H.R. 451 "Don’t Break Up the T-Band Act of 2020" has passed the House

[gmclam]

Ah I misread PFDradio's post.
There were enough issues trying to get the current spectrum onto the 14-36 band, eliminating the additional 42 MHz would've been a nightmare.
There probably could've been better alignments to eliminate "known Tropospheric ducting" paths, but even that would be difficult.

Or keep upper channels (38,39,40) for TV.

 

[pfdradio]

In case there was any confusion. I was recommending any TV repack should start above 512 MHz. It just seems to make sense to not interfere with public safety on 470-512.

 

[gmclam]

In case there was any confusion. I was recommending any TV repack should start above 512 MHz. It just seems to make sense to not interfere with public safety on 470-512.

They used the word "pack", it's more like cram. And if 42MHz (470-512) of the TV band was left off at the bottom, they'd need that 42MHz to cram channels as they presently are. 42/6 =7 but channel 37 isn't TV either, so it would requre channels 37-44 to make up the difference. That means only channels 45 to 51 would be "given back" and so much for the 600MHz band. Right now they've got channels 38 to 51 for the 600MHz band.

While not ideal, keeping in the spirit of what happened with Nextel channels, the only solution under the present direction is to move non TV users from the T band to other frequencies. Since the T band was created for public service, trunking has become more widely used, channels have been narrowed (to increase quantity) and digital has come in to place. I think there are places to reasonably move them.

When this latest round of reducing the number of frequencies being used by OTA TV was a discussion, agencies in the T band should have spoken up and requested funding to make the move. Now it's just a bigger mess.

 

[rr60]

@gmclam , a bigger mess no question, with tens of millions spent. Fall tropo season has been busy. This mornings live shot. Multiple paths to multiple stations,again.