RF Shorts for Feb. 15, 2013

By Doug Lung
published

FCC Not Serving Wi-Fi ‘Free Lunch’

Just in case you were starting to give into the hype, Tammy Parker reminds readers “The FCC is not planning to create gigantic, free Wi-Fi networks. (And, by the way, TV white space is not the same as Wi-Fi.)” In her article There is no free Supercalifragilistic Wi-Fi on FierceWirelessBroadbandWireless.com, Parker explains, “I'm referring to the Washington Post's recent article, which put forth the unfounded notion that the FCC has proposed a free-for-all, nationwide, public Wi-Fi network that is being opposed by the nefarious telecommunications industry.”

She notes the article appears to confuse the planned TV band incentive auctions with the FCC's plans to unleash up to 195 MHz of unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum for 802.11ac Gigabit Wi-Fi. She holds FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski “responsible for this dazed and confused fiasco.” Read Parker's article for a great white space reality check.

Comments and RF related news items are welcome. Email me at dlung@transmitter.com.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.