Innocent bystanders
Ever get between two bullies on the playground? There you are, just standing with the kickball in your hand, and the next thing you know you’re the target of two jeering toughguys who have decided that your taffy is going to get pulled.
It’s think-and-shrink time. First, decide which one of these frothy foes you might want to side with against the other. It would be nice to be on the winning side. But as is often the case, your side isn’t well represented when the fists start flying. More often than not, the bullies just beat the heck out of you rather than one another. So you have to shrink. That is, try to make yourself not worthy of their attention at that moment and hope that they find some other pee-wee to push around. It’s the old “look over there” dodge. Sometimes it works, and sometimes they just keep on comin’.
If this situation has ever happened to you, at least you’ve got some reference point for dealing with the battle going on between PCIA and ITA regarding the coordination of UHF or VHF trunking systems. If the license says “YG” on it, then it’s likely that one of the coordinators is going to say that the other coordinator didn’t do it right.
Operators all over the country are getting “courtesy” copies of letters being pumped out mainly by ITA, that seek to inform the FCC that YG licenses were granted in error. ITA cites co-channel operations that the rules state must be taken into account for coordination before you can get an exclusive YG license. According to ITA, PCIA has blown it and caused the commission to grant a slew of licenses in error.
One of my clients got caught in this hair-pulling contest when it went to modify a license that had been on the FCC books for a couple of years. ITA wrote the FCC a letter saying that the proposed relocation of the station would result in improper operations and that PCIA’s coordination of the application had failed to take into account its duty to check co-channel and adjacent channel users.
Our client then turned to PCIA and said, in effect, “You gonna let ITA talk like that? Are you going to stand up for yourself and support your earlier coordination?” PCIA said that it wasn’t going to take any guff from ITA and that the operator shouldn’t worry. So, PCIA wrote its own letter.
The PCIA letter said, in essence, “Maybe we didn’t coordinate correctly when we relocated, but ITA blew it when it coordinated the original station license.” Oh great. Now the client’s got ITA challenging the application and PCIA challenging the original station license. So the whole facility is in jeopardy.
As these firefights have increased in number and severity, the FCC has provided zero guidance. To date, none of these incidents has resulted in the FCC taking any action known to us. Instead, mommy has got two kids fighting in the back seat and hasn’t decided whether to stop the car.
If you ask the kids, each one will point at the other and whine in sing-song fashion, “He started it” (as though knowing the origin would help). The truth is, the FCC started it when it decided to stick its nose into private trunked systems. Although UHF trunking of private radio channels has gone on for more than a decade, the FCC didn’t get involved in the area until it decided to refarm the private radio spectrum. Suddenly-and for no good reason-the FCC decided it needed rules for trunking.
Linking trunked operation with channel exclusivity was the next step toward conflict. The FCC decided that if you could show that your facility’s contours wouldn’t overlap the contours of a co-channel or adjacent channel facility (situated anywhere within an area roughly the size of the Milky Way), you might qualify for exclusive use.
There was also that issue regarding centralized vs. decentralized trunking. One was a problem and the other wasn’t, except that the FCC’s definition of these terms read like the instructions for installing a left-handed flange grommet to hang a storm door made in Korea.
So what’s going to be the outcome of the range wars between PCIA and ITA? Well, first these organizations are going to scare, frustrate and generally tick off a bunch of licensees. Operators who have held licenses for a while, and who have constructed their systems based on their grants, are going to wonder if they blew a bunch of money on equipment they can’t use.
If you are operating a centralized trunking format, you are at the greatest risk. The threshold for licensed operation is higher than for decentralized trunking. If you are using decentralized trunking, and you don’t care if you get exclusive use of the channels (i.e. IG operation rather than YG operation), then you are likely under the radar screen of this dogfight. If you hold a YG license, the FCC may modify your grant and change it into an IG license, thereby canceling your exclusivity. And if your license was granted some time ago, the FCC’s actions might require a hearing.
In short, it’s a bit of a mess, and each situation is a little different from the next. And there is a subplot to this whole controversy. Let’s say that PCIA coordinated your application and that, based on its recommendation the FCC granted you a YG license. Based on that grant, you went out and purchased centralized trunking equipment and have built your station. Additionally, you went out and signed up customers who are happily using your system. What if the FCC wants to cancel or substantially modify the license, causing you to do business differently? Who pays?
As with all things, you pay first. The victim always does. But can you seek compensation from PCIA for blowing the coordination? This is an issue that I’ve batted around the FCC and the courts for years without success. In short, what’s the liability arising out of a muffed coordination? A court could reasonably find that the coordinator should pay you for messing up the coordination. The fact that no case has gotten that far is not an indication that such a cause of action would be unsuccessful. But who wants the hassle?
And hassle is what this is. So, why do operators have to suffer through this, and why did this whole thing get started? Don’t ask me. I’ve got my theories, but it may just come down to a case of sibling rivalry. So let’s send these two to sit in the corner. Trouble is, the corners they are sitting in have turnbuckles. n
