You use the term "STEM". I found just this week (from a fellow ham/teacher) that educators in our area (Minnesota) now are "STEAM", adding Arts to the acronym. Don't ask why....
John - Yes, that has now become common, and I don't disagree with STEAM vs STEM. But in this case, I couldn't quite figure out how, in a formal comment to the FCC regarding reconfiguration of a portion of spectrum... how I could work in "Arts" into my comment. Thus I chose to use STEM.
Very interesting article about FCC Docket 24-240. So if a company has already sold a bunch of consumer products transmitting in that band, and that NextNav wins, does that mean the company that sold that product is going to have to write to the consumer the following letter: Dear Consumer, because of a new law, that product we sold to you last week could no longer be legally used. Sorry!
Jerry - That is exactly what it means. I did not understand that 902-928 MHz is used in RFID tags, including retail, warehouse logistics, and traffic / tolling systems. Thus the number of devices in daily use that would be impacted by this extends into the multiple BILLIONS of devices. And, yes, they would be obsoleted and no longer able to be legally used if NextNav's reconfiguration of 902-928 MHz is implemented.
In your discussion of continuously-connected household appliances, you wrote:
3. My Positive Airway Pressure (PAP) appliance has a built-in cellular modem and thus offers to advise me, via an app, on the “quality of my sleep” (declined).
Regardless of reporting the sleep statistics to you, if you have insurance coverage for CPAP replacement supplies (filters, masks, headgear, hoses, tanks, etc.), your machine probably is reporting your nightly usage to your sleep-care medical provider. Most insurance companies, and Medicare, won't cover these supplies without confirmed regular usage of the machine.
I know that some CPAP users will mail (or hand-deliver) their CPAP SD-card to their sleep-care provider, on a monthly or bi-weekly basis, to avoid this internet monitoring.
Mark - Fortunately in my case, that's not required. I check in with my sleep care provider annually, and bring the machine with the SD card. But that requirement does makes some sense.
Steve - glad I found you here. Well written response, and I appreciate the coaching for others on the tone and content of their response.
I’m an RF engineer and a ham (AG6WR) and serve my local town CERT group. I’m in the middle of demo’ing a new HaLow intranet to connect CERT command posts with data service to allow for digital message (form, photos, etc) transfer. Further, I am working on plans to build our own Meshtastic “channel” to connect those and more sites to move telemetry data (door state, solar array/battery state, temperature, etc).
This fits as an example of EmComm applications you envisioned in your response. I might also use power and/or high gain antennas which would drive me to operate under amateur rules (wrt encryption, call sign beacon, etc) but it seems that might only dilute the argument as FCC sees it.
I’m past the submission date - how can I best help at this point?
Brian - While Amateur Radio is secondary to Location and Monitoring Service operations, the FCC also values Amateur Radio's role in emergency communications and "resiliency" of communication systems. So, "having fun" with Amateur Radio on 902-928 MHz wouldn't be a factor with the FCC, but emergency communications such as you're working on, AND STEM / self training on radio technology using 902-928 MHz (at least, it seems to me) are things that the FCC would care about and find relevant.
We're now in the "REPLY Comments" phase until 2024-09-25. As far as I'm aware, the FCC treats the Reply Comments and original Comments equally. So read through some of the comments and find some that are similar to your own, and then file a Reply Comment, selecting in the "Type of Filing: REPLY TO COMMENTS" and make your points. As long as you mention a comment, (again, it seems to me), it's considered legitimate Reply Comment. I'll be covering the Reply to Comments phase in this week's Zero Retries.
You use the term "STEM". I found just this week (from a fellow ham/teacher) that educators in our area (Minnesota) now are "STEAM", adding Arts to the acronym. Don't ask why....
John - Yes, that has now become common, and I don't disagree with STEAM vs STEM. But in this case, I couldn't quite figure out how, in a formal comment to the FCC regarding reconfiguration of a portion of spectrum... how I could work in "Arts" into my comment. Thus I chose to use STEM.
Very interesting article about FCC Docket 24-240. So if a company has already sold a bunch of consumer products transmitting in that band, and that NextNav wins, does that mean the company that sold that product is going to have to write to the consumer the following letter: Dear Consumer, because of a new law, that product we sold to you last week could no longer be legally used. Sorry!
Jerry - That is exactly what it means. I did not understand that 902-928 MHz is used in RFID tags, including retail, warehouse logistics, and traffic / tolling systems. Thus the number of devices in daily use that would be impacted by this extends into the multiple BILLIONS of devices. And, yes, they would be obsoleted and no longer able to be legally used if NextNav's reconfiguration of 902-928 MHz is implemented.
In your discussion of continuously-connected household appliances, you wrote:
3. My Positive Airway Pressure (PAP) appliance has a built-in cellular modem and thus offers to advise me, via an app, on the “quality of my sleep” (declined).
Regardless of reporting the sleep statistics to you, if you have insurance coverage for CPAP replacement supplies (filters, masks, headgear, hoses, tanks, etc.), your machine probably is reporting your nightly usage to your sleep-care medical provider. Most insurance companies, and Medicare, won't cover these supplies without confirmed regular usage of the machine.
I know that some CPAP users will mail (or hand-deliver) their CPAP SD-card to their sleep-care provider, on a monthly or bi-weekly basis, to avoid this internet monitoring.
Mark AD7EF
Mark - Fortunately in my case, that's not required. I check in with my sleep care provider annually, and bring the machine with the SD card. But that requirement does makes some sense.
Steve - glad I found you here. Well written response, and I appreciate the coaching for others on the tone and content of their response.
I’m an RF engineer and a ham (AG6WR) and serve my local town CERT group. I’m in the middle of demo’ing a new HaLow intranet to connect CERT command posts with data service to allow for digital message (form, photos, etc) transfer. Further, I am working on plans to build our own Meshtastic “channel” to connect those and more sites to move telemetry data (door state, solar array/battery state, temperature, etc).
This fits as an example of EmComm applications you envisioned in your response. I might also use power and/or high gain antennas which would drive me to operate under amateur rules (wrt encryption, call sign beacon, etc) but it seems that might only dilute the argument as FCC sees it.
I’m past the submission date - how can I best help at this point?
(Edited)
Brian - While Amateur Radio is secondary to Location and Monitoring Service operations, the FCC also values Amateur Radio's role in emergency communications and "resiliency" of communication systems. So, "having fun" with Amateur Radio on 902-928 MHz wouldn't be a factor with the FCC, but emergency communications such as you're working on, AND STEM / self training on radio technology using 902-928 MHz (at least, it seems to me) are things that the FCC would care about and find relevant.
We're now in the "REPLY Comments" phase until 2024-09-25. As far as I'm aware, the FCC treats the Reply Comments and original Comments equally. So read through some of the comments and find some that are similar to your own, and then file a Reply Comment, selecting in the "Type of Filing: REPLY TO COMMENTS" and make your points. As long as you mention a comment, (again, it seems to me), it's considered legitimate Reply Comment. I'll be covering the Reply to Comments phase in this week's Zero Retries.