In a letter dated November 12 to FM Approvals, EWA questioned the justification for a proposed revision to FM Approvals Standard 3610 regarding intrinsically safe (IS) portable wireless devices.  FM Approvals had previously reported that this change was necessary to harmonize domestic IS standards with the International Electrotechnical Commission 60079-11 series of standards.  MORE

Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) recently filed for an extended construction period and a waiver of the rules prohibiting permanent discontinuance of operations to support its efforts to develop a wide area integrated trunked private land mobile radio system utilizing both Part 90 and Part 22 spectrum. In comments filed on November 12, EWA fully supported PG&E's request to be granted the equivalent of the extended implementation authority that is routinely available under the rules for 800/900 MHz applicants that demonstrate a need for more than the typical one-year period to place their facilities in operation.  MORE

EWA and USMSS members gathered for three days during the Enterprise Wireless 2010 conference in Orlando, Florida earlier this month. Always reported by attendees as the optimum industry venue to network with other business owners and decision makers, conference highlights included an impressive array of exhibitors, member meetings, an FCC presentation on the forthcoming Consolidated Licensing System, and strategic views on forthcoming telecom policy, technology trends and public safety developments. Presentations will soon be available on EWA's web site for your review.

During the Annual Membership Meeting, two new members were elected to serve on EWA's Board of Directors.  David Patton, Partner, of the Cambridge Group, a manufacturers' representative agency from Plano, Texas; and Terry Zaccarino, President, Communications Electronics of Virginia, Fairfax, Virginia.  MORE 

During the annual meetings, EWA's Board of Directors determined to establish a Joseph B. Vestal Scholarship Fund to be awarded to qualified college students who will be pursuing careers within the wireless sector recognizing Mr. Vestal's many contributions to the industry.  Joe Vestal currently serves as an alternate member on the Board of Directors and as a member on EWA's Finance Committee.

To comply with its obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the FCC will be conducting a Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) of its Antenna Structure Registration (ASR) program.  MORE

Licenses recently auctioned in the lower and upper paging bands in Auction 87 were granted on November 3, including  a number of applicants that had requested a waiver of FCC Rule Section 20.9 (a)(6) to operate on a non-common carrier or private internal basis.  MORE

Citing a Land Mobile Communications Council's (LMCC) policy position on file at the FCC, the Commission denied petitions for reconsideration from two licensees in the 470-512 MHz band that had argued granting authorizations for 4 kHz occupied bandwidth operations did not satisfy adjacent channel TSB-88 frequency coordination interference criteria. MORE