FCC C Band Dish Registration

[VictoriaFTA]

Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone who has had experience with registering their C-band antennas with the FCC might be able to help out. I have completed all of Form 312 and Schedule B and have them saved as drafts in the ICFS, but it is my understanding that all C-band registrations need something called a "Frequency Coordination" report. How does one go about getting one of these, and how much do you think it might cost me? I have no idea who I should contact in order to get one of these done, but I would like my antennas to be registered ASAP and this is holding me up.

Do you think the FCC might be willing to waive this requirement for an individual? I don't see why this should be necessary for a residential site. I'm certainly not going to be interfering with anyone's signals with my Rx-only antennas, and it seems like an overly burdensome requirement for an individual. Indeed, they have waived this requirement before, but apparently only for 90 days in 2018?

https://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2018/db0419/DA-18-398A1.pdf

Under Commission rules, applications for earth station licenses or registrations in the 3.7-4.2
GHz band must be accompanied by an exhibit demonstrating coordination with terrestrial stations.19 The
purpose of this coordination requirement is to establish the baseline level of interference that an earth
station must accept in frequency bands shared by the FS and FSS on a co-primary basis. The coordination
results entitle the FSS earth station to the interference protection levels agreed to during coordination,
including against subsequent FS licensees.20 However, according to the Satellite Industry Association,
many receive-only earth station operators are deterred from voluntarily registering their antennas for
interference protection due to the costs of completing the registration process, including the need for a
coordination report.21 The Commission also uses information collected in applications for earth station
licenses and registrations to assist it in considering whether its rules require modification to accommodate
changing market and technological conditions, and to facilitate the Commission's efforts to use spectrum
more efficiently.22

We observe that the coordination requirement may impose an unnecessary burden on applicants
considering whether to file during the 90-day window, as the freeze on the filing of applications for new
or modified fixed microwave licenses will maintain the current interference environment for existing
earth stations, as there will be no additional fixed links in the band that could increase the interference
received by authorized earth stations in the 3.7-4.2 GHz band. Thus, to obtain the best information
possible on existing earth stations in this band in furtherance of the Commission's ongoing inquiry
without imposing a potentially unnecessary economic burden on eligible FSS earth station applicants in
the 3.7-4.2 GHz band filing within the 90-day window, the International Bureau hereby grants a
temporary waiver of the frequency coordination requirement.23 Applicants who file within the 90-day
window will otherwise be processed normally. Registrations or licenses granted for applications filed
without the coordination report will include a condition noting that the license or registration does not
afford interference protection from FS transmissions. Upon announcing the termination of the freeze, the
International Bureau may modify or terminate the waiver by requiring or permitting registrants or
licensees who filed applications within the 90-day window without a coordination report to file such a
report as required by the Commission's rules, and to take any appropriate action in light of such filing.
Waiver of the Commission's rules is appropriate where particular facts make strict compliance
with a rule inconsistent with the public interest, special circumstances warrant a deviation from the
general rule, and the waiver does not undermine the validity of the general rule.24 In the present case we
find that the Commission's pending inquiry into operations in the 3.7-4.2 GHz band and the interests of
equity warrant providing earth station operators with a chance to file applications despite the freeze.

 

[AZ.]

Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone who has had experience with registering their C-band antennas with the FCC might be able to help out. I have completed all of Form 312 and Schedule B and have them saved as drafts in the ICFS, but it is my understanding that all C-band registrations need something called a "Frequency Coordination" report. How does one go about getting one of these, and how much do you think it might cost me? I have no idea who I should contact in order to get one of these done, but I would like my antennas to be registered ASAP and this is holding me up.

Do you think the FCC might be willing to waive this requirement for an individual? I don't see why this should be necessary for a residential site. I'm certainly not going to be interfering with anyone's signals with my Rx-only antennas, and it seems like an overly burdensome requirement for an individual. Indeed, they have waived this requirement before, but apparently only for 90 days in 2018?

https://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2018/db0419/DA-18-398A1.pdf

I never did, but that was 35 years ago?

 

[ZetaMale]

Hey all,

I was wondering if anyone who has had experience with registering their C-band antennas with the FCC might be able to help out. I have completed all of Form 312 and Schedule B and have them saved as drafts in the ICFS, but it is my understanding that all C-band registrations need something called a "Frequency Coordination" report. How does one go about getting one of these, and how much do you think it might cost me? I have no idea who I should contact in order to get one of these done, but I would like my antennas to be registered ASAP and this is holding me up.

