SBE files informal objection to Globestar request for authority

The Society of Broadcast Engineers has filed an informal objection with the FCC regarding an application from Globestar for authority to operate Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) stations in the top 10 U.S. cities.

According to the May 16 filing, granting such authority now in these cities is “grossly premature” and must wait until operations on TV BAS Channel A10 have been cleared from 2483.5MHz to 2500MHz “by converting the three 2.5GHz TV BAS channels to 12MHz wide digital channels, and re-packing those channels to 2450MHz to 2486MHz.”

MSS ATC stations cannot operate in seven of the 10 largest cities without interfering with TV BAS operation. Additionally, the commission would have to restrict temporary MSS ATC deployment near 22 cities to avoid interference to TV BAS use.

In its filing, the society pointed out that Globestar’s request never mentioned “the existence of co-channel TV BAS Channel A10 operations, with their co-equal priority, and earlier-in-time status.”

The SBE pointed out that a possible reason for the omission was that “Globalstar realized that TV BAS Channel A10 operations and MSS ATC are mutually exclusive, and that there can be no successful frequency coordination between fundamentally incompatible uses of the same spectrum.”

For more information, visit www.sbe.org.

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