5.149 In making assignments to stations of other services to which the bands:
13 360-13 410 kHz,
25 550-25 670 kHz,
37.5-38.25 MHz,
73-74.6 MHz in Regions 1 and 3,
150.05-153 MHz in Region 1,
322-328.6 MHz,
406.1-410 MHz,
608-614 MHz in Regions 1 and 3,
1 330-1 400 MHz,
1 610.6-1 613.8 MHz,
1 660-1 670 MHz,
1 718.8-1 722.2 MHz,
2 655-2 690 MHz,
3 260-3 267 MHz,
3 332-3 339 MHz,
3 345.8-3 352.5 MHz,
4 825-4 835 MHz, 4 950-4 990 MHz,
4 990-5 000 MHz,
6 650-6 675.2 MHz,
10.6-10.68 GHz,
14.47-14.5 GHz,
22.01-22.21 GHz,
22.21-22.5 GHz,
22.81-22.86 GHz,
23.07-23.12 GHz,
31.2-31.3 GHz,
31.5-31.8 GHz in Regions 1 and 3,
36.43-36.5 GHz,
42.5-43.5 GHz,
48.94-49.04 GHz,
76-86 GHz,
92-94 GHz,
94.1-100 GHz, 102-109.5 GHz,
111.8-114.25 GHz,
128.33-128.59 GHz,
129.23-129.49 GHz,
130-134 GHz,
136-148.5 GHz,
151.5-158.5 GHz,
168.59-168.93 GHz,
171.11-171.45 GHz,
172.31-172.65 GHz,
173.52-173.85 GHz,
195.75-196.15 GHz,
209-226 GHz,
241-250 GHz,
252-275 GHz
are allocated, administrations are urged to take all practicable steps to protect the radio astronomy service from harmful interference. Emissions from spaceborne or airborne stations can be particularly serious sources of interference to the radio astronomy service (see Nos. 4.5 and 4.6 and Article 29). (WRC 07)
5.225 Additional allocation: in Australia and India, the band 150.05-153 MHz is also allocated to the radio astronomy service on a primary basis.
NG4 The use of the frequencies in the band 152.84-153.38 MHz may be authorized, in any area, to remote pickup broadcast base and mobile stations on the condition that harmful interference will not be caused to stations operating in accordance with the Table of Frequency Allocations.
NG51 In Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, the use of band 150.8-151.49 MHz by the fixed and land mobile services is limited to stations in the Industrial/Business Pool.
NG112 The frequencies 25.04, 25.08, 150.980, 154.585, 158.445, 159.480, 454.000 and 459.000 MHz may be authorized to stations in the Industrial/Business Pool for use primarily in oil spill containment and cleanup operations and secondarily in regular land mobile communication.
NG124 In the bands 30.85-34, 37-38, 39-40, 42-47.41, 150.995-156.25, 158.715-159.465, 453.0125-453.9875, 458.0125-458.9875, 460.0125-465.6375, and 467.9375-467.9875 MHz, police licensees are authorized to operate low power transmitters on a secondary basis in accordance with the provisions of 47 CFR 2.803 and 90.20(e)(5).
US73   The frequencies 150.775, 150.79, 152.0075, and 163.25 MHz, and the bands 462.94-463.19675 and 467.94-468.19675 MHz shall be authorized for the purpose of delivering or rendering medical services to individuals (medical radiocommunication systems), and shall be authorized on a primary basis for Federal and non-Federal use. The frequency 152.0075 MHz may also be used for the purpose of conducting public safety radio communications that include, but are not limited to, the delivering or rendering of medical services to individuals.

    (a) The use of the frequencies 150.775 and 150.79 MHz is restricted to mobile stations operating with a maximum e.r.p. of 100 watts. Airborne operations are prohibited.

    (b) The use of the frequencies 152.0075 and 163.25 MHz is restricted to base stations that are authorized only for one-way paging communications to mobile receivers. Transmissions for the purpose of activating or controlling remote objects on these frequencies shall not be authorized.

    (c) Non-Federal licensees in the Public Safety Radio Pool holding a valid authorization on May 27, 2005, to operate on the frequencies 150.7825 and 150.7975 MHz may, upon proper renewal application, continue to be authorized for such operation; provided that harmful interference is not caused to present or future Federal stations in the band 150.05-150.8 MHz and, should harmful interference result, that the interfering non-Federal operation shall immediately terminate.

Wiki entries

FCC Narrowbanding Mandate

Current Use 150–174 MHz FCC Narrowband Mandate for PLMR and Industrial/Business Radio Pool systems

The FCC has mandated that all Private Land Mobile Radio (PLMR) and Industrial/Business Radio Pool systems operating in the 150-174 and 421-512 MHz bands must operate using a channel bandwidth of no more than 12.5 kHz, or "a technology that achieves the narrowband equivalent of one channel per 12.5 kHz of channel bandwidth (voice) or 4800 bits per second per 6.25 kHz (data) if the bandwidth for transmissions specified in the modification application is greater than 12.5 kHz."

The deadline for narrowbanding is January 1, 2013. Prior to this date, systems in these bands were allowed up to 25 kHz channel bandwidth.

