State of Maine v. AAR 

You just knew it was inevitable.  Frustrated by a "lack of support" from the Association of American Railroads (AAR), the State of Maine has filed eighteen applications and a waiver request seeking authority to operate trunked land mobile facilities on VHF channels which are exclusively coordinated by the AAR, but not exclusively allocated for use by railroads. In its request, Maine reports that in response to repeated requests for concurrence, AAR indicated that it would oppose any request to coordinate these frequencies for public safety use. Maine has countered that AAR's rejection of its request for concurrence is "grossly inadequate", and alleges that the AAR made no effort to coordinate Maine's applications or to verify the interference potential of Maine's proposed use of railroad channels.  MORE  

Light Squared Petition Ruling Moves One Step Closer 

In 2011, LightSquared requested the Commission to "resolve the regulatory status" of commercial Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, to the extent their operations may be impaired by the ancillary terrestrial component (ATC) of LightSquared's licensed operations in the 1524-1559 MHz Mobile-Satellite Service (MSS) band.  MORE 

Public Safety VHF TDMA Systems Beware 

EWA is not quite sure whether one or all four of the FCC's public safety frequency advisory committees are on board with this coordination policy, but we know that at least one has informed EWA that it will not certify applications that specify a fixed transmitter within the 150-174 MHz band using a 7K60FXE/D/W emission designator in excess of 10 watts ERP pending further testing.   MORE 

ATS Cites Compliance Difficulty in Waiver Request 

Arguing that licensing its numerous customer locations throughout its nationwide service area as permanent base stations would be "administratively cumbersome for it and its frequency coordinators", American Time & Signal Company (ATS) seeks a waiver of the definition of a mobile station necessary to license fixed transmitters with ERP levels as much as 40 watts, as mobile units under a station class code of MO6.   MORE 

FCC Request Guidance on Narrowbanding Waivers 

The FCC has requested public assistance in evaluating twenty-one separate public safety requests for waiver of the January 1, 2013, narrowbanding deadline. Of interest, the Tennessee Highway Patrol asked for an additional 3 years; New York City Transit 3.5 years, the Pennsylvania State Police 2 years; and Ocean County, New Jersey an additional 5 years (!) to comply.  MORE 

Amen Brother! 

After receiving a monetary forfeiture from the FCC for operating an unlicensed radio transmitter on frequency 95.9 MHz from his business location in Miami, Florida, Durrant Clarke responded that while he had control of his physical space, "Brother Gary" was the party spreading "the word of God" and had placed the radio equipment at his business.  MORE 

But I've Been Good! 

Gila Electronics Inc. was issued a fine in the amount of $3,200 for operating their licensed fixed point-to-point microwave station at an unauthorized location and for "providing a carrier service not in accordance with the rules applicable to its particular radio service."   MORE 

We Will be in Vegas! 

Going to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks? Please plan on visiting EWA at the Motorola Channel Partner Expo (CPE) at the Aria, February 20-21; and then at IWCE at the Las Vegas Convention Center, February 22-23. Visit our Events page 

Crosby's "Why, When and How" Narrowbanding Class     

If you missed the January 26 Narrowbanding webinar hosted by School Transportation News, featuring Mark Crosby, you can still see it at this link
.