I remember clear back in 2001 or so. I was fortunate enough to have
breakfast with Michael Marcus. Patrick, i think you were there for this.
I remember him telling the story about FCC certified computers. Back in the
day, it was only legal to sell a computer as a complete certified system.
Then along came Michael Dell. He said, screw the rules, they are stupid.
He started selling anyone any combination of certified components that they
wanted. Soon, there were so many systems out there that were NOT causing
interference issues that it was completely impossible to put the genie back
in the bottle.
Out of that comes today's way to buy a computer. The COMPONENT gets
certified, you mix and match them all you want.
As I recall, Mike M. said that they (the FCC) knew that SOME combinations
WOULD cause a problem. But that the likely hood of it being an issue was
outweighed by the benefits of the new rules.
We've already had one adjustment on the part 15 certification rules lately.
And it was sorely needed. I remember calling the FCC and talking to John
Reed. One of the guys that WROTE the FCC rules. Back in 1999 when I get
started it as ILLEGAL for me to use an Andrew antenna on a BreezeCOM system.
Even though Andrew made the antennas and all BreezeCOM did was put a
different sticker on them.
I remember more than one argument with Patrick (and others) about whether or
not it was ok for me to use the $60 Andrew antennas vs. the $200 BreezeCOM
ones. As it turned out, I was wrong, it wasn't OK. But the rule was also
wrong and has since been changed.
We'll eventually see more of the rules changed. Look at the unique
connector rule. The FCC certifies EVERY new consumer device with an RPSMA
connector on it. It's hardly a unique solution anymore. Yet anyone can get
it certified.
I do NOT recommend that anyone out there build a non certified system. Mine
isn't perfect but it's very close and getting better all of the time. But
what are we really supposed to do? There is NO government enforcement of
the rules. What's the incentive to obey them? I have operators in my area
running illegal networks and I've had very limited success in getting them
fixed let along shut down. And the WHOLE market is suffering due to their
massive amounts of interference.
In a fight (like the fight for usable spectrum) the bad guy always makes the
rules. If one guy goes to high power, all have to. No, two wrongs don't
make a right, but they do make a more usable network.
It's not completely the WISP that looks bad when these discussions take
place. It's also those in government that turn a totally blind eye. No
matter what gets done in the field.
I'll tell you something about the whitespaces too. The broadcasters do NOT
want to see auctioned spectrum. They loose too much control that way.
They'd be fools to push for that. The spectrum WILL be opened up for
someone. Who's the least possible threat to them long term? Unlicensed.
The WISPs are, by far, the best friend that the broadcasters have in this
fight. We want smart radios, good sensing, minimized interference
possibilities etc. etc. etc. AND we'll AUTOMATICALLY get booted from any
channels that they broadcasters want to license and get back. There's
really no down side to them. We take all of the risk.
Laters,
marlon
----- Original Message -----
From: "George Rogato" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "WISPA General List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 1:40 PM
Subject: Re: [WISPA] My Hypothetical Conversation with Julius Knapp, Chiefof
OET
Patrick Leary wrote:
Julie - "Ah, you want that beachfront stuff with high power. Well,
looking at how many WISPs can't be trusted to follow the rules, there is
considerable risk for that, especially with the broadcasters, who tend
to be a vocal and frankly powerful lobby."
:)
As has been posted on this thread, most of the bad guys are not high
powered, we just have self assembled systems rather than out of the box
solutions.
So start your hypothetical conversation over again and replace high
powered solutions with " low powered versatile solutions" and follow that
line of reasoning.
I'm on record of amps and high powered is not good, most of the time.
George
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