The FCC released a report and order amending its part 90 rules to permit the licensing and operation of vehicular repeater systems (VRS) and other mobile repeaters on six VHF band remote control and telemetry channels. The order adopts several provisions to protect incumbent critical infrastructure industry (CII) entities from interference to their existing telemetry operations and to allow those systems to expand.
“Public safety entities have increasingly turned to VRS as a cost-effective way to enhance the overall effectiveness of a public safety communication system at a fraction of the cost of achieving the same result using infrastructure improvements,” the FCC said in the order, which was adopted in PS docket 13-229. “However, as we will detail below, there are technical and fiscal considerations that limit the choice of discrete frequencies that are available for VRS use in any given system. Today, we provide public safety entities with six additional frequencies for VRS use, which will allow greater use of this valuable public safety technology while providing protection for incumbent telemetry users who rely on these frequencies for control of critical infrastructure systems.”
In response to a notice of proposed rulemaking adopted in 2013 (TRDaily, Sept. 16, 2013), CII entities complained that use of the 173 MHz channels for VRS would cause interference to their critical safety systems (TRDaily, Jan 2, 2014). The FCC said in the order that “use of these frequencies tends to occur in clusters. In addition, there is not a large embedded base of telemetry systems on these channels, and these systems tend to be geographically scattered. This means that there are large sections of the country where these channels are essentially fallow, and thus could readily accommodate mobile repeater use. Given the relatively light use of these channels coupled with their geographic separation we conclude that these channels can accommodate VRS use, without unduly impacting telemetry use.”
The FCC imposed “licensing restrictions intended to allow for the expansion of incumbent telemetry operations, and implementation of new telemetry operations in the band. Additionally, while we agree with those parties that note that voice and data are inherently incompatible operations, we impose frequency coordination requirements which we believe will allow mobile repeaters on these channels without adversely affecting telemetry operations. Finally, given record evidence that interest in VRS use is not limited to public safety entities, we allow Industrial Business (I/B) licensees to use mobile repeaters on these frequencies.”
The FCC agreed “with the LMCC [Land Mobile Communications Council] that appropriate coordination protocols need to be developed. Since no party provided us with a specific coordination protocol, we direct the coordinator community to develop a consensus protocol for VRS coordination. . Until the protocol is approved, we will not accept applications for mobile repeaters on these frequencies.”
The FCC allowed only VRS “area-wide or state-wide authorizations on a secondary basis” to enable telemetry operations to expand. In part to inhibit “the filing of speculative applications,” the order also imposed loading requirements of 50 transmitter-receivers per channel. The order also adopted the tentative conclusion to increase the permitted power limits for mobile repeaters from 2 watts to 5 watts ERP (effective radiated power). And it dismissed as moot three applications seeking authority to operate mobile repeaters on the channels under waivers.
“We are pleased that the FCC has taken our concerns about interference into consideration and has implemented a process of frequency coordination using industry developed standards to mitigate the potential for interference to and from VRS systems,” Brett Kilbourne, deputy general counsel and vice president-government and industry affairs for the Utilities Telecom Council, one of the CII groups to express concerns in the proceeding, told TRDaily this afternoon. “We are also pleased that the FCC has eliminated technical barriers on telemetry use of these channels, which should promote greater use of these channels by utilities and other critical infrastructure industries. We thank the FCC for its hard work on this item and look forward to working with the FCC and the LMCC to develop standards for coordinating VRS and telemetry systems on these channels.”- Paul Kirby, paul.kirby@wolterskluwer.com