Narrowbanding of the 470-512 MHz portion ("T-band") has been put on hold by the FCC. Congressional action in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Jobs Creation Act mandated that this sub-band be cleared of all mobile systems in light of the TV band incentive auction and the eventual creation of the nationwide public safety broadband network.

History of the Beep

Current Use 152–159 MHz Paging (portions of band)

Cleveland electronics engineer Al Gross invented radio paging in the early 1950s. Gross was a pioneer in portable VHF-UHF devices and an early proponent of “citizens radio,” now called “personal radio” (see 462.5375—462.7375 MHz). He provided paging systems for use in hospitals, though doctors initially resisted the technology.

The basic paging receiver beeps when it receives a distinctive code from a transmitter controlled by a “paging terminal,” connected to the public telephone network. Today’s more sophisticated pagers display the telephone number of the calling party, or alphanumeric messages. The World Wide Web is now the principal data input medium for alphanumeric paging.

Pagers often are used to signal waiting voice mail messages and are increasingly connected to electronic mail services. Voice paging declined in the 1980s, but was supposed to resurge with the advent of digital voice storage in the pager. Considerable investment was made in voice paging in the Narrowband Personal Communications Service (see 901—902 MHz). The reinstituted voice paging services failed to attract enough subscribers, however.

Delighting Guests

Paging also is used to control industrial equipment, to summon animals to feeding, and—in perhaps the most entertaining use we have discovered—to activate fireworks contained in banquet floral decorations.

Today most paging is provided by FCC licensees on a commercial basis. Traditionally, the two types of for-profit paging companies were designated radio common carriers (RCCs), which enjoyed interference-protected service areas and, in some cases, were required to have state utility certification; and Private Carrier Paging (PCP) providers, who operate on channels shared with other such carriers and are supposed to be exempt from state regulation.

Federal budget legislation in 1993 requires similar or comparable treatment, or “regulatory symmetry,” for substantially similar Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS).

CMRS describes radio services offered to the public, or a large segment of the public, for profit and which interconnect to the public telephone network. Many types of CMRS services exist. PCP services were classified as CMRS in 1996. “There are no longer any real differences between private carrier and common carrier paging systems,” according to the FCC.

Nevertheless, the former system continues in that separate regulations govern RCC-based paging in FCC Part 22 rules and PCP-based paging in Part 90. “Not all substantially similar services must have identical technical and operational rules,” the FCC said.

Major Changes

Paging licenses were traditionally granted on a first-come, first-serve basis using careful frequency coordination to avoid interference between systems. The FCC is introducing a new regime into CMRS paging: license auctions in specified geographic areas. Incumbent licensees will retain certain interference protections.

"We noted that if an incumbent already has a significant presence in a geographic area, other potential applicants may choose not to bid for that geographic area," the FCC said. "Thus, market forces, not regulation, would determine participation in competitive bidding for geographic area licenses.

"…Even where only 30 percent of a geographic area is available to a potential new entrant, we do not believe that it has been shown that the new entrant cannot establish a viable system that serves the public as well as the incumbent." The Commission dismissed all mutually exclusive applications for paging licenses filed after July 31, 1996, in preparation for the auction regime (Docket WT 96-18).

In the 929—930 MHz and 931—932 MHz bands, the FCC established paging licenses in Major Economic Areas (MEAs) developed by the Commerce Department and composed of Economic Areas (EAs, see the following).

Special exemptions from auctions apply to certain established paging licensees in the 929—930 MHz and 931—932 MHz bands who earned exclusive licenses through extensive network construction under earlier regulations.

In other, older paging bands, such as 35—36 MHz, 43—44 MHz, 152—159 MHz, and 454—460 MHz, containing small- and medium-sized paging systems, the FCC adopted Economic Areas (EAs), each consisting of metropolitan or similar areas that are centers of economic activity, with surrounding economically related counties.

As is the case with most auctioned licenses, each geographic area licensee is required to provide coverage to specified portions of the population by a certain date. Alternatively, the licensee may demonstrate that it provides "substantial service," that is, "service that is sound, favorable, and substantially above a level of mediocre service." Failure to meet these requirements is supposed to automatically terminate the license.

Incumbents (who did not obtain their licenses in auctions) may make certain changes to their operations, including adding or modifying their transmission sites. To expand their existing radio contours, they must obtain the consent of the geographic licensee for the expansion area, or buy the expansion area at auction even if the area is larger than needed. If the incumbent stops operating, the FCC performs "spectrum reversion," turning the incumbent’s spectrum over to the geographic licensee for that area.

Other services use the 152—159 MHz and 454—460 MHz bands allocated to paging services. These include the Basic Exchange Telecommunications Radio Service (BETRS), which provides rural subscribers with phone service; and pre-cellular two-way mobile telephone services, which operate mostly in the western U.S.

BETRS is licensed under the Rural Radiotelephone Service. Only local exchange telephone companies or companies having state approval to provide local phone service may provide BETRS. By definition, BETRS is a fixed service and is not CMRS.

The Commission decided to include both BETRS and the two-way mobile telephone services on paging channels in its auction scheme, over the protests of rural telephone advocates. However, it will still allow providers to obtain licenses for these services on a secondary, non-interference basis to geographic-area paging licensees.

(Original entry based upon "Wireless Spectrum Finder" by Benn Kobb. Wireless Spectrum Finder is now (c)MMX Technology LLC.)