Radio spectrum allocations

According to the FCC's definition, Access BPL is "a carrier current system installed and operated on an electric utility service as an unintentional radiator that sends radio frequency energy on frequencies between 1.705 MHz and 80 MHz over medium voltage lines or over low voltage lines to provide broadband communications and is located on the supply side of the utility service’s points of interconnection with customer premises. Access BPL does not include power line carrier systems as defined in § 15.3(t) or In-House BPL as defined in § 15.3(gg)."

Low voltage lines are defined as lines carrying, for example, 240/120 volts from a distribution transformer to a customer's premises. Medium voltage lines carry between 1,000 and 40,000 volts from a power substation to neighborhoods, and may be overhead or underground.

Access BPL is an unlicensed service operated under Subpart G of Part 15 of the FCC's rules. Radiated emission limits from medium voltage lines in the 1.705-30 MHz range must not exceed the limits in 47 CFR 15.209, and those from 30-80 MHz must not exceed the limits in 15.109(b). Systems that operate on low voltage lines must comply with 15.109(a) limits across the entire 1.705-80 MHz range.

When Access BPL systems must use notch filters to protect licensed services, the notch must be at least 25 dB below applicable Part 15 limits in the 1.705-30 MHz band, and at least 10 dB below the limits in the 30-80 MHz band.

There are 12 sub-bands in which Access BPL systems are not allowed to operate anywhere to protect aeronautical (land) stations and aircraft receivers. Those excluded bands are listed in 15.615(f), and are excluded in the list of Access BPL bands in this entry.

Access BPL systems are not allowed to operate within the sub-band 2173.5-2190.5 kHz within 1 km of coast station facilities listed in 47 CFR 15.615(f)(2)(i), to protect the internationally-recognized standard maritime calling frequency of 2182 kHz.

No Access BPL emissions are allowed in the 73.0-74.6 MHz radio astronomy band on overhead medium voltage lines within 65 km of the Very Large Array radio telescope in New Mexico (34 04 43.5N, 107 37 03.82W), or within 47 km of the VLA on underground power lines or overhead low voltage lines.

Access BPL operators must consult at least 30 days in advance when deploying systems near various FCC field offices, aeronautical and maritime stations, radar systems, radio astronomy stations, and research areas. Details are in 47 CFR 15.615(f)(3).

Experimental ultra-wideband (UWB) systems have been developed in the 30—50 MHz spectrum. These high data rate transmissions use ground or surface wave propagation to communicate over distances of several kilometers, through foliage and buildings and over hills. Most UWB technology uses higher bands.

(Source: Wireless Spectrum Finder by Bennett Z. Kobb. Wireless Spectrum Finder is now (c)MMX Technology LLC).

A longstanding Army portable and mobile system, operating across 30 - 87.975 MHz, is the Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS). These radios provide frequency-hopping, secure voice, and data communications.

(Source: Wireless Spectrum Finder, by Bennett Z. Kobb. Wireless Spectrum Finder is now (c)MMX Technology LLC).

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.)

In addition to Private Radio use, this band is used in the Paging and Radiotelephone Service, one of the Public Mobile Services, and a Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS).

Radio paging—the use of radio to find, summon or notify someone—is a highly competitive business. Advanced paging or messaging networks support two-way communication, but paging today still is largely a one-way medium.

The two-way feature originally was employed mostly to confirm that the paged party received the message, but it is now used to convey interactive choices in wireless news services, and to compose e-mail that the paging carrier transfers to the Internet.