My apologies. Do to a tech error I did not let you know that the U.S. Senate Commerce hearings on Communications in a Disaster is being webcast today, the 22nd, and also September 29. Make sure you tune in and then let your senator know what you think.

Also don't miss the Response to Katrina hearing held by the Senate Homeland Security committee.

Also, get ready to send your assistance for the Rita recovery effort.

Molly M.Peterson and Drew Clark of the National Journal give an overview of the constant action on the transition.

They lay out a timetable for the bill but the draft is not complete.

"If -- as expected -- the Senate Commerce Committee pushes for enactment of the DTV legislation as part of the so-called budget reconciliation package, it must submit the measure to the Senate Budget Committee before a newly established deadline of Wednesday, Oct. 26. That would presumably require the Commerce panel to act during the week of Oct. 17, when Congress returns from its Columbus Day recess."

Public safety concerns are ovrshadowed by the ongoing differences between the broadcasters and the cable concerns. Check out the article.

In a clear statement FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin outlined the FCC disaster realignment for the agency.

Item one was to provide $200 million in assistance. Item two was to find ways to improve network reliability. And finally , the creation of a bureau to coordinated disaster response.

Good goals.

Seantor John Mccain wants the dtv transition date moved up to 2007. His senate floor remarks note the devastation suffered by millions in Hurricane Katrina.

RCR Wireless reporter Heather Forsgren Weaver reports:

"In a change to his previously proposed bill, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) wants to move up by two years the date that broadcasters must give back the extra spectrum they were given for the transition to digital TV to the original date of Jan. 1, 2007.

....In June, McCain introduced what he described as compromise legislation that would have given broadcasters an extra two years to complete the DTV transition. In July, the National Association of Broadcasters, which consistently has tried to delay the spectrum transfer, said it was willing to support-or at least accept-a 2009 hard date.

....Sensing another slip, the Association of Public-safety Communications Officials International stepped up its lobbying effort by sending a letter to all members of Congress urging that Congress finish the DTV hard date legislation this year.

"While we are still gathering specifics, the Katrina disaster demonstrates once again the critical need for robust, interoperable radio communications for public-safety personnel. Congress can help by ensuring that public-safety agencies have the communications tools they need, including sufficient radio spectrum and the funding to construct and maintain state-of-the-art interoperable communications systems," wrote APCO President Gregory Ballentine."

If you have not been called to serve in the areas affectred by Hurricane Katrina, you can sure make a great contribution to the future of public safety communications by urging your local congressman to back the original 2007 dtv transition date.

The massive disaster that Hurricane Katrina has caused will last a decade. The hideen cost in lives will be astronomical as despair, frustration and stress silently and slowly claim many who survived the initial devastation. The elderly will be the hardest affected by the total loss of everything they have worked for.

The country itself can barely tolerate another disaster as war rages in Iraq and Afganistan.

Give until you can't give anymore and then dig deeper. Volunteer until you are bone tired. Help everyone.

And while you are doing all that, watch for the daily response calls that keep up no matter what is happening anywhere else in the world. Be safe.