Do you think the FCC might be willing to waive this requirement for an individual? I don't see why this should be necessary for a residential site. I'm certainly not going to be interfering with anyone's signals with my Rx-only antennas, and it seems like an overly burdensome requirement for an individual. Indeed, they have waived this requirement before, but apparently only for 90 days in 2018?

https://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2018/db0419/DA-18-398A1.pdf

That sounds more like a requirement for those stations that uplink.

 

[mikekohl]

That sounds more like a requirement for those stations that uplink.

There was a one time opportunity to apply for an FCC License that would have protected your dish from interference on C-band frequencies. This was seven years ago (2018), and does not look to ever be repeated. Any efforts at this late date that involve spending money on surveys, or application fees, etc. would be money going straight down the drain for no good reason. You missed your chance back then...blink and opportunities sometimes disappear for good.

 

[ZetaMale]

There was a one time opportunity to apply for an FCC License that would have protected your dish from interference on C-band frequencies. This was seven years ago (2018), and does not look to ever be repeated. Any efforts at this late date that involve spending money on surveys, or application fees, etc. would be money going straight down the drain for no good reason. You missed your chance back then...blink and opportunities sometimes disappear for good.

I don't think many of us realized back then just how bad the 5G interference would be. Oh well.

 

[VictoriaFTA]

There was a one time opportunity to apply for an FCC License that would have protected your dish from interference on C-band frequencies. This was seven years ago (2018), and does not look to ever be repeated. Any efforts at this late date that involve spending money on surveys, or application fees, etc. would be money going straight down the drain for no good reason. You missed your chance back then...blink and opportunities sometimes disappear for good.

This kind of naysaying is why people didn't register in 2018. There was a huge fee ($495 -- that's more like $1,000 now after all this inflation in the past 7 years) and people said there would be no benefit to doing so. Indeed, the FCC didn't say there would be any benefit to registering your antennas until well after they closed registrations, so they were basically expecting you to blindly fling $1,000 at them and have faith they would make it worth your while somehow. It was total Bullsh!t the way they handled it. Apparently they offered various forms of compensation to C-band earth station incumbents, like paying for the upgrade of any antennas sized smaller than 3.7m or offering a lump sum payment of up to $16,000 per orthomode antenna, several years after closing registrations.

Anyways, I have no intentions of missing out on incumbency status now. It's much cheaper to register an earth station now, at $205 per entire site instead of $495 ($1,000 in today's money) per antenna like it was back in 2018. Trump just signed the Billionaire Bailout Bill, and in that there is a provision that the FCC is now authorized and must engage in a spectrum auction of at least another 100 MHz of the C-band in the next two years. Right now we are all incumbents in the 4000 - 4200 MHz range of the C-band spectrum.

So if we register now we should be eligible for some kind of compensation from upcoming spectrum auctions of at least another 100 MHz of the C-band spectrum. If it ends up being only 1/3 of what they offered the first time around (after all, now they're probably only stealing 100 MHz whereas back then they stole 300 MHz), that would still be $5,333 in lump sum compensation per orthomode antenna or at the very least paying for the new 5G filters every incumbent earth station is going to need now that filters out the below 4100 MHz range.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

 

[telstar_1]

I was going to ask if this was 1980. Seems I remember that "earth stations" (c-band receiving dishes) were actually supposed to be registered back then. Or am I misremembering? Hadn't heard anything about this new registration for interference

 

[VictoriaFTA]

This is the site used for processing claims when they stole the first 300 MHz:

About The RPC – RPC Website

web.archive.org

I figure they will launch a new program when they steal another 100 MHz (or more) in the years to come. It is imperative that all C-band dish owners get registered now to be considered incumbents deserving of compensation for 5G Spectrum Theft Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

The C-band is a 500 megahertz ("MHz") segment of spectrum from 3.7 to 4.2 gigahertz ("GHz"), which is now mostly used by fixed satellite companies to provide content to video and audio broadcasters, cable systems, and other content distributors. The FCC is requiring that incumbent licensees within the C-band clear existing services from the lower 300 MHz of the C-band (3.7–4.0 GHz), making it available for flexible use for wireless services. Existing satellite operations will be repacked and move into the upper 200 MHz of the band (4.0–4.2 GHz). Incumbent space station operators, incumbent earth station operators, and incumbent Fixed Service licensees will transition out of the 3.7–4.0 GHz band and will be reimbursed for their reasonable relocation costs.