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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 [...]  Just three decades after the first generation of wireless telephone technology was introduced, engineers, wireless operators, and industry analysts are talking about the best way to split the fourth generation broadband spectrum into more usable parts. It could get messy, LBA Group’s Chris Horne warns. Horne’s warning came in a discussion at last week’s 4G [...]  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 [...]  Two RF safety experts from LBA Group, Inc. will teach radio frequency safety to company managers in a class in Texas. The class sponsor is ComTrain, which provides safety training for the vertical structure construction industry. It sought LBA’s expertise. “Basic Tower Construction Class” is Sept. 19-23 at ComTrain headquarters in Austin. LBA will present [...]  Knowledge is power. More to the point, knowledge of radio frequency energy is the surest way for a wireless worker to protect himself from being exposed to dangerous levels of RF radiation. LBA Group, in cooperation with university educators, has developed the OSHA RF awareness course with certificate of completion so that wireless tower workers [...]  Chris Horne, LBA Group, Inc. CTO, will be moderating a free webinar on PIM: Passive Intermodulation sponsored by the WCAI Engineering committee. The speaker will be Ray Butler, Vice President – Base Station Antenna Products and Development at CommScope. PIM has become increasingly important with the explosion of wireless data services and the increasing need [...] In this series we have been looking at the telecommunications technology available to the average consumer in the year 1960 and comparing it with what exists today. In this concluding post we will summarize what has been presented and draw some (personal) conclusions. Summary: It should be somewhat apparent to the reader of these past [...]  Global Positioning System receivers remain wary of the plan by 4G network provider LightSquared to create a wireless broadband network to serve every nook and cranny of the U.S. In testimony June 23 before a House subcommittee, opponents of the LightSquared system said it would endanger the GPS navigation systems that aircraft and ships depend [...] 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 [...] 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 what exists today. We will perhaps be able to see some of the changes in daily life that the technological advances of the past fifty years have brought, as a [...] 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 [...]  Recent legal cases between some wireless carriers and manufacturers of signal boosters also known as handset amplifiers have moved the FCC to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to address interference concerns by the mobile operator. The FCC initiated the proceeding to “facilitate the development and deployment of well-designed signal boosters” In the proceeding, [...] In writing these posts the Curmudgeon has tried to bridge the views and outlooks of its readers’ several different age generations, and has attempted to prepare the descriptions to be meaningful across the entire range of ages. But indications have become evident that the views about the role of telecommunications (and related products) in human [...] 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 [...]  The 101st Annual Radio Club of America Awards Banquet will be Friday, November 19th at the Park Central Hotel in New York. This one-day event will include a cocktail party at 5:30 p.m. followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. Several Radio Club of America members will be receiving awards this year: Donald C. Cox PhD [...] There is an article in the October 2010 issue of IEEE Spectrum (p. 26), “The Great Spectrum Famine.” It makes much the same case as does the Curmudgeon, but from more general considerations and a bit higher level. The Curmudgeon said: “It really doesn’t say much that we don’t already know, and I don’t really [...]  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 [...]  The Wireless History Foundation (WHF) announced four individuals to be inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame, including Raymond C. Trott, RF engineering pioneer and founder of Trott Communications Group. Lawrence Behr said on Facebook: “Friend and colleague Ray Trott inducted into Wireless hall of fame – congrats Ray!” On October 5th, 2010, the new [...]  President Obama’s multi-billion-dollar proposal to give every home broadband access seems to be a campaign without a constituency. This is not the first time administration efforts seem guided by something other than a groundswell of consensus. The administration has directed that $7.2 billion in stimulus fund grants target the broadband upgrade effort, declaring that universal [...]  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. [...] 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). [...] 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 [...]  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 [...]  Cisco recently performed an on-line survey about RF interference and Wi-Fi network usage with 600 participants from industries such as agriculture, education, arts, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and many others. 78% of companies now consider all or part of their wireless network to be mission critical. 54% of companies indicated that RF interference causes wireless network [...] |
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