All posts by Michael D. Rhodes

Meetings & Events

November 2015 Luncheon Meeting

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Thursday, November 19, 2015

Flexible Use of Millimeter Wave Spectrum Bands for Next Generation Wireless Services

Summary of NPRM Proposals

Michael Ha
Deputy Chief of Policy and Rules Division,
FCC Office of Engineering Technology

The FCC recently released an NPRM taking further steps to promote a flexible regulatory environment for the next generation of wireless services. In its NPRM, the FCC continues its examination of higher frequency bands for mobile and other uses. In that regard, it has identified specific spectrum bands above 24 GHz that appear to be suitable for mobile service, and seeks comment on proposed service rules that would authorize mobile and other operations in those bands. This development of service rules for mobile use of the millimeter wave (mmW) bands occurs in the context of our efforts to develop a regulatory framework that will help facilitate so-called Fifth Generation (5G) mobile services, ahead of ongoing coordination efforts associated with WRC-15.

Mr. Ha will be summarizing the technical proposals offered by the FCC in its NPRM. Comments in this proceeding are due by January 26, 2016, and reply comments are due by February 23, 2016. Continue reading →

Meetings & Events, News

October 2015 Luncheon and 3rd Annual AFCCE Symposium

October Luncheon and the
2015 AFCCE Symposium

Friday, October 30

Holiday Inn Rosslyn at Key Bridge

Reception 11:45 AM with Lunch beginning at 12:30 PM

The AFCCE Symposium will begin immediately after lunch and run until 5 p.m.  The program will focus on the broadcast television incentive auction and cover the technical and procedural considerations related to TV repacking after the auction.

Speaker

Topic
Pamela Gallant
Associate Division Chief
Video Division, Media Bureau, FCC		 An in-depth look at the FCC’s reimbursement program for broadcasters affected by spectrum repack and new channel assignments.
Joseph M. Davis, P.E.
Chesapeake RF Consultants, LLC		 Post-auction transition procedures for repacked stations, including FCC  construction permit and licensing requirements.
Dennis Wallace
Meintel, Sgrignoli, & Wallace, LLC		 ATSC 3.0: The Future of Television – An overview of the system and the services that will be possible.

Continue reading →

News

AFCCE Members awarded FCC Excellence in Engineering Analysis Award

AFCCE Members Mark Colombo and Barbara Pavon of the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology were recently awarded the Excellence in Engineering Analysis Award.   The 2015 EIE Award was given for their work on development of the analytical tools and software that are the engine “under the hood” powering the TV incentive auction.

This award is intended to recognize Commission staff for outstanding economic analysis, and engineering, scientific or technical contributions that they have performed in the course of their work at the Commission.

Congratulations Mark and Barbara!

Meetings & Events

September 2015 Luncheon Meeting

Friday, September 25, 2015

LED Obstruction Lighting

(topic recently changed)

Les Kutasi
Dialight Corporation

What is available in the market for tower lighting systems? What are the advantages of LED obstruction lights compared to other types of systems?  Mr. Kutasi will also talk about LED lighting on AM towers, LED lights for high intensity systems, and how LED is very green technology. Continue reading →

News

2015 Board of Directors

The results of the annual elections were announced over the weekend at the Annual Meeting.

The following Members were elected to a 4 year term:
Mark Felig & Bob Weller

The following Associate Members were elected to a 3 year term:
Ron Chase & John Lyons

The new AFCCE Board met on June 30 and the following slate of officers for the 2015-2016 term was elected: Continue reading →

Meetings & Events, News

September Luncheon

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Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Meeting Topic:
Web-Based Engineering Tools

What web-based services do you offer your clients?  AFCCE members Mark Colombo (rabbitears.info) and Mike Rhodes (fccinfo.com) will discuss some of the enhanced query and analysis features on websites they maintain, enabling client-side functionality with more detail than FCC.gov web-based tools.  Utilizing official FCC database sources, these services are made available at no cost to their users.  Mark and Mike will discuss some of the motivating factors and implementation challenges they experienced along the way.  They will also discuss how offering such services can have the potential of leading to new business opportunities as well as improvements in time management, each having a positive effect on profitability.

Presentation slides from the meeting can be downloaded here:
September 2014 Luncheon Presentation – FCCInfo.com Continue reading →