The FCC should reject proposals for addressing white- spaces inte...

concept supports “is particularly troubling because it wrongly requires incumbent users to shoulder the burden for interference protection from new devices,” Shure said. The burden of persuasion should be on “the companies proposing to introduce new interfering devices,” it said. Shure urged the commission “to scrutinize and test” a disabling-beacon idea raised by Motorola. The Motorola beacons “suffer from many technical hurdles that have not yet been addressed,” it said. Motorola’s notion has “cumbersome operational requirements” wasteful of spectrum and reliant on unproven spectrum-sensing tools, Shure said. The system wouldn’t protect most wireless microphones from interference, it said. Shure also criticized Google’s proposal for a microphone “safe harbor” in channels 36 to 38 off-limits to other white-spaces devices (CD March 25 p2). That plan would give “little protection to wireless microphones because it involves channels that are either unavailable under the [FCC] rules to wireless microphone use (channel 37) or are already significantly populated by DTV stations throughout the country,” Shure said. Rather than proceed with any portable white-spaces plan, the FCC should “refocus” on fixed service proposals, Shure said. Fixed services “present fewer interference issues,” creating a “truly safe harbor” for microphones, it said.