NOTE from poster: this edition is completely unedited. please provide feedback   
   in this area if you prefer edited or non-edited postings. no responses may   
   result in these feeds being discontinued.   
      
      
   ---------- Forwarded message ----------   
   Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2014 13:39:46 -0400 (EDT)   
   From: ARRL Web site    
   To: nf5b@wpusa.dynip.com   
   Subject: ARLB013 FCC Decides Not to Adopt New Rules Affecting 902-928 MHz Band   
      
   SB QST @ ARL $ARLB013   
   ARLB013 FCC Decides Not to Adopt New Rules Affecting 902-928 MHz   
   Band   
      
   ZCZC AG13   
   QST de W1AW   
   ARRL Bulletin 13  ARLB013   
   > From ARRL Headquarters   
   Newington CT  June 12, 2014   
   To all radio amateurs   
      
   SB QST ARL ARLB013   
   ARLB013 FCC Decides Not to Adopt New Rules Affecting 902-928 MHz   
   Band   
      
   The FCC has terminated a longstanding proceeding involving the   
   902-928 MHz (33 centimeter) band. In 2006, the FCC, in WT Docket   
   06-49, proposed rule changes to encourage development of the   
   Multilateration Location Monitoring Service (M-LMS) - a terrestrial   
   service for location of objects and tracking. Amateur Radio is   
   secondary in the band to federal radiolocation systems, industrial,   
   scientific and medical devices, federal fixed and mobile systems,   
   and the M-LMS. This week, the FCC, with little fanfare, concluded   
   that proceeding. The notice can be found on the web in PDF format   
   at,   
   http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2014/db0610/FCC-14-79A   
   1 .pdf   
   .   
      
   "Based on the record before us, and on recent developments   
   pertaining to M-LMS operations in the 902-928 MHz band, we conclude   
   that the various proposals for wholesale revisions of the applicable   
   rules do not merit further consideration at this time," the FCC   
   said.   
      
   Commenting on the 2006 proposal, the ARRL expressed concern about   
   increasing noise levels in the band. "This 'kitchen sink' of   
   allocations is acceptable from ARRL's perspective, provided that the   
   noise floor is regulated, in terms of aggregate noise levels from   
   unlicensed devices," the League said. "The high power levels   
   permitted in this band in particular bear careful watching, lest the   
   allocated radio services, including federal systems, suffer   
   decreased utility of the band."   
      
   After the FCC last June gave consent to Progeny LMS to begin   
   commercial operation of its M-LMS in the upper portion of the   
   902-928 MHz band, the ARRL worried that a portion of the band could   
   become less useful to radio amateurs in urban areas. "Progeny is   
   deploying a wide-area positioning system to provide more precise   
   location services in areas where Global Positioning System (GPS) and   
   other existing services may not work effectively, particularly   
   indoors and in urban canyons," the FCC explained at the time.   
   Progeny's location service is designed to operate on approximately 4   
   megahertz - about one-half of the M-LMS portions of the band between   
   919.750 and 927.750 MHz - where Progeny holds licenses.   
      
   While M-LMS operations, at least on paper, have a higher priority   
   than unlicensed Part 15 devices on the band, Progeny had to   
   demonstrate through field testing that its network would not cause   
   "unacceptable levels of interference" to such Part 15 devices as   
   cordless telephones and baby monitors. This was a result of an FCC   
   policy to promote "co-existence" in the band, while not elevating   
   Part 15 devices to co-equal status with M-LMS systems.   
      
   In his June 2012 "It Seems to Us..." editorial in QST, ARRL CEO   
   David Sumner, K1ZZ, pointed out that effectively setting unlicensed   
   services such as Part 15 at a higher priority than licensed services   
   "is the reverse of the usual situation in which Part 15 devices are   
   at the bottom of the pecking order." Federal (military)   
   radiolocation and ISM Part 18 devices are at the top of the 902-928   
   MHz food chain. Sumner predicted that operations such as Progeny's   
   "will pose some new challenges for amateurs in a band that is   
   already impacted by other users."   
      
   The latest FCC action will not affect Progeny's M-LMS deployment. In   
   terminating the 2006 proceeding, the Commission said it had   
   concluded that Progeny could commence commercial M-LMS operations   
   "within the framework that the Commission initially had established   
   to promote the co-existence of M-LMS operations and unlicensed   
   operations in the band."   
   NNNN   
   /EX   
      
      
      
      
   )\/(ark   
      
   One of the great tragedies of life is the murder of a beautiful theory by a   
   gang of brutal facts. --Benjamin Franklin   
      
   --- FMail/Win32 1.60   
    * Origin:  (1:3634/12.71)