Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/714540
23 The changes in the R&O will become effective thirty days after the R&O was published in the Federal Register on November 17, 2015. 169 MHZ–172 MHZ BAND The FCC proposes to combine a few of these channels to make four 200 kHz channels (169.475 MHz, 170.275 MHz, 171.075 MHz and 171.875 MHz). Licenses have al- ways been required and users will continue to be licensed "pursuant to Part 90" and "applications will be subject to government coordination." 944 MHZ–952 MHZ BAND AND ADJACENT 941 MHZ–944 MHZ AND 952 MHZ–960 MHZ BANDS 944 MHz–952 MHz is in Part 74, Subpart H and is pri- marily used for Studio to Transmitter Links (STL) and Inter City Relay (ICR) links stations. This band is already available to Part 73 licensees (AM, FM and TV stations) for wireless microphones. The FCC in this R&O expanded the eligibility to all current eligible Low Power Auxiliary Station (LPAS) entities such as Motion Picture Producers (MPP) and Television Program Producers (TPP). The other two bands, 941 MHz–944 MHz and 952 MHz– 960 MHz, are primarily used for Private Operational Fixed services. The FCC will allow licensed secondary use in these bands with the provision of not causing interference to licensed Part 101 stations. For the entire band frequency, coordination is mandated with the Society of Broadcast Engineers. UNLICENSED OPERATIONS IN THE 902 MHZ–928 MHZ, THE 2.4 GHZ AND 5 GHZ BANDS The FCC allows unlicensed operation of radio frequency devices under Part 15 in these bands. The problem is that nobody really knows who is using what at any place and at any time and all devices must accept interference. Since unlicensed operation is already allowed in Part 15, the FCC decided not to make any changes for wireless micro- phones in these bands. 1920 MHZ–1930 MHZ UNLICENSED PCS BAND This band is designated for use by Unlicensed Personal Communications Service (UPCS) devices under Part 15. The FCC recognized that wireless microphones are pres- REPORT AND ORDER FCC 15–100 Wireless microphone manufacturers, Broadway musical shows, the NFL and other major high-profi le users forced the FCC to at least acknowledge the existence and need for wireless microphones. Finally, the FCC released the Re- port and Order (R&O) FCC 15–100 on August 2015 titled "Promoting Spectrum Access for Wireless Microphone Operations." In the R&O, they did their best to tap dance around the problem, acknowledging the loss of UHF TV channels, with proposing only a few really useable options. with hydrological systems (such as rain gauges). These worked well although the narrow bandwidth had a rela- tively high noise fl oor. The main problem was that there were only eight channels to use. As transistor technology improved, systems in the UHF TV band started to appear. These had a higher 200 kHz bandwidth and lower noise fl oor. They also had relatively decent frequency response and low distortion, which was an improvement over previous systems. The fi rst genera- tion of UHF wireless systems was crystal controlled. If you stayed in one area, you could pick frequencies that were on unused UHF TV channels but if you moved around the US, it was always a risk that your wireless microphone sys- tems would bump into a UHF TV station in another city. Again, technology improved so the next generation of UHF wireless microphone systems was synthesized and could move around several UHF TV channels. Now, mixers that moved around, had a good chance of fi nding frequencies that could work no matter where they were located. The combination of higher fi delity, reliable medium-range operation and robust construction completely changed the industry. Instead of plant microphones and boom mi- crophones, now every actor could wear a wireless micro- phone. Instead of one or two microphones in use, more and more wireless microphone systems were necessary. As long as there were lots of unused UHF TV channels, there was no problem fi nding enough radio frequencies to use for production. But, as explained in the introduction, those unused UHF TV channels have been greatly reduced and may go away entirely. The FCC was forced to recognize the existence of thou- sands of wireless microphone systems during the 700 MHz planning. Their fi rst response was "We looked at the database and only found a few hundred licensed users." One needs to understand that from their perspective in a band that required licenses—and licenses have always been required—only licensed users count. Since very few eligible users actually held licenses, the vast majority of users were not considered.