Ofcom to use free airwaves for rural broadband

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14052944

"Ofcom is considering using the airwaves freed up when FM radio goes
digital to provide rural broadband.

So-called white spaces devices are currently being trialled for use in
the spectrum gaps freed up by the digital TV switchover.

Ofcom believes they would work equally well in the FM spectrum."
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On 08/07/11 15:23, Java Jive wrote:
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14052944
>
> "Ofcom is considering using the airwaves freed up when FM radio goes
> digital to provide rural broadband.
>
> So-called white spaces devices are currently being trialled for use in
> the spectrum gaps freed up by the digital TV switchover.
>
> Ofcom believes they would work equally well in the FM spectrum."

Considering that DAB take-up has been very slow and the phasing out of
FM has been pushed back more than once. I wouldn't hold my breath...

"Java Jive" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14052944
>
> "Ofcom is considering using the airwaves freed up when FM radio goes
> digital to provide rural broadband.
>
> So-called white spaces devices are currently being trialled for use in
> the spectrum gaps freed up by the digital TV switchover.
>
> Ofcom believes they would work equally well in the FM spectrum."
> --

That is a surprise as I had thought the present Government had cancelled the
turning off of FM when they first came in.
Regards
David

> That is a surprise as I had thought the present Government had
> cancelled the turning off of FM when they first came in.

Not cancelled - just drawn back from the gung ho "2015 or bust"
insanity.

Ofcom's news release
http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2011/07/06...fm-radio-band/
includes

"Speaking at the Radio Centre members' conference today, Ofcom Chief
Executive, Ed Richards, identified White Space Devices as potential new
users of the freed up FM radio airwaves. These devices could use these
frequencies to deliver innovative applications such as mobile broadband
in very sparsely populated areas."

--
Robin
PM may be sent to rbw0{at}hotmail{dot}com

"chris" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:iv74pk$h2t$(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 08/07/11 15:23, Java Jive wrote:
>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14052944
>>
>> "Ofcom is considering using the airwaves freed up when FM radio goes
>> digital to provide rural broadband.
>>
>> So-called white spaces devices are currently being trialled for use in
>> the spectrum gaps freed up by the digital TV switchover.
>>
>> Ofcom believes they would work equally well in the FM spectrum."
>
> Considering that DAB take-up has been very slow and the phasing out of FM
> has been pushed back more than once. I wouldn't hold my breath...

Not only that there is only 20Mhz of spectrum!

In article <WpGRp.14318$(E-Mail Removed)2>, Robin <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:
> > That is a surprise as I had thought the present Government had
> > cancelled the turning off of FM when they first came in.

> Not cancelled - just drawn back from the gung ho "2015 or bust"
> insanity.

> Ofcom's news release
> http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2011/07/06...fm-radio-band/
> includes

> "Speaking at the Radio Centre members' conference today, Ofcom Chief
> Executive, Ed Richards, identified White Space Devices as potential new
> users of the freed up FM radio airwaves. These devices could use these
> frequencies to deliver innovative applications such as mobile broadband
> in very sparsely populated areas."

This must be the same OfCom who have allowed home PLT devices to extend
up to over 200MHz.

IIUC there is also a trial currently under way trying out similar
'whitespace' ideas in the UHF band.

Slainte,

Jim

--
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R. Mark Clayton wrote:
> "chris" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:iv74pk$h2t$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> On 08/07/11 15:23, Java Jive wrote:
>>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14052944
>>>
>>> "Ofcom is considering using the airwaves freed up when FM radio goes
>>> digital to provide rural broadband.
>>>
>>> So-called white spaces devices are currently being trialled for use in
>>> the spectrum gaps freed up by the digital TV switchover.
>>>
>>> Ofcom believes they would work equally well in the FM spectrum."
>> Considering that DAB take-up has been very slow and the phasing out of FM
>> has been pushed back more than once. I wouldn't hold my breath...
>
> Not only that there is only 20Mhz of spectrum!

....which will fill up with pirates the day after legal radio stations move off.




--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

www.paras.org.uk

On 08/07/2011 18:01, tony sayer wrote:
> In article<WpGRp.14318$(E-Mail Removed)2>, Robin<(E-Mail Removed)>
> scribeth thus
>>> That is a surprise as I had thought the present Government had
>>> cancelled the turning off of FM when they first came in.
>>
>> Not cancelled - just drawn back from the gung ho "2015 or bust"
>> insanity.
>>
>> Ofcom's news release
>> http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2011/07/06...fm-radio-band/
>> includes
>>
>> "Speaking at the Radio Centre members' conference today, Ofcom Chief
>> Executive, Ed Richards, identified White Space Devices as potential new
>> users of the freed up FM radio airwaves. These devices could use these
>> frequencies to deliver innovative applications such as mobile broadband
>> in very sparsely populated areas."
>>
>
> Wasn't this what 800 Odd MHz was for?. And is 89-108 odd MHz a really
> good frequency for mobile broadband/..


.....looks like the government may need to repeal Shannon's Law first :-)

20MHz==1-200MBit on a good day shared between how many?

Chris K

On Jul 8, 6:31*pm, Chris K <neb...@nowhere.com> wrote:
> On 08/07/2011 18:01, tony sayer wrote:
>
>
>
> > In article<WpGRp.14318$T85.8...@newsfe19.ams2>, Robin<s...@sig.sep>
> > scribeth thus
> >>> That is a surprise as I had thought the present Government had
> >>> cancelled the turning off of FM when they first came in.
>
> >> Not cancelled - just drawn back from the gung ho "2015 or bust"
> >> insanity.
>
> >> Ofcom's news release
> >>http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2011/07/06...ture-of-fm-rad....
> >> includes
>
> >> "Speaking at the Radio Centre members' conference today, Ofcom Chief
> >> Executive, Ed Richards, identified White Space Devices as potential new
> >> users of the freed up FM radio airwaves. These devices could use these
> >> frequencies to deliver innovative applications such as mobile broadband
> >> in very sparsely populated areas."
>
> > Wasn't this what 800 Odd MHz was for?. And is 89-108 odd MHz a really
> > good frequency for mobile broadband/..
>
> ....looks like the government may need to repeal Shannon's Law first :-)
>
> 20MHz==1-200MBit on a good day shared between how many?
>
> Chris K

Yeah, I reckon about 150MBit on a good day for LTE TDD in a 20 MHz
band, then there's the small matter of providing an uplink. Don't
think anybody's demonstrated self organising white space radio yet
anyway.

"Java Jive" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14052944
>
> "Ofcom is considering using the airwaves freed up when FM radio goes
> digital to provide rural broadband.
>
> So-called white spaces devices are currently being trialled for use in
> the spectrum gaps freed up by the digital TV switchover.
>
> Ofcom believes they would work equally well in the FM spectrum."

And how the hell do they think they are going to find free spectrum when
it's time to switch from DAB to something better?

A lot of people, including me, think it's time to move on from DAB now while
the government, Ofcom etc disagree, but surely they must have somebody in a
position of power with enough technical knowledge to see that the time to
move on from DAB has to come eventually, and that DAB is not some kind of
magical ultimate future proof radio system that we'll still be using in the
22nd century.

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