The FCC turned down a waiver request by Whiffletree, grant of...
The FCC turned down a waiver request by Whiffletree, grant of which would have allowed its Seareka maritime survivor locating device (MSLD) to use the 869.4-869.65 MHz band, which is already used by U.S. carriers for cellular communications. MSLDs are…
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transceivers attached to life vests or other equipment designed to help locate survivors of incidents at sea. The waiver request faced strong opposition from wireless carriers worried about interference (CD Aug 15 p10). “As an initial matter, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, and Office of Engineering and Technology have previously stated that a waiver should not be granted merely to accommodate a manufacturer’s choice of frequency that is based solely on the frequency being harmonized for operation abroad,” the order said (http://bit.ly/108RtHO). “Moreover, we are not persuaded that deployment of the Seareka MSLD in the United States will have the safety benefits asserted by Whiffletree. Frequency 869 MHz is heavily used for cellular base station operations throughout the United States including territorial waters and the Gulf of Mexico, with a high probability that the frequency will be in use at any point in time. We agree with the commenters that Seareka’s MSLD could cause harmful interference that could disrupt cellular communications, including 911 calls, in coastal areas of the United States and other countries and in the Gulf of Mexico.”