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RF

Spectrum Theft

Or how the FCC and Congress have facilitated the enclosure of the RF commons

Note: This post is written from a US perspective, but similar theft and corruption exists in most countries.

Right now, as this is written, nearly two years into a Biden administration, a seat on the FCC board of commisioners has remained vacant since January 20th 2021. This situation has left the FCC deadlocked and prevented any potential that could take RF spectrum allocations and other matters managed by the FCC in a more progressive direction.

This isn't to say that a democrat-run FCC makes it a legitimate organization. Democrats have not been shy about selling RF bands to the highest bidder... Further commercializing a public commodity that should exist for the benefit of all and not just those who can afford a cell phone subscription.

Indeed the "Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012" which directed the FCC to allow the auction of 84Mhz of the broadcast television band was passed by a Democrat-held Senate, a Republican-held House of Representatives, and signed by a Democrat president.

And in 1993 a Democrat-held Senate and House, and a Democrat president allowed FCC to hold spectrum auctions in the first place. Since then the people of the US have seen a consistent diminishment of public-access radio spectrum, towards the expansion of subscription-only cellular data service.

This isn't a recent phenomenon though... The TV broadcast bands in 1983, at it's peak, had 81 6Mhz channels (Ch. 1-83, excluding Ch1 & Ch37 for radio astronomy), that's 486Mhz of spectrum.

In 1984 UHF channels 70-83 (806Mhz-890Mhz) were reallocated and are now the GSM-850 block operated by ATT, Verizon, and T-Mobile.
In 2010 UHF channels 52-69 (698Mhz-806Mhz) were reallocated for use by ATT, Verizon and T-Mobile, as well as a portion reserved for "public safety"
In 2017 UHF channels 38-51 (614Mhz-698Mhz) and became LTE Band 71, used by T-Mobile.

Roughly half of the TV broadcast band (258Mhz of spectrum) has been stolen for use with subscription-only services since 1983. This isn't some bullshit microwave spectrum either, this is UHF spectrum that has the ability to propagate further and in less of a line-of-sight manner than microwave spectrum. This COULD have been 12 20Mhz UHF long-range WiFi channels, up to 1,700Mbps using current technology. This would be of great use to public/municipal wifi, mesh-networks and rural last-mile applications.

Instead, the public is relegated to 28Mhz in the 900Mhz ISM band, 94Mhz in the 2.4Ghz ISM band, 745Mhz in the 5Ghz band, and more recently 1180Mhz in the 6Ghz band. This sounds like a lot, but most WiFi spectrum exists in the 5 & 6 Ghz bands which are of very limited utility except indoors and in extremely favorable (point-to-point, line-of-sight) outdoor applications. Additionally, the 2.4Ghz & 900Mhz ISM bands are subject to significant interference due simply to all the users crammed onto those bands.

802.11ad/ay supports 57.24Ghz - 70.20Ghz, but this requires highly specialized equipment and is really only useful for point-to-point applications from tower to tower.

What can be done in such a hostile RF regime? In short, it is our right and our duty to participate in and to promote radio piracy until an equitable band plan is implemented.