Enterprise Wireless Insider, Volume 14, Issue 1

Channel 14 Interference

800 MHz Rebanding

On December 16 the Transition Administrator (TA) notified the FCC that reconfiguration has been completed in NPSPAC Region 5 – Southern California. Sprint’s most recent monthly report stated that only five licensees, including one Public Safety (PS) licensee in the El Paso region, still need to be retuned. This multi-year project is near completion!

LMCC Petitions to Correct Sprint-Vacated Release Dates

On December 31, 2019, the Land Mobile Communications Council (LMCC) filed a Petition for Correction requesting that the FCC recognize and correct the record associated with multiple release dates for the same Sprint-Vacated spectrum. Specifically, the LMCC identified 197 Sprint-vacated channels and their call signs in the 800 MHz band that were cancelled correctly by Sprint, but for which multiple release dates had been issued by the FCC. Multiple release dates for the same channels incorrectly trigger an additional five-year period of eligibility limitations. This inadvertent extension denies access to these channels for critical infrastructure industry (CII) and non-public safety eligible applicants for 3 to 5 additional years. As a solution, the LMCC recommended that the FCC correct its records and, in the interim, permit the 800 MHz Frequency Advisory Committees to certify applications based on the first release dates published by the FCC. To support correcting the record, the LMCC provided the FCC with detailed information evidencing the multiple release dates for the affected 197 channels.

B/ILT Coordinators to Meet with FCC

The seven B/ILT frequency advisory committees will be meeting with the WTB’s licensing staff later this month for the purpose of identifying approaches that would limit the increasing number of application returns. Of critical importance to EWA is to adopt communication protocols between the FCC’s licensing personnel and FACs that would substantially enhance licensing productivity thus benefiting applicants and licensees.   

PS Licensing Orders

FCC Proposes Spectrum Sharing in Two Bands

•  On December 12, the Commission proposed changes to rules governing the 3.1-3.55 GHz band that would remove non-federal secondary radiolocation and amateur allocations and relocate incumbent non-federal operations out of the band in order to prepare the band for commercial wireless use.

• On December 19, 2019, the FCC proposed rule changes that would designate a portion of the 5.9 GHz band for unlicensed uses, such as Wi-Fi. For 20 years, the band has been reserved for use by Dedicated Short-Range Communications to enable vehicle-related communications. The Commission finds that DSRC has not been widely deployed and the spectrum has been unused.

EWA Advocacy Priorities Recording and Presentation Available Now

• 900 MHz Incentive Program
• 3.65 GHz Auction
• Licensing 101 for Sales Professionals
• Finding Frequencies with Cevo Go
• Understanding Emission Designators

Need to Monitor Frequencies? Use Cevo Go

If you or a client would like to monitor channels in the UHF/VHF band before submitting a license application, use EWA’s Cevo Go. You may download the Cevo Go app on your phone or tablet — or try the desktop version. There is no charge to submit a search request for up to five frequencies based on your parameters (such as band, location, number of frequencies). The search does not take long, and you may begin monitoring frequencies as soon as you receive search results or to assist you with your next sales meeting with a potential customer. When you have determined which frequencies you want, use Cevo Go again to ensure the frequencies are still available, and then submit your application to EWA.