White-Spaces Group Accuses Wireless Mike Users of Violating FCC Rules
The White Spaces Coalition went on the offensive against wireless microphone makers Tuesday. The group told the FCC in a letter that recent white-spaces field tests show many microphone users violating agency rules. Microphone makers led by Shure have been among vocal opponents of opening the TV white spaces for use by unlicensed portable devices to access the Internet. Shure said in response that the coalition was trying to deflect the commission’s attention from how white spaces devices did in the tests.
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Ed Thomas, a former chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology, said in a letter to current chief Julius Knapp that a device submitted by Philips Electronics tested well at FedEx Field in Landover, Md., and the Majestic Theater in New York City. But the testing also revealed a “far more remarkable fact,” he wrote: “Wireless microphone operators improperly transmitted on many channels occupied by TV broadcast signals within protected TV service contours -- often at power levels much higher than those proposed for personal/portable white space devices.”
The wireless mikes have been using broadcast channels for years, but “broadcasters have not objected to the very scenario they claim would justify prohibiting personal/portable white space operations,” Thomas said. He said the use of the mikes “almost certainly violate FCC rules,” but the violations are not well understood. “We understand that at least one operator was under the misimpression it had ‘coordinated’ its co-channel transmissions,” Thomas said. “This is not possible, because the rules governing TV band microphones specifically prohibit co-channel operations by wireless microphones without prior FCC authorization.”
Thomas said in an interview that broadcasters were operating wireless mikes at very high power on broadcast channels with the FCC present. The power levels were much higher than those proposed for white-spaces devices, he said. “I am absolutely astounded that they will willfully transmit on a co-channels within their protected bounds in front of the FCC,” he said. “They've made the coalition’s point a lot better than the coalition ever could.”
Mark Brunner, senior director of public and industry relations at Shure, said the filing “seems to be nothing more than an attempt to deflect the Commission’s attention from the poor results that prototype white space devices delivered” during the field tests. “While a representative of the coalition has been quoted in recent days saying that ’this is not a pass/fail situation,’ those who actually work with these technologies understand that either these devices will work or they will not,” Brunner said. “So far they have not.” The company was still evaluating the filing, a spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, Association for Maximum Service TV President David Donovan fired back at Google, which said Monday it was starting a grassroots campaign to show broad support for opening the white spaces. He said the FreetheAirwaves campaign should be called the “Interfere with the Free Airwaves Campaign.” “It’s really the height of irony that you have a FreetheAirwaves campaign when it’s really just Google and Microsoft and others wanting access to spectrum without going through the auction process,” Donovan told us.