Potential BAD news for L.A and Bay Area Public Safety Radio

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kayn1n32008

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mmckenna said:
Yep, an LTE site can be pretty small. It's just IP traffic. A router and a radio in a box. Connect to an antenna and an Ethernet port and there ya go. Very over simplified description, but you get the idea. I've watched cell sites get smaller and smaller over the years. What used to take rows and rows of cabinets full of gear is now done out of 2 or 3 cabinets. As time goes on, this will get smaller and smaller. Smaller/cheaper equipment will allow more density and more sites. That will translate into more speed.

When all that happens, they'll be complaining about this old ancient LTE equipment and why don't we have the new XXX stuff, lets take that old inefficient LTE spectrum and do something with it. There will always be a demand, and we will always lag behind the technology curve a bit.

I have seen HSPA sites that take up 2 19" racks and that includes a battery string, and I have seen AMPS sites that take up Huge amounts of space, heck even an iDEN site does not take all that much room.
 

gmclam

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It is my understanding that when the big conversion to digital television took place, most of the channels were moved up into UHF....and this bill now is going to move them all back into VHF because there were no buyers for the VHF spectrum.
The VHF (TV) spectrum wasn't for sale. It was a part of the 700MHz band.

What we didn't really know before the analog shutoff was how poorly ATSC functions on VHF. VHF low band is really problematic. Part of the issue has to do with the reduced ERP from what was used for NTSC.

The move to UHF was largely decisions by each station, since they operated an NTSC and ATSC station simultaneously until the analog cutoff. Once the analog signals were gone, some moved their ATSC signal to where their analog signal had been, while those who could, stayed, usually on UHF.

Now there is talk of taking away yet more TV spectrum and "repacking" all of the stations into whatever channels are left over. No more guard band between channels. A real nightmare for stations near Canada or Mexico. Congress "at work".
 

LAflyer

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FCC Clarification

One little glimmer of news was the FCC last week clarified its notice of suspension regarding T-band licensing.

Instead of a total freeze as it had indicated earlier, the FCC will allow site and system licences changes so long the amendments do not expand a systems footprint. Thus it will be possible to build-out or make changes to current systems so long as the sphere where the system reaches is not impacted.

Big relief for many I am sure as many agencies thought they were essentially frozen in place for the next 9-years.
 
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