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 We have now finished reviewing the dismal (partial) list of historic FCC spectrum management engineering mistakes, and in this final part of the series we’ll look at some suggestions for how the FCC could, ideally, conduct this highly-important function. The Commission would never adopt any of these proposals, of course, but “even engineers can dream!” [...] In this post we will finish the list of FCC historic spectrum management mistakes that began with Part 1 of this series. 12. Land Mobile “Re-farming:” (1990s-present). By itself not a major league blunder, but more of a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” gambit. The basic idea is to halve, and then later halve again, the [...] Now, we continue the long list of FCC historic spectrum management mistakes that began with Part 1 of this blog series. 6. Nextel (1990s). Back when it all began they were known as “Fleetcall,” but their real intention became apparent with the re-naming of the company after a few years. Their mission: to construct a [...]  LBA Group has asked the Federal Communications Commission to speed up broadband deployment by promoting wireless antenna collocation on AM towers. How? By cutting local red tape for collocations and halving the annual AM fee for station owners who allow use of their towers. The Sept. 30 filing in WC Docket No. 11-59 is LBA’s [...] The Curmudgeon recently read an account of yet another potential spectrum management (engineering) gaffe toward which the FCC has been briskly marching, and that set him to pondering. The FCC has, historically, produced a series of what might be classified as spectrum management mistakes, ranging from blunders at the marginally tolerable level to complete fiascos. [...] The Curmudgeon, having been licensed in the Amateur Radio Service for more than fifty years, has had a long-standing desire to attend the nation’s premiere annual ARS convention, the Dayton Hamvention. However many small, niggling practical matters, such as employment, family, and funding have always created road blocks. Now in full retirement and well along [...]  Christopher K. Horne, chief technical officer at telecommunications innovator LBA Group Inc., is participating in industry discussions on both coasts this month. This week, Horne is one of 8 panelists in a peer review forum in Los Angeles, Calif. Speakers carried a variety of specialty credentials to the closed-door presentation. The 43-year-old Horne is a [...]  LightSquared apparently has dodged a GPS bullet that almost shot it down before it started up. It will switch to another spectrum that virtually eliminates interference with Global Positioning System receivers. Early tests by the Reston, Va., 4G network provider indicated that one 10-megahertz spectral block of its Long Term Evolution (LTE) open wireless broadband [...]  Many radio and TV broadcasters in the United States are not aware that a year’s old FCC rule may be about to wreck their microwave operations! If you have an affected operation, you should take immediate action to preserve interference protection for your system. On October 16, 2004 the FCC changed the coordination rules for [...] Field testing has been performed to determine the effect of a 4G base station, typical of those proposed by LightSquared, upon first responder GPS devices. Early results of tests in New Mexico show an impact on police and medical services equipment. Bill Range, Program Director of New Mexico 911 services reported the test results (PDF) [...] In this series of posts we are looking at the telecommunications technology available to the average consumer in the year 1960 and comparing it with that which exists today. We can trace some of the changes in daily life that the technological advances of the past fifty years have brought, and also see how our [...]  Although they are a hundred years and a thousand megahertz apart, broadband wireless systems and AM broadcast have a curious and important relationship! Through this free webinar “AM Radio: Traps & Promises in Broadband Deployment” presented by WCAI and LBA, you will learn about AM transmission, how the AM towers and wireless towers interact, and [...]  The Wireless Communications Association International (WCAI) Engineering Committee voted Thursday to launch a Signal Boosters Subcommittee and elected LBA Group CTO Chris Horne as the chair. Chris Horne, Harry Perlow of Sprint is WCAI Engineering Committee Chair. The WCAI subcommittee on Signal Boosters is established in response to the FCC’s recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking [...]  Great news for Educational Broadband Service (EBS) license holders, the Federal Communications Commission has granted an extension to file showings of Substantial Service for EBS license holders. On March 21, 2011 the FCC adopted a memorandum and order that concludes, “we waive the requirements for licensees to individually file extension requests. We also extend the [...] Last time we began a discussion about some of the factors (mostly human-created) which could limit the future usability of the RF spectrum. The first two were spectrum-use saturation and the spread of poorly-designed, RF-radiating digital devices. In this post we’ll conclude the Curmudgeon’s list with three more possible factors, and then toss it open [...] The recent series of posts dealing, in part, with the future of the Amateur Radio Service launched the Curmudgeon’s thinking into a new direction. Being a “philosopher dude” kind of guy whose thoughts tend to move toward larger and more futuristic issues, the Curmudgeon generalized his thinking to consider the future prospects for the entire [...]  