Keep the Light On For Me
A $12,000 fine was issued to Miller Communications, Red Hill, Georgia, for their failure to monitor their antenna structure lighting, and to exhibit all red obstruction lighting from sunset to sunrise. FCC Frofeiture Order
Category: Enforcement CornerPermanent Use of Itinerant Channels Granted
The FCC granted a waiver request from Amoco Chemical Company to use three 900 MHz itinerant channels at a permanent location. Amoco had argued that it needed to expand its existing 800 MHz system to eliminate congestion and provide more reliable communications and that no other 900 MHz spectrum was available. The FCC granted the waiver (Order) but only on a secondary, non-interference basis. Amoco must accept interference from licensed itinerant operations and may not cause interference to itinerant users.
Category:4G to Compete with Microwave for Backhaul
The FCC adopted a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking stating it will “speed the rollout of fourth-generation (4G) broadband networks, accelerate the role of expanded wireless broadband communications in national economic revitalization and job creation, and bring new broadband services to rural areas where microwave is often the only feasible backhaul option.” The Report and Order portion of the decision will now permit fixed microwave operation in several spectrum bands previously reserved for specialized microwave services. Specifically, the FCC will allow Fixed Service (FS) licensees to share the 6875-7125 MHz and 12700-13100 MHz bands currently used for Fixed and Mobile Broadcast Auxiliary Service (BAS) and Cable TV Relay Service (CARS). A Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeks comment on additional proposals for making microwave communications more flexible and cost-effective.
Category:"We can do better..."
In an address during the APCO International 2011 conference, FCC Chairman Genachowski discussed the various plans in play to use technology to improve public safety operations such as the launch of Personalized Localized Alerting Network (PLAN), and a new mobile emergency alert service which will be available nationwide by April 2012. The Chairman also addressed recent Commission efforts to enhance 9-1-1 location accuracy rules by requiring wireless carriers to “meet more stringent metrics,” and the ongoing goal of the Commission to implement a nationwide interoperable mobile broadband safety network. While he praised technology trends such as texting, camera phones and video, he noted that the widespread use of such technologies has the ability to “revolutionize emergency response and saves lives”, but claimed that “our 9-1-1 call centers still can’t handle texts or pictures or video being sent by phones” that we all seem to have access to.
Chairman Genachowski Remarks
TETRA Association Defends Its Technology
After both TIA and Motorola Solutions argued that further technical review was needed to support assertions that TETRA technology would not increase levels of interference in the Part 90 spectrum bands, the TETRA Association in Reply Comments again argued that their systems would not cause interference; should not be classified as high-density cellular systems; and that no additional limits should be placed on their implementation. The TETRA Association also repeated its statement that it has no intention of marketing TETRA to public safety entities or otherwise attempting to supplant P25 as the means of public safety interoperability. It also agreed with EWA’s position that “TETRA is not suitable for operating in shared channels” and concluded that frequency coordinators would not approve its use on such channels.
Category: In the newsCMRS Regulatory Fees due September 14
Last week, EWA advised its communications carrier members that September 14, 2011, is the deadline to file Commercial Mobile Radio Service regulatory fees as announced by the FCC (Public Notice). Commercial “private carrier” providers whose systems are not interconnected with the public-switched telephone network (PSTN) are classified as PMRS and are not obligated to file regulatory fees on the deadline, as their regulatory fees are submitted at the time of initial license application submittal and eventual license renewal. Carriers whose systems are interconnected with the PSTN, including those who are providing one-way and two-way paging services licensed in Parts 90 and 22; SMR and other Part 90 commercial dispatch services (including operations in the 220-222 MHz band), are encouraged to carefully review the Public Notice. Of course, members may call EWA for clarification and assistance.
Category: In the newsHelp - Digital System Identification
In an effort to assist its members who are operating digital communications systems to comply with the Commission’s station identification requirements contained in Rule Section 90.425, earlier this month EWA filed a letter in support of Motorola and Kenwood pleadings agreeing that digital system operators should be permitted to transmit identification information in a digital format. The FCC has failed to address this matter for over four years despite the growth of advanced digital systems in the marketplace. EWA urged that the “Commission resolve this issue as expeditiously as possible so that compliance with station identification requirements may be maximized regardless of the technology deployed.”
The Land Mobile Communications Council (LMCC) will be submitting a similar request for the FCC to address this matter sooner rather than later as well. In a forthcoming letter from the Council to the Commission, the “expansion of digital systems has not benefitted from necessary rule changes associated with station identification requirements. In other words, these specific rules have not kept pace with technology advances in use by licensees within the Part 90 services. As a consequence, licensees are forced to install Morse identifiers that are totally incompatible in digital transmission systems, adding to the cost of implementing such systems and making them less efficient by having to shift modes to identify. Additionally, the policy that limits the number of sites on each license to only six (6) sites requires larger systems to have to identify with multiple call signs. Licensees should be able to select one call sign in the system and use that to identify all transmitters. This station identification requirement is currently permitted by the FCC for CMRS stations, but not for PMRS stations.”
The GPS Industry’s “Failure to Comply”
The stakes are huge and the FCC is a believer that all good things will come from more and more broadband service, so it’s no surprise that LightSquared would file a letter within the friendly confines of the Commission noting that “the GPS industry’s failure to comply with the Department of Defense’s (DoD) filtering standards is the root cause of potential interference involving LightSquared’s proposed broadband wireless network.” “Had the GPS industry complied with DoD’s recommended filtering standards for GPS receivers, there would be no issue with LightSquared’s operations in the lower portion of its downlink band,” Jeffrey Carlisle, Executive Vice President for Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy stated in the FCC filing (press release).
So there! EWA is not sure how or when the FCC will respond to this urgent plea for assistance or whether LightSquared will now ask DoD to enforce its GPS receiver standards. Millions of animals for years now have been regularly leaving the barn, and an anguished rant about who is responsible for leaving the door open doesn’t bring the animals back, nor does it particularly restore order to the farm.