EMWIN Users

Of special interest to EMWIN users and vendors is FCC Public Notice DA-1035 (ET Docket No. 10-123) released on June 4, 2010 calling for public comment on the extent and manner of use of the 1675-1710 MHz frequency band by non-federal users. The extent to which this band can be shared by others is directly influenced by the number of users who may be impacted and the extent of such impacts. Accurate studies cannot be performed without knowledge of the extent of use of this band, especially with respect to the number of unlicensed users who are not readily identifiable. The studies must also consider the validity of the expectation that EMWIN data can be distributed via terrestrial services. If is determined that the number of users and user locations is indeed small and that they can be serviced by other means, it may be concluded that sharing with commercial wireless broadband service providers is feasible, even with the likelihood for interference or disruption of service.

You may read the text of this Notice at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-10-1035A1.doc

As the FCC Notice states: "It may be possible that reception of weather satellite downlink transmissions could occur at a relatively small number of sites and be distributed via terrestrial services, such as over the Internet or other managed services. Thus with regard to incumbent satellite receive-only stations we seek comment on the extent to which and manner in which non-federal users directly access federally authorized Meteorological Satellite Service space station downlink transmissions."

All of the EMWIN broadcasts from GOES satellites fall within this band (GOES-I series on 1690.725 MHz, GOES-N series on 1692.7 MHz and GOES-R series is planned to be on 1697.4 MHz). Inasmuch as receive-only earth stations, such as for EMWIN, are not required to be registered with the FCC, it is unaware of those who will be affected by this sharing, nor of its potential impact.

The FCC is soliciting responses from all interested parties, due to that agency not later than June 28, 2010. Directions on how to respond are contained in their Public Notice. Please forward this message to anyone else you believe might be affected by this proposed sharing.

If you have any questions, please contact the EMWIN team at the U. S. National Weather Service, telephone number 301-713-0864x110, e-mail at emwin.system@noaa.gov.

Sincerely, EMWIN Team

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<*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/emwin-users/

So basically, what this is saying is that, the FCC doesn't have a clue just exactly how MANY of us are actually using the EMWIN system and, thinking that number to be pretty LOW, they are looking into the idea of actually taking the EMWIN downlink frequencies currently being used and handing them over to the broadband groups, instead. If they do this we can kiss the much faster satellite-downlinked EMWIN data goodbye. So we all need to write them and let them KNOW. So let's get on it. Instructions are in the above-mentioned FCC Notice. -Todd

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