial-up circuit, TCP/IP network circuit, RS232 interface, etc.
D.
FCC certification prior to installation. Pending FCC certification
is not acceptable.
E.
All signal boosters must be compatible with both analog and digital
communications simultaneously at the time of installation. The agency
will provide the maximum acceptable propagation delay.
F.
Only equipment that is preapproved by the agency may be used. This
chapter cannot be used by the agency to limit equipment to one manufacturer.
No amplification system capable of operating on frequencies
licensed to the agency by the FCC shall be installed without prior
coordination and approval of the agency. This is a FCC requirement.
Each owner shall submit at least one in-building coverage test:
A.
Acceptance resting prior to occupancy of any newly constructed building.
B.
Whenever structural changes occur (including additions to buildings)
that would materially change the original field performance tests.
C.
Annually.
D.
When repairs or alterations are made to the amplification systems.
The performance test shall demonstrate that adequate radio coverage
is available in all required areas of the building. At the conclusion
of the testing, a report shall be submitted to the agency which shall
verify compliance with Section NNN.1.
When an in-building radio system is required, it will be the
buildings owner's responsibility to have the radio system tested
to ensure that two-way coverage on each floor of the building is a
minimum of 90% upon completion of installation. Each floor of the
building shall be divided into a grid of approximately 20 equal areas.
A maximum of two nonadjacent areas will be allowed to fail the test.
In the event that three of the areas fail the test, the floor may
be divided into 40 equal areas in order to be more statistically accurate.
A maximum of four nonadjacent areas will be allowed to fail the test.
After the forty-area test, if the system continues to fail, it will
be the building owner's responsibility to have the system altered
to meet the ninety-percent coverage requirement. The test shall be
conducted using a calibrated portable radio of the latest brand and
model used by the agency talking through the agency's radio communication
system. A test location approximately in the center of each grid area
will be selected for the test, then the radio will be enabled to verify
two-way communications to and from the outside of the building through
the agency's communication system. Once the test location has
been selected, prospecting for a better spot within the grid area
will not be permitted. The gain values of all amplifiers shall be
measured, and the test measurement results shall be kept on file with
the building owner so the measurements can be verified each year during
the annual tests. In the event that the measurement results become
lost, the building owner will be required to rerun the acceptance
test to reestablish the gain values. As part of the installation,
a spectrum analyzer or other suitable test equipment shall be utilized
to ensure spurious oscillations are not being generated by the subject
signal booster due to coupling (lack of sufficient isolation) between
the input and output antenna systems. This test will be conducted
at the time of installation and subsequent annual inspections.
When an in-building radio system is required, it shall be the
building owner's responsibility to have all active components
of the system, such as signal boosters, power supplies, and backup
batteries, tested to a minimum of once every 12 months. Signal boosters
shall be tested to ensure that the gain is the same as it was upon
initial installation and acceptance. Backup batteries and power supplies
shall be tested under load of a period of one hour to verify that
they will properly operate during an actual power outage. If the battery
exhibits symptoms of failure within the one-hour test period, in the
opinion of the agency's representative, the test shall be extended
for additional one-hour periods until the integrity of the battery
can be determined. All other active components shall be checked to
determine that they are operating within the manufacturers' specifications
for the intended purposes.
Police and fire personnel shall at any time have the right to
enter onto the property to conduct its own field testing to be certain
that a required level of radio coverage is present.
