The Society of Broadcast Engineers is compiling the results from its online 2GHz BAS Census, which is intended to paint an accurate portrait of the usage landscape.
The survey, which ended late last month, will assist the SBE in protecting the interests of broadcasters as the FCC develops a plan for frequency sharing between broadcasters and telecommunication services such as mobile-satellite service providers.
Among other things, the SBE census sought information from broadcasters on plans to clear channels 1 and 2 for non-broadcast use, how much equipment would need to be replaced at each step in the transition, the estimated cost of such equipment, the time needed to complete the transition and the impact of different plans on adjacent markets.
Preliminary results from the SBE census should be available in time for the next edition of the RF Update.
Separately, the SBE has announced that it will develop new software to assist its volunteer frequency coordinators. The existing software was developed in 1989. Scheduled for delivery in Spring 2004, the software will use a run-time version of FileMaker Pro and be available for Windows, Macintosh and Unix computer.
For more information, please visit: www.sbe.org.
