Enterprise Wireless Insider® Volume 7, Issue 22

Darn Those Former Employees

UNS Electric, Tucson, Arizona was hit with a $25,000 Apparent Liability for Forfeiture for operating pursuant to a license that had been expired for nineteen months. After UNS Electric discovered that its license had expired, they filed for and received a Special Temporary Authority. When asked to explain what happened in a Letter of Inquiry, UNS Electric stated that they continued to operate the station “on a more or less daily basis” with the belief that a former employee had mistakenly indicated that the former license had in fact been renewed.  For the unlicensed use of an expired station, a $10,000 fine was issued; $3,000 was added for not renewing the former call sign; and $12,000 was added to the shopping cart given the “totality of the circumstances and the fact that UNS Electric’s parent company UNS Energy was a “substantial enterprise.”

I Was Sick, No My Students Are At Fault, No …

At first, Glen Rubash advised the FCC on the phone that he would refuse to surrender any equipment located in his detached garage in Manhattan, Kansas that was used to operate an unlicensed radio station on 88.3 MHz. Of course, that was before the FCC actually showed up at his door and later issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of $15,000. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Rubash  recanted, noting among other defenses that the station operated within Part 15 limits and was only able to reach 300 feet beyond the garage, that his college students must have operated it, that he had no knowledge of the radio transmitter that was in place when the FCC agents inspected the station because he was absent due to illness, that someone must have replaced the transmitter while he was recuperating from his illness (his students for sure), and that he is unable to pay in any event.  The FCC reduced the forfeiture to $4,000.

If Transmitting Data – Then License Data Usage (And Monitor!)

Maher Terminals, Elizabeth, New Jersey received a Notice of Violation after the FCC had received a complaint of harmful interference.  In response to the complaint, FCC agents observed that Maher was not monitoring the channel for communications in progress and was transmitting digital data on their UHF system, but their license only authorized digital voice.  Maher was given twenty days to explain each violation and to provide a statement of specific actions taken to correct each violation.

Admiral David Simpson Named Chief of PSHSB

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced that Admiral David Simpson will be the new Chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. Chairman Wheeler stated that “Admiral Simpson’s extensive experience managing and securing complex and disparate information environments worldwide makes him exceptionally well suited to lead PSHSB.”  
FCC News
 

State of Maine Sticks to Public Safety

In a recent Order, the FCC granted a waiver to the State of Maine to use a public safety one-way paging frequency for two-way communications in its new statewide VHF radio system.  The State explained that it was the only licensee in Maine authorized to use the frequency.  The FCC agreed this “repurposing” of an available public safety frequency for this purpose was in the public interest.  EWA had supported the State’s request, emphasizing the importance of public safety applicants exhausting all available public safety spectrum resources before seeking frequencies from other allocations, including I/B allocations.  
 

Opportunities Abound at 4.9 GHz

It wasn’t EWA who claimed back in 2012 that the 4.9 GHz band, a 50 MHz swath of spectrum “repurposed” from Federal Government to public safety use, appeared to be underutilized by the public safety industry. It was the FCC and a number of interested parties, including EWA, which have since supported the notion that eligibility to this band should be expanded to include non-public safety licensees but not commercial entities. Recognizing that the CII community, EWA and FCC sentiment was favoring changes to public safety’s grip on the 4.9 GHz band, the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC) spent half the year drafting a “4.9 GHz National Plan Recommendations Final Report” which the FCC released for public comment.

EWA was an active participant in numerous NPSTC’s teleconferences and meetings dedicated to developing the 4.9 GHz report, and served as co-chair on NPSTC’s Task Team responsible for determining how and under what circumstances non-public safety entities might best access this band. Not surprisingly, not a single recommendation from the Task Team was included in the final report other than references in footnotes.

While favorably noting the report’s recommendation that a 5/5 MHz block be made available to CII entities on a co-equal, shared basis with public safety users, EWA’s comments also suggested that the use of the 4.9 GHz band would be significantly improved should the FCC take a more expansive approach and allow all licensees of private internal systems co-primary access to the frequencies designated for shared public safety/non-public safety use. Adoption of this broader definition would permit greater utilization of this band and expand the universe of equipment providers which the Commission previously concluded would benefit public safety.

The NPSTC report recommended that only public safety coordinators be permitted to coordinate applications for the 4.9 GHz band, including applications from whatever non-public safety entities are permitted to operate on this spectrum because coordination in the 4.9 GHz band will require “the highest level of technical expertise and professionalism.” In response, EWA stated that “with all due respect to public safety coordinators”, it is confident that EWA and others have both the capability and commitment to process applications in conformance with whatever rules and policies the FCC adopts.  EWA Comments