Some Good News in 2GHz Band.

     In the latest "The Signal" that should have arrived at your door
in the last week,was a small article buried inside that I hope everyone
who uses the 2Ghz ENG spectrum will read.
     It appears that the latest suggestion on the allocation of spectrum
between the 2Ghz ENG users and MSS users will result in the loss of
only 18Mhz to our use. The area that is currently used by channel A1
(1900-2008Mhz) instead of both channels A1 and A2. Taking both of those
channels would have meant that the total spectrum would be reduced by
about 35Mhz. That reduction in band space would mean that if we split
the band up into seven channels, each would be only 12Mhz or so in width.
While it would be possible to put a channel of digital ENG in 12Mhz,
there has never been agreement that it was a practical solution.  Not to
mention the greater question of who was going to pay for providing
all new equipment to everyone authorized in the 2Ghz band.
(the MSS users are/were supposed to pay, according to the last
Proposed Rule Making) Alternatively, if we kept the channel width at
about the same as we are currently using, we would have had only five channels.
Trying to operate in Houston with only five ENG channels is pretty scary to me.

So now we have this new arrangement, where we lose only one channel
of space and can still have seven channels that are 14.5Mhz wide.
Enough for FM analog video and two audio subcarriers.  We will have
to wait and see if this suggested allocation is adopted.

More information and a copy of the SBE ET Docket 98-206 filing on this subject can be found at the SBE website at   www.sbe.org .
                                                           Richard Goldy