Every once in a blue moon politics will surprise us all and prove to be useful in advancing rather than hindering.  The FCC’s office of Engineering Technology (OET) has announced it’s plans to conduct large scale field tests of prototype White Spaces devices.

Much to everyone’s surprise Louis Libin, president of Broad-Comm, Inc. and chairman of POLCOMM 2008, has offered their services in providing test grounds for said white spaces devices.  POLCOMM2008 is responsible for the coordination of wireless microphone traffic at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.  Each event will have hundreds of individual frequencies operating simultaneously and Libin suggest this would be the ideal proving ground for these new devices.

Don Lepore, producer of NBC’s Nashville Star, has expressed what I believe to be a common concern among those in the entertainment and installation industry which is the fear that the FCC is greatly underestimating the density of population in the proposed “white spaces”.  Lepore has extended an open invitation to the FCC (OET) to visit Nashville and take full advantage of the expertise and facilities to carry out testing in some of the most demanding scenarios.

Daryl Friedman, vice president, Advocacy & Government Relations for the Recording Academy (NARAS) is also preaching words of caution before any new portable devices are allowed to operate in the TV band.  Friedman also is offering his hand in assistance by offering to coordinate a FCC visit to Chicago during the Lollapalooza Festival on Aug. 1st.

The FCC has begun limited field testing and will continue for the next four weeks.  All testing is open to the public and for those interested you can find dates, times and locations at www.fcc.gov/oet/projects/tvbanddevice/welcome.html.

by Jason Levert