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 Previous: Tennessee, Alabama Getting New Section Managers |  Next: The Amateur Amateur: Thanks for the Megahertz! |
NEWINGTON, CT, Nov 19, 2003--The FCC has amended its Part 15 rules to make another 255 MHz of spectrum available in the 5.470-5.725 GHz band for unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) devices, including Radio Local Area Network (RLAN) devices. In its Report and Order (R&O) in ET Docket 03-122 released November 18, the FCC said it was taking the action to alleviate crowding in existing allocations and to align U-NII bands in the US with bands elsewhere in the world. The FCC turned down an ARRL request to keep U-NII devices out of the 5.650 to 5.670 GHz segment to avoid interference with the Amateur Satellite Service. Amateur Radio has a secondary allocation from 5.650 to 5.925 GHz.
"We are not persuaded that we should either add or modify our proposed rules as requested by ARRL," the FCC said, adding that its dynamic frequency selection (DFS) and transmitter power control (TPC) requirements "will in fact protect amateur operations," although they're not specifically designed to do so.
Commenting in the proceeding September 3, the ARRL expressed concerns about "potential aggregate interference" from U-NII devices to Amateur Radio space stations in the 5.650-5.670 GHz band. The League did support of other elements of the FCC's proposals, however, including a power limitation of 1 W EIRP, and said hams were willing to cooperate with the RLAN industry on other sharing-related issues.
In its comments, the League said the amateur allocation at 5.650 to 5.925 MHz "has been subject to 'death by a thousand cuts.'" The FCC's most recent action leaves Amateur Radio with "relatively uncompromised access" to a 25-MHz segment at 5 GHz--5.825 to 5.850 GHz, the ARRL said. That includes a 20-MHz-wide satellite downlink segment, 5.830 to 5.850 GHz. Federal government users are primary over the entire band.
The Commission said that because of the large amount of spectrum it's adding to the 300 MHz of spectrum already available for U-NII devices, it expects the density of devices to be relatively low. "We believe that this low density of devices coupled with our technical requirements will provide adequate protection to all incumbent systems in the band, including amateur satellite uplink systems," the FCC said.
"We continue to believe, as evidenced by the support in the record, that there is need to make the 5.470-5.725 GHz band available for unlicensed U-NII devices," the FCC said. "This additional spectrum will relieve the developing congestion in the existing 5.725-5.825 GHz band and provide opportunities for further development of U-NII technologies and system capabilities."
The FCC said it would treat the U-NII devices like other unlicensed intentional radiators that operate on a non-interference basis under §15.15(c) of the rules.
In changes "generally consistent with the US proposals for World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03) and with the resolutions adopted at WRC-03," the FCC also amended the Table of Frequency Allocations in Part 2 of its rules by upgrading the federal government Radiolocation Service in the 5.46-5.65 GHz band and the non-federal government Radiolocation Service in the 5.47-5.65 GHz band to primary status. It further added primary federal government allocations and secondary non-federal government allocations for the Space Research Service-Active (SRS) in the 5.35-5.57 GHz band and for the Earth Exploration-Satellite Service-Active (EESS) in the 5.46-5.57 GHz band.
The R&O culminated a 2002 Petition for Rule Making from the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA), now known as the Wi-Fi Alliance to allocate an additional 255 MHz of spectrum for use by U-NII devices in the 5.470-5.725 GHz band. The FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rule Making last June.
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