Jump to content

Paying for spectrum space


Jack Norflus

Recommended Posts

  • 2 weeks later...

It seems to me the idea of the airwaves being a public common is dead. When I took my FCC general liscense test to operate a radio station transmitter as a disc jockey, The FCC emphasized my knowing and following the rules was a matter of public trust to allow everyone who was authorized to share the airwaves. In the 80's, as consolidated media groups started to buy multiple stations, corporate favoritism with the FCC was on the increase. Since the gloves have come off and the monopoly rules were eliminated, (along with the operating budget of the FCC) The concept of a public trust seems to have gone the way of clean air or water..i.e. up to the highest bidder. The idea of paying for what you were told was yours sounds unfair to me. I guess once the wireless microphone app gets perfected for the Iphone it'll all be a moot (or perhaps mute) point anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rupurple2: they stopped licensing non-commercial radio people in the 90s. I had to get a license when I was a DJ (and in control of the transmitter) in 1992, but that stopped a few years later.

That said, station itself is licensed and responsible for whom the let take the wheel. That's also something 100-10,000 watts and operating 24/7/365.

If I remember right, the FCC stopped licensing stations under 100 watts in the 80s. The station I worked at in college was under 100 watts and pushed it to 110 to maintain a license.

That's also all unimportant today. How many different people have run the FCC in the last 25 years, and the demand for wireless spectrum has dramatically changed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Points well taken.When I looked up the date on my FCC license it was issued on 8-22-1979. No wonder my concepts are antiquated. I appear to be turning into one of the old muppets in the balcony. I am certianly no genius. I can barely even spell without the help of a computer it seems.  Who in 1979 could have imagined our current situation? By my count in wikipedia that's over a dozen commissioners of the FCC ago. Perhaps we can devise a clever method to pass the costs of renting spectrum on to the producers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The whole thing would be a nightmare for people that travel. Maybe "renting spectrum" makes sense if you are working at an arena, stage, church or theater for months (years) at a time, but when you don't know what state you will be in next week, it's crazy. Even day to day films shot on location, things constantly change. It would be stupid to rent my freqs even for a 50 mile radius. Again, what if I end up 100 miles away tomorrow?

You can use software and charts, but in my experience you need to scan when you get to a location. There are things that don't exist on paper, but my scans show them. That's part of the reason the FCC "tell us what freqs you will be using in the future at a location you have never been to" is crazy for people working on the move. News crews are a great example. How would they know where the news will be in a day or two?

You could argue that the 700MHz is an artificial value of the spectrum. Look who bought all of it. The big existing wireless people, and they have dragged their feet using it. They gobbled it up to keep a newcomer from breaking into their business. They also bought coverage for the whole country. We only need to go a city block. That block moves all the time, but it's not far.

Yes, sports events and theaters in town may use 100 channels of wireless, but I can be a few blocks away and use the same frequency. Their wireless kit is never going to leave the complex, and a wireless mic is worth more to them than a few college kids making something on the weekend 1 mile away..... So will they pay the same? Probably.

Going back to FM radio, fines for non-commercial college stations are the same as massive commercial ones. The way the fines are now (they exponentially increased a few years ago), one fine would be a school station's whole operating budget for 5 years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

JP has expressed one of the many, competing POV's, however he shoots at his foot with " may use 100 channels of wireless, but I can be a few blocks away and use the same frequency. " wich refers the FCC to the "good old days" when they allocated a handful of wireless mic frequencies on pretty much that basis.

it is really complex, with lots of
$$ for lots of entities at stake, and we are the really small potatoes, but will be luck to ride the coattails of the churches, concerts, shows, etc, and the largest manufacturers of wireless mic's (whose products we rarely even consider) like Shure, Sennheiser, and Audio Technica  who sell huge volumes of wireless mic/IEM products to the power users.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...