The Society of Broadcast Engineers' petition for reconsideration of the FCC Fourth Memorandum Opinion and Order (Fourth MO&O) in the Advanced Wireless Services proceeding allowing Department of Defense uplinks to use 2 GHz broadcast auxiliary service frequencies was dismissed by the FCC as "repetitious."
SBE opposed a change in a footnote in the Fourth MO&O that appeared to abandon what it saw as a strict 0.5 dB BAS receiver threshold degradation criterion adopted in the Seventh AWS Report and Order. Footnote 43 in the Fourth MO&O states, "Finally, the Commission noted that, during on-going coordination, receiver threshold degradation, on which this worst case analysis was based, may be supplanted by less stringent criteria which fully consider actual ENG power, modulation, performance, or other requirements." This language, SBE said, constitutes an impermissible rulemaking by the Commission and requested that the language from the Fourth MO&O be clarified or deleted.
The FCC said, "In the AWS Seventh R&O, the Commission did not adopt, or make any findings relative to, a BAS ENG receiver threshold degradation criteria... The sole reference to a 0.5 dB receiver threshold degradation in the AWS Seventh R&O was made in a parenthetical note to calculations within footnote 63, which set forth an example worst case analysis of the potential for interference from DOD earth stations into fixed receive only antennas used in connection with TVPU operations."
In Order DA 06-1910, the FCC said, "Contrary to SBE's assertions, neither the AWS Seventh R&O nor the AWS Fourth MO&O adopted or modified any rules or requirements relative to a BAS ENG RO receiver threshold degradation criterion. There being, in particular, no such rules modified by the AWS Fourth MO&O, there is nothing subject to reconsideration. As such, SBE's Petition is repetitious under the provisions of Section 1.429(i) of the Commission's Rules and we dismiss it accordingly."
The FCC stated it was confident that the coordination procedures established in the proceeding, "when acted upon in good faith by all interested parties," would provide a mechanism that will protect all incumbent BAS operations, including fixed receive-only antennas used in conjunction with BAS ENG TVPU operations.
