600MHz Auction - Mid 2015

H

Henry Cohen

Freshman
Jan 12, 2011
83
0
0
Westchester Co., NY, USA
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler just posted on the FCC Blog that he expects the 600MHz incentive [and forward] auctions to occur mid 2015.

If this holds, figure on a vacate date, for whatever spectrum was sold, about mid 2016 to mid 2017. But also plan on new spectrum holders to begin testing systems within months of the auction.

Stay tuned . . .

Henry Cohen
 
Re: 600MHz Auction - Mid 2015

That is not good. Hopefully the many thousands of dollars of wireless equipment I replaced my thousands of dollars worth of 700MHz stuff with will still be useable for some time. Good luck everybody.
 
Re: 600MHz Auction - Mid 2015

Same here, where do we go from here? Down to the 400s? 2.4? 5? Digital???

Eric Cagle said:
That is not good. Hopefully the many thousands of dollars of wireless equipment I replaced my thousands of dollars worth of 700MHz stuff with will still be useable for some time. Good luck everybody.
Click to expand...
 
Re: 600MHz Auction - Mid 2015

Fun :) - not,

The incentive auction sound like an interesting process from an economics perspective. Not fun for people like us or LPTV operators.

Based on the information in the following PDF is it safest to plan to wireless purchases staying near the 470 MHz and 614 MHz lower band edges?
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-318455A1.pdf

This also makes we wonder if any companies are developing VHF devices. I know about the Radio Active Designs UV-1G VHF/UHF wireless com system, I'd like to see some sort of wireless mic system. A VHF ULX-D or Lectrosonics Venue would be cool.

Philip
 
Re: 600MHz Auction - Mid 2015

Philip Roberts said:
Based on the information in the following PDF is it safest to plan to wireless purchases staying near the 470 MHz and 614 MHz lower band edges?
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-318455A1.pdf
Click to expand...
We won't really know how much of the 600MHz will be auctioned as that will be determined in real-time as the incentive side of the auction progresses. By most accounts however, should a lot of broadcasters wish to cash out, it's very unlikely spectrum below 596MHz (ch34) would be sold.

This also makes we wonder if any companies are developing VHF devices. I know about the Radio Active Designs UV-1G VHF/UHF wireless com system, I'd like to see some sort of wireless mic system. A VHF ULX-D or Lectrosonics Venue would be cool.
Click to expand...
There's quite a bit of manufacturer R&D being conducted in the Hi-VHF core TV band (174-216MHz) as well as some other bands for specific applications. As manufacturers are ready to announce, we'll see some obvious, and not so obvious, spectrum offerings.
 
Re: 600MHz Auction - Mid 2015

Philip Roberts said:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-318455A1.pdf
Click to expand...

Is this the most detailed technical document on this so far?

Henry Cohen said:
We won't really know how much of the 600MHz will be auctioned as that will be determined in real-time as the incentive side of the auction progresses. By most accounts however, should a lot of broadcasters wish to cash out, it's very unlikely spectrum below 596MHz (ch34) would be sold.
Click to expand...

They way I read the afore attached document is that this will be a voluntary sale. What happens if the TV broadcaster don't want to sell? (This seems like it could be better for us doesn't it?)
 
Re: 600MHz Auction - Mid 2015

Justice C. Bigler said:
They way I read the afore attached document is that this will be a voluntary sale. What happens if the TV broadcaster don't want to sell? (This seems like it could be better for us doesn't it?)
Click to expand...
My understanding is that the TV broadcaster would generally sell if they could make enough money to cover the changeover to another frequency and a decent profit - the FCC will just give them another frequency automatically as part of this whole process.
 
Re: 600MHz Auction - Mid 2015

Ron Kimball said:
My understanding is that the TV broadcaster would generally sell if they could make enough money to cover the changeover to another frequency and a decent profit - the FCC will just give them another frequency automatically as part of this whole process.
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My father is a now retired chief engineer from a local station. I asked him what it would all involve as the transmitter he worked for was on CH46. He said that changing the transmitter frequency is the easy part, its just dialing in a new PWM frequency, but numerous points after the signal left the transmitter would have to be completly replaced as they are tuned to a specific frequency...including the 4 ton antenna on the top of a 2000ft tower.... see Worlds Toughest Fixes....

2,000-Foot Tower | National Geographic Channel
 
Re: 600MHz Auction - Mid 2015

Well Great, And I am needing some more G3 300 Series in the Cincinnati Area and the B Band fits this the best as the A & G is very crowded and Sennheiser does not have anything in the upper 400 range. :(~:-(~:sad:

Henry Cohen said:
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler just posted on the FCC Blog that he expects the 600MHz incentive [and forward] auctions to occur mid 2015.

If this holds, figure on a vacate date, for whatever spectrum was sold, about mid 2016 to mid 2017. But also plan on new spectrum holders to begin testing systems within months of the auction.

Stay tuned . . .

Henry Cohen
Click to expand...
 
Re: 600MHz Auction - Mid 2015

Henry Cohen said:
We won't really know how much of the 600MHz will be auctioned as that will be determined in real-time as the incentive side of the auction progresses. By most accounts however, should a lot of broadcasters wish to cash out, it's very unlikely spectrum below 596MHz (ch34) would be sold.
Click to expand...

I remember hearing talk about licensing mics for installed locations and large events when we vacated 700mhz a while back. Has anyone heard discussion about similar licensing for lower bands now, or are we all just expected to try to squeeze into the "guard bands" the article talks about in section 3 page 10 of the above linked pdf? I went low (Sennheiser A band) last time around, but am looking at some more wireless purchases, as well as trying to make some intelligent recommendations to local school.
 
Re: 600MHz Auction - Mid 2015

Matt, you may be referring to an idea of expanding the Part 74 eligibility from only motion picture producers and television program producers to some of the larger event producers. Nothing has been done past brainstorming to my knowledge but one o the ideas is that a venue that is ADA compliant would be a good threshold for Part 74 eligibility. However, that doesn't make more spectrum available under the current path the FCC is taking(excluding the 900MHz band, like the Shure X1-2), it merely allows for database registration without the waiting period. As for purchases, no UHF recommendation is iron-clad at the moment. Obviously all 600MHz bands should be excluded, but there is no way of knowing what your locale's spectrum will look like after the reverse auction occurs. 2.4GHz options are still very viable.
 
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