Back in March we made a post introducing the FCC Spectrum Dashboard which at the time was being beta tested. Now the site has been upgraded and officially taken out of beta! The dashboard adds a sense of transparency into how America’s spectrum is being used. In the FCC’s words: “The Spectrum Dashboard allows new [...] Last time we looked at the consequences of a broadcast channel allocation matter in which a small, analog Low Power TV station was displaced from its high UHF channel assignment in Pleasantville (a medium-size city located near Gotham City, a regional metropolis) by the FCC’s re-allocation of its existing LPTV channel to the new 700 [...]  In a unanimous decision Thursday, the FCC opened up TV white spaces spectrum for use by unlicensed devices, while reserving two channels for wireless microphones. The Commission rejected arguments that white space broadband use was uncontrollable and threatened over-the-air TV. The FCC voted 5-0 on rules for that move. The FCC believes these guidelines could [...] This is a tale of two cities and a case of monumentally stupid broadcast regulation by the FCC that has afflicted their region of the country. The story in Part I will make a small point, but one which has larger ramifications that will be developed in Part II. The Curmudgeon lives in a mid-sized [...]  This isn’t really news. President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum on June 8, 2010 entitled Unleashing the Wireless Broadband Revolution. This committed the federal government to find an available 500 MHz of federal and commercial spectrum over the next 10 years for reallocation to broadband. The President said that this spectrum will foster investment, economic growth and help create hundreds of thousands of jobs by meeting the “burgeoning demand” for mobile and fixed broadband, other “high-value uses” and benefits for other industries. Currently, wireless companies have about 534 megahertz allotted to them. That number will double in the next ten years, apparently. [...] In the previous post, the Curmudgeon looked at the first of the two major sociological changes that, in his opinion, have occurred in the Amateur Radio Service during the past fifty years: the “dumbing down” and “consumerization” of the ARS. In this post he examines the second major change. This other change, the Curmudgeon suggests, is the ascendency of ARS operators’ ego as a principal organizing force. It has changed the Service during the past half-century, and not for the better. There are several ways in which this trend manifests itself today. [...] It’s not been the Curmudgeon’s intention to devote appreciable coverage to the Amateur Radio Service (ARS) in these blog postings. A majority (perhaps most) of today’s telecommunications professionals are no longer licensed hams, although in past decades they most likely would have been. However, two recent personal events again brought the ARS into focus. In the first, earlier this year the Curmudgeon (today an Amateur Extra Class licensee) celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of earning his first ARS license, which was the (former entry-level) Novice class ticket. The second event was receipt of a gift of some computer CD-ROMS containing sets of page image files for the historic 1930 through 1959 issues of QST Magazine (the principal ham journal, published by the American Radio Relay League). [...] Comments are now closed on the FCC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to overhaul antenna-related rules, which covers Part 17 on construction, lighting, and marking. Comments were due by July 20th and the deadline for replies is August 19th. A lot of our readers and clients already own AM broadcast antennas or if you own any kind of antenna structure or are expecting to build one, hopefully you have already contacted the FCC and made your suggestions, as this opportunity does not come along often. [...] The US economy, juiced by the national popular culture, is about to commit another major telecommunications blunder! The title of this piece gives a clue to it. Since there is no way to stop or to prevent the developing blunder, it might be of some use at least to understand what we are doing. American [...] Within the developing utility Smart Grid universe, this time we’ll look at some special concerns about the customer-centric Advanced Metering Initiative area. Here the deck is stacked entirely against the consumer. First, the consumer will have to pay the costs for implementing the Initiative; in California alone, the costs just for replacing a significant portion [...] Last time we introduced the new buzzword term, the utility Smart Grid, provided a quick overview of the concept-undergoing-creation, and noted that doubts exist whether the utility industry can successfully implement it. Now let’s spend a little time examining those doubts as they relate to the utility-centric side of the Smart Grid effort. The first [...] The FCC requires that all 2600 MHz band BRS and EBS broadband licensees who would must demonstrate that they provide “substantial service” to actual customers no later than May 1, 2011. Failure to meet this requirement will result in forfeiture of the license and the licensee will be ineligible to regain it. Various “safe harbors” [...] There is a new “next great thing” concept now moving through the land, undergoing promotion in the popular press and probably destined to be a future concern (and cost burden) to the citizens of the United States. That term is “Smart Grid.” And it’s a term that would be much easier to deal with if, [...]  Some wildlife conservationists and communications industry members have reached an understanding about how to start giving migrating birds safer flights when they take wing in the vicinity of wireless and broadcast towers. In a memorandum submitted this month (May) to the Federal Communications Commission, the ad hoc group recommended the FCC develop interim standards on [...] |
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