White space two years later.... (FCC reallocation of Frequencies)

[Chris Chapman]

So when we were hit with the FCC imposed white space reallocation back in 2010, we were supposed to dump gear in the 700Mhz Frequency band, right? And now we live in a world were it is a possible $5000 violation per receiver, right? That is how that all shook out, right? That's why we dumped tons of money into new, compliant systems, right?

I heard that there was a loosening of enforcement on non-licensed transmitters recently, how did that shake out as well?

What to do when you discover a BIG chunk of non-compliant mics still being used in an important facility within your District? Do you follow up with the Tech person who should have dealt with the issue? Or let it slide until someone gets stung? What to do, what to do?

 

[cpf]

http://www.controlbooth.com/showthread.php?t=26549 my story

 

[Aman121]

Do you want to spend money and rent mics for every show, or do you want to wait and face tens of thousands of dollars in fines when you get caught? It's not a question of if, it's when. Our smaller space was outfitted with a large array of 700mhz wireless mics a few years before they were outlawed. We subsequently began renting mics for shows, but the 25 odd receivers and belt packs were left in place.An outside rental group with their own engineer came in and rented the space. No district personnel were present to warn them about the mics. They used about 10 of the packs for a one off show. All seemd fine. Then a few weeks later the district got a call from the FCC. They picked up the interference, and fined the school relatively lightly, given the circumstances. We got off somewhat lucky, but that doesent mean you won't.

 

[FMEng]

With FCC enforcement, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. If your mics cause interference to the legal user of that spectrum, and somebody notices and reports it, that is when the FCC will get busy. As time goes by, the odds of getting caught increases because the use of the band goes up. If I were in your situation, I would not panic about getting new equipment tomorrow, but I would certainly establish a plan for replacing equipment over an amount of time that makes it financially practical.