Radio Spectrum Regulation
The electromagnetic spectrum
exhibits some of the properties of what economists call a
Common Good. Other than the cost of designing,
building, and operating radio stations, its use is free.
Each user has no incentive to individually use the spectrum
efficiently since there is no savings; and is, in fact,
motivated to secure for his own use the maximum amount of
spectrum. However, uncoordinated, wasteful use can
easily result in everyone suffering interference, which
prevents satisfactory operation and denies access to new
users.
The electromagnetic spectrum is an unusual common
good, or natural resource, because, unlike iron,
oil, or coal, it is not destroyed by use. When one
user stops using a portion of the spectrum, another can
readily use it; i.e. it is shared spectrum.
The spectrum is scarce, though, because at any given time
and place one use of a portion of the spectrum precludes any
other use of that portion.
The use of radio spectrum is regulated by almost all
countries around the world, access is controlled, and rules
for its use enforced because of the possibilities of
interference between uncoordinated users. In
the United States and its protectorates, radio spectrum is
regulated by two Federal entities. The concept of
shared spectrum was adopted during the early days of radio
and regulation as the most efficient use of
the radio spectrum, which maximized the number of users and
kept exclusivity to a minimum. This policy continues
to this day.
The National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) is the
President's principal advisor on telecommunications and
information policy issues, and in this role frequently works
with other Executive Branch agencies to develop and present
the Administration's position on these issues. The
NTIA manages the federal government use of spectrum;
performs cutting-edge telecommunications research and
engineering, including resolving technical
telecommunications issues for the federal government and
private sector; and administers infrastructure and public
telecommunications facilities grants.
The Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) is an independent Federal
regulatory agency responsible directly to Congress.
Established by the Communications Act of 1934, it is charged
with regulating interstate and international communications
by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable.
Private sector and local government radio use is controlled
by the FCC. At this time, we work only with the FCC.
Frequency Coordination
In an effort to reduce the amount of interference between
users, all license applicants must undergo frequency
coordination to obtain a site-based license.
Frequency coordination examines the applicant's license
request taking into account their eligibility for spectrum,
required spectrum, locations or areas of operation, and a
number of other specifications. The Coordinator then
compares their request to the other previously licensed
users or incumbents. After this
review, radio spectrum is identified that will cause a
minimal amount of interference to the incumbents.
Once upon a time, the FCC performed this task. Due
to the increasing number of radio users, licensing became an
onerous task taking weeks, months, or years. Several
decades ago the FCC devolved this responsibility upon
separate frequency coordination agencies. These
agencies specialize in coordination within specific bands of
radio spectrum, depending on applicant eligibility and
intended use. There are coordinators for each the
following uses:
Business/Industrial Two-Way
Police Two-Way
Fire
& EMS Two-Way
Roads and Public Works Two-Way
Forest
Management Two-Way
Central
Station Alarm Two-Way
Taxi, Tow,
and Automotive Two-Way
Manufacturing Two-Way
Microwave
The rules for coordination procedure are established by
the FCC, and each coordinator is bound to follow those rules
when identifying usable spectrum in a given area.
Generally speaking, the rules for
Public Safety users
are much more stringent than for
Business/Industrial users.
The reason for this is obvious: enterprise users
utilize radio in an effort to generate increased revenue
with reduced costs, whereas public safety users typically
are regional governments that use radio for the public good,
which often involves safety-of-life issues of officers or
citizens.
Once frequency coordination is completed, then the
coordinators submit the license application to the FCC,
where it is reviewed. License applications that are
close to Canada undergo review by Industry Canada (the
Canadian version of the FCC) to ensure that no interference
will be caused to Canadian incumbents. Sometimes
letters of support from other agencies or incumbents may be
requested. Assuming there are no objections by
Industry Canada or the FCC, the license application is
usually granted. Time of grant varies widely per
applicant, but generally a license application only takes a
couple weeks to grant.
Interference Resolution
Again, since radio users operate on shared spectrum,
there is no absolute right to interference-free radio use.
(There are exceptions to this rule, which will be mentioned
below.) In the event that a radio user experiences
interference, there is a way to fix the problem.
Discuss with the offending party.
If you are getting interference from someone, you
will need to talk to them and tell them that there is a
problem. The two of you should try to work it out.
If they other party is unlicensed, then they will need to
cease operations immediately. If the other party is
licensed, then both of you will need to adjust your
operations to reduce the problem. This method is the
easiest, and offers the fastest resolution.
Notify the frequency coordinator.
If the person or group that is causing the
problem does not respond to your attempts to contact them,
or adopts an attitude that it is not their problem, then the
next step is to contact the frequency coordinator that is
responsible for your particular band. The coordinator
will make contact with the offending party and work with
them to alleviate the problem. You may
contact RLS to begin this
process. This step may take several months.
Notify the FCC. If
the coordinator is unsuccessful in contacting the
interfering party, or if negotiations have been fruitless,
the next step is to have the frequency coordinator contact
the FCC to settle the problem. This is probably the
last thing you want to do. Once the FCC takes over,
they will look at both parties licenses and their radio
systems. An officer from the local field office will
probably contact both parties and examine their radio
systems. If either party is not licensed exactly per
their radio system, both parties may suffer penalty fines.
The FCC may make changes to both parties' radio systems and
licenses in their efforts to fix the problem.
The FCC solution may not be satisfactory to either side in
the dispute, but it will be final.
Interference-Free Radio
Some entities require what are known as 'clean
channels' for their use. There are some
frequencies that are available for use over wide areas.
These do require licensing by what are called market
licenses. However, these licenses are
expensive, costing tens of thousands to over a million
dollars to purchase, if one is even available. A
cheaper alternative is to lease radio spectrum from someone
that already holds one of these licenses.
Contact RLS to arrange a
license acqusition or a spectrum lease in your area.
Interference Mitigation
Here is a very good article about causes and solutions to
interference. This is written with the
Public Safety user
in mind, but applies to
Enterprise users too. [
View article
]
