Our attorney thinks we have a chance of taking the FCC to court over their taking of the upper parts of our 5 GHz band. For us to do that, we need to prove “standing”. According to Wikipedia, “…Standing is the ability of a party to demonstrate to the court sufficient connection to and harm from the law or action challenged to support that party's participation in the case.” If we can establish standing, then he feels we have a good shot at retaining some of the bandwidth we have recently lost.
If you have 5 GHz nodes on an AREDN network, please review the following checklist which will help determine your standing in this case. Then, send me an email at k6ah@are----sh.org . You do not actually need to complete the checklist, just be ready to answer the questions. Time is of the essence here, so your help is needed right away.
Checklist for declaration of AREDN operator in support of standing
- What is your name, address, FCC license call sign (and class), and connection to AREDN?
- What frequency does your ham radio transmit over? Please specify each individual frequency and channel number, must be within Lower 45 or Upper 30.Lower 45 – 5.850-5.895 GHz,
Upper 30 – 5.895-5.925 GHz
Is this the common frequency your mesh network uses?
- Your transmitter: what is the location (latitude/longitude or street address), type of transmitter, type(s) of transmission?
- Are you at a commercial site (antenna farm, etc.)? Why are you at this site? (e.g., to get line of sight). Have you had any issues at a site with a Part 15 operator or other operator objecting to your amateur transmission, or wanting to impose conditions? Please describe.
- What network are you tied into? (AREDN mesh – describe transmitter configuration and network tied into).
- What is the length of your radio link? (1 mile, 10 miles, 20 miles, etc.). For multipoint nodes, estimate the longest links.
- What public safety or other agencies are supported by your operation? Please describe a recent event where you supported an agency (e.g., forest fire, tornado, or a preparedness drill – need date and place) and how so (e.g., relayed video of the fire to fire fighting agency):
- How will your ham radio operation be adversely affected by the FCC’s new rules?
Lower 45 – e.g., interference from unlicensed operation, difficulty getting or keeping site because of Part 15 operators;
Upper 30 – e.g., interference from C-V2X sidelink transmitted from a cell site, being ordered to cease and desist from transmitting because would interfere with C-V2X.
Upper 30 – e.g., interference from C-V2X sidelink transmitted from a cell site, being ordered to cease and desist from transmitting because would interfere with C-V2X.
- If you transmit in the Upper 30, what is the distance from your site to the nearest cell tower?
- What will happen to your radio operation if new FCC rules become effective? Possible examples include: have to move to new site, move to new frequency, increase the power of your transmitter, modify equipment, modify transmission, provide less service, spend more money, cease service. Please explain why. This is the actual harm to individual ham operators that we need to demonstrate in order for AREDN to have standing.
- What was your previous (or current) experience with operation in other bands (900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 3.4 GHz) with Part 15 operations or operators: Noise floor, interference problems (describe); Problems getting, or staying at a site (identify the specific site, describe the problem).
- Please describe any problems with cellular telephone operators.
Not to rain on the parade. It is a worthy effort.
Yep, we're covered there. BTW, time to renew your license... it expired a couple weeks ago. ;-)
Thanks,
Andre, K6AH