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Ugh, c'mon, people. The FCC isn't planning to destroy GPS. I hate the FCC as much as the next guy on the Internet, but that's too ridiculous for consideration
by Kadin 16y ago
Ugh, c'mon, people. The FCC isn't planning to destroy GPS. I hate the FCC as much as the next guy on the Internet, but that's too ridiculous for consideration.
What they're trying to do is balance the legitimate right that one user has to a piece of spectrum, with the legitimate right that a lot of users have to some that's adjacent. They'd be looking at nothing but an endless series of lawsuits if they told LightSquared that they couldn't use their spectrum (which they have a license to), particularly since LightSquared has a proposal which -- yes, on paper, but what's on paper matters -- says they'll not interfere with GPS.
It looks much more like the FCC is giving LightSquared an opportunity, either to show that they can make the system workable, or to come up with enough rope to hang themselves, one way or the other. If LightSquared can't resolve the interference issues, then the FCC will have a much better case for an enforcement action than they currently do. (Although an enforcement action might require a rule change, because it's not clear that they would actually be in violation of the rules; front-end overload is typically the receiver's problem, not the transmitter's.)
I'm all for spectrum users being vigilant, and perhaps GPS users need an organization analogous to the ARRL (which protects the Amateur Radio spectrum, and successfully defeated the shitty BPL implementations that were kicking around a few years ago) to nip these things in the bud. But the conspiracy-theorizing is a bit rich.
- oigftrgtyh 16y agoHas the FCC ever bothered to actually go after people that abuse bits of the spectrum? Wardrobe malfunctions they are right on top of - but anything that requires technical knowledge seems to escape them. GPS does have a group that protects it's users - I believe it's called the USAF.
- trafficlight 16y agoA few years back, a local WISP (in Montana) was shutdown because they were breaking the Part 15 power rule in several markets. Their custom made radios were putting out over 5 watts EIRP, when the maximum legal limit is 1 watt. It took the FCC several years to get out here, but they did do it.
- kpeel 16y agoFunny enough, if GPS does get jammed, the USAF has a whole lot of equipment that would be almost useless... Like every modern airplane they own.
- mkr-hn 16y agoWe need someone with air force experience in here. It doesn't seem like they'd let them fly without knowing alternate ways of navigating.
- oigftrgtyh 16y agoDescend until you can see the freeway and follow that is always popular!
- mkr-hn 16y agoIt's obvious now that I think about it. Even with GPS, they're going to be told landmarks and indicators (roads and stuff) during a briefing.
- aj700 16y agoWhy shouldn't this break military plane GPS as much as anything else. It will also remove the ability of USAF to GPS target missiles onto US population centres, which they have no need to do anyway. They can still bomb the rest of the world no problem.
- Kadin 16y agoMilitary GPS receivers operate on two carrier frequencies, only one of which is used by most civilian models. (And it's the shared military/civilian frequency which is adjacent to the spectrum in question.) Using two frequencies makes the military receivers more robust, and also lets them do some clever ionospheric distortion cancellation that you can't do with one channel. (Basically they get the benefits of WAAS without actually needing to receive the WAAS signal.) That said, neither the FAA or the military are going to tolerate any significant degradation of GPS, domestically or otherwise.
- jws 16y agoA few years ago the FCC showed up at a coworker's house with their van. Something in his house was emitting improperly. They eventually tracked it down to a computer monitor. So there are enforcement people out there. They just don't happen in the middle of a superbowl broadcast.
- Kadin 16y agoYes, the FCC has an enforcement bureau (http://www.fcc.gov/eb/ http://www.fcc.gov/eb/). They unfortunately do not have nearly enough officers to really do anything particularly effective, but if you are really egregiously bad about your spectrum abuse, to the point where you generate complaints from other users, they do sometimes pull licenses. The only interaction with them I have any sort of knowledge of is secondhand; a friend of mine spent months trying to get the local power company to fix a bad transformer on the street that was failing internally and creating a lot of noise, pretty much from DC well up into the HF. (And I suspect it was making some pretty ugly AC waveforms.) They wouldn't do anything, and he eventually got one of the FCC Enforcement Bureau people involved. You have to be a very "squeaky wheel" to get any sort of attention to a complaint, though; my friend had what amounted to a fairly serious engineering study of the failing transformer, done with parabolic antennas and spectrum analyzers, so that the FCC guy didn't really have to do a whole lot. (Presumably he verified things, but I don't know for sure.)
- btilly 16y agoIf all that they're doing is trying to "balance the legitimate right", then why aren't they following all of their standard procedures before granting access? The mere fact that they have not followed standard procedures is pretty good evidence that LightSquared is getting special treatment.
- georgecmu 16y agoI find the GPS World publication [1] on this subject a lot less alarmist and better balanced. [1] http://www.gpsworld.com/gnss-system/news/data-shows-disastrous-gps-jamming-fcc-approved-broadcaster-11029 http://www.gpsworld.com/gnss-system/news/data-shows-disastro...