WiMax at 3650MHz
Jeff Liebermann
The FCC just opened the 3650 to 3700MHz band for WISP (wireless ISP)
service. No clue when the rules will be nailed down or when they'll
be accepting license applications:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-257309A1.pdf
--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831.336.2558 voice http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
# je...@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
# je...@cruzio.com AE6KS
Roy
Unfortunately its a shared band. One of the users is marine radar.
Another is satellite ground stations. Articles I saw elsewhere felt it
would be difficult to meet some of the restriction along the coast line.
The FCC's license database is out of service until tomorrow so I can't
check to see if there are any stations in the area. I know of one
satellite station in the Novato/Petaluma area. If they are on that band
it means a 150 km (90 mile?) blackout radius around the station.
Also note that this will be a licensed band. That tends to push
equipment costs up since demand will be less.
Some other articles
http://rcrnews.com/news.cms?newsId=21795
Keep your fingers crossed
Roy
Eric C. Weaver
>
>
> Unfortunately its a shared band. One of the users is marine radar.
> Another is satellite ground stations. Articles I saw elsewhere felt it
> would be difficult to meet some of the restriction along the coast line.
C-band downlink is 3700-4200 (this from some quick google-work just
now). If the radios do not protect it scrupulously, hash from them
could interfere with the first transponder channel or two. It would
make sense to have a clause requiring such protection in the final reg
that authorizes use of the 3650-3700 band, but who knows whether they
will...
--
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what
they want, and deserve to get it, good and hard. -- H.L.M.
Jeff Liebermann
>Unfortunately its a shared band.
I thought it might be interesting to note that this is the very first
of the former military frequencies released for public use. I think
the order from Clinton to do that came in about 1996? It's good to
see the military being so cooperative and the FCC operating at full
speed.
>One of the users is marine radar.
>Another is satellite ground stations. Articles I saw elsewhere felt it
>would be difficult to meet some of the restriction along the coast line.
Yeah, there will be problems. They'll probably be handled exactly the
same way as MMDS handled ITS TV, Nextel handled SMR and public safety,
and 700MHz is being handled. The organization with the most dollars
pushes the others out of the band.
>The FCC's license database is out of service until tomorrow so I can't
>check to see if there are any stations in the area. I know of one
>satellite station in the Novato/Petaluma area. If they are on that band
>it means a 150 km (90 mile?) blackout radius around the station.
I'm sure someone will post a list of proscribed areas. I'll wait
rather than risk my sanity diving into the ULS.
Incidentally, I find this handy for finding things on the FCC web
pile:
http://www.jneuhaus.com/fccindex/
http://www.fcc.gov/oet/spectrum/table/fcctable.pdf (Pg 54)
3600-4200
FIXED FIXED-SATELLITE
(space-to-Earth) Mobile
3650-3700
FIXED FIXED-SATELLITE
(space-to-Earth) NG169
MOBILE except aeronautical
mobile NG170
US245 US348 US349
3500-3700
FIXED FIXED-SATELLITE (space-to-Earth)
MOBILE except aeronautical mobile
Radiolocation 5.433
>Also note that this will be a licensed band. That tends to push
>equipment costs up since demand will be less.
My reading between the lines and the incoherent comments by various
commissioners on the fcc.gov web pile seems to imply that they're not
interested in licensing and coordination as is currently practiced in
various bands. I read it as "registration" which simply means that if
you're gonna belch RF in that band, you need to inform the FCC that
you exist. I'm reading this as a compromise between the rampant loss
of control presently in the ISM bands, versus the litigatory nightmare
of obtaining licensed spectrum in competitive areas. However, the
usual disclaimers apply as the FCC didn't bother to explain what it
meant by licensing. There also don't seem to be any restrictions on
who gets the licenses, so I expect the ILEC's to dive right in and try
to take over for no better reason than preventing anyone else from
establishing a foothold in the last mile biz.
>Keep your fingers crossed
It's difficult to type that way.
--
Jeff Liebermann je...@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 AE6KS 831-336-2558
Eric C. Weaver
> I'm sure someone will post a list of proscribed areas. I'll wait
> rather than risk my sanity diving into the ULS.
Being just that sort of fool, I searched ULS for licenses in the range
3650 to 3699.999 MHz and got exactly two listings, both expired.
Both are clearly data entry mistakes (slipped decimal points or units).
ULS may not have satellite earth station receive terminals...
Roy
> Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>
>> I'm sure someone will post a list of proscribed areas. I'll wait
>> rather than risk my sanity diving into the ULS.
>
>
> Being just that sort of fool, I searched ULS for licenses in the range
> 3650 to 3699.999 MHz and got exactly two listings, both expired.
>
> Both are clearly data entry mistakes (slipped decimal points or units).
>
> ULS may not have satellite earth station receive terminals...
>
They are in the IBFS database. I found licenses in "Three Peaks" (near
Novato), Livermore, San Ramon, and Mountain Home (near Tracy).
Roy
Jeff Liebermann
wrote:
>Jeff Liebermann wrote:
>
>> I'm sure someone will post a list of proscribed areas. I'll wait
>> rather than risk my sanity diving into the ULS.
>
>Being just that sort of fool, I searched ULS for licenses in the range
>3650 to 3699.999 MHz and got exactly two listings, both expired.
>
>Both are clearly data entry mistakes (slipped decimal points or units).
Thanks. My sanity is preserved. One of the local university
researchers did a map of commercial radio station locations by
Lat-Long from the ULS database as part of an RF exposure research
project. There were a considerable number with station licenses
located in the middle of Monterey Bay. Others ended up in equally
unlikely locations. These are all licenses coordinated by various
private frequency coordination organizations
http://wireless.fcc.gov/microwave/coordinators.html
http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/ind&bus/licensing/freqcoordinators.html
http://wireless.fcc.gov/publicsafety/coord.html
http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/personal/medtelemetry/licensing/frequencycoordinator.html
who are alleged to have some interest in accurate locations and such.
Sigh.
>ULS may not have satellite earth station receive terminals...
Receive only stations are not licensed.
What bugs me is that the FCC could only release about 50MHz of
spectrum. That's not really enough as most of Europe allocated 200MHz
to WiMax.
Roy
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-56A1.pdf
Appendix "E" (page 63)has a list of stations to be protected and a map
showing the areas. The SF area is fully covered which means its more
difficult but not impossible to get a license here.
Roy
Eric C. Weaver
> The FCC has published the info on the 3650 Mhz band at
> http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-56A1.pdf
>
> Appendix "E" (page 63)has a list of stations to be protected and a map
> showing the areas. The SF area is fully covered which means its more
> difficult but not impossible to get a license here.
Looks like the biggest issue is on the two azimuths where the side lobes
touch the ground, if I'm reading the graphs right. There are
doubtless places in the Bay Area that are clear of all dozen dishes'
sensitive zones, but I haven't the energy to mask them out just now...