FCC Issue

Overview of Issue

In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates the radio spectrum from 3 kHz to 300 GHz, because it is considered a limited public resource. The FCC sells licenses of particular frequencies via public auctions. With television converting to digital, the UHF frequencies have become available and the FCC has auctioned off some of those frequencies to large telecommunications carriers, like Sprint, Google, Microsoft and T Mobile. The FCC is also determined to keep some of the UHF frequencies for public safety channels and communications. On November 4, 2008, the FCC voted to further restrict the bandwidth available for wireless microphones by opening up the areas between the licensed frequencies, referred to as “white spaces” to unlicensed consumer devices.  

Impact on Most Wireless Microphones

Currently wireless microphones that operate in the UHF band are unlicensed.  Close proximity of devices in the same frequency range can cause interference.  It literally causes noise to be broadcast. Therefore, most UHF wireless microphone systems have multi-channel capabilities to find an unused, licensed frequency band. So the sale of the UHF frequencies and the use for public safety communications are eliminating the bands that these microphones use today. Not only will it be difficult to find a clear frequency, it will actually be illegal to use an unlicensed device in the UHF spectrum. 

The Revolabs Difference

Revolabs Wireless Microphone Systems are digital, not analog, so they are much more tolerant of a noisy or congested frequency environment. Digital wireless microphones transmit short bursts of data instead of analog sound waves and allows for the transmissions to be encrypted for security. The Revolabs wireless microphones automatically look for and change frequency to find a clearer transmission path within the spectrum that Revolabs uses. That spectrum is at the 1.92-1.93 GHz range which is unlicensed by the FCC. It is called the Unlicensed Personal Communications Services (UPCS) spectrum. There are no problems foreseen with the FCC’s changes to the UHF spectrum. 

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Office of Spectrum Management