rf_engineer
join:2003-08-04
USA
1 edit | reply to RayW
Re: 700 MHz?
said by RayW  :Now the area from 512-608 (ch 21-36) and 614-698 (ch 38-51) is TV broadcasting only. So you have almost 200 MHz that you tell the TV folks they can't use anymore and to lose their equipment investment. I haven't studied the FCC docs, but I don't think they'll lose equipment investments as they will probably continue on their issued frequencies. The broadcasting industry could make a stink over losing open frequencies for new licensees, though.
One thing that makes this a good rural solution at first glance I think is that you have less UHF TV stations in more rural areas, so there would be more whitespace to work with. Here in NE PA, there's only five or six big stations. I haven't scanned the UHF TV band in ages as I'm on cable, but there's probably several little LPTV stations to steer around in some communities. That may be an issue.
I wonder why they don't open up the VHF TV channels as well. Here in Eastern PA, AFAIK only stations in Philly and NYC are on VHF TV channels, with one exception being one in Lancaster. Unless population density/distrubution really changes here in the East, is there anyone lining up investments for building new TV stations when the four big networks have stations covering everywhere and there's cable and satellite everywhere? I dunno...
Update: I see the FCC is asking for comments about VHF channels... |
