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Commercial Air-to-Ground Telephone Service
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The bands 849 - 851 and 894 - 896 MHz are allocated to the aeronautical mobile service and are used to provide air-to-ground telephone service for commercial airlines. Most people will recognize the Verizon Airfone service, which is installed in the seatbacks of many commercial airlines and which uses this band for its service. The lower band (849 - 851 MHz) is used by the base stations located on the ground to transmit to the planes; transmissions from the planes back to the ground use the upper band, 894 - 896 MHz.
In its original incarnation, the commercial air-to-ground telephone service was to support up to six licensees in this band, where all of the licensees would share the band for traffic channels, and each licensee would have dedicated control channels to manage its own traffic. In the end, Verizon Airfone (originally operated under GTE) was the only operator to remain commercially viable, and even they are estimated to handle, on average, only about three calls per flight. Due to channel bandwidth limitations, the only services that could be offered were voice phone calls and very slow dial-up-quality data connections.
By 2005, the FCC realized that the spectrum was not being used efficiently and instigated a rule making proceeding leading to the auction of new licenses for this band. The exact band plan for this spectrum was left as one of the bidding parameters, and the final result was a plan that provided a 3 MHz license (the bottom 1.5 MHz of each of the two bands), and a 1 MHz license (the top 0.5 MHz of each band). Auction 65, completed in June 2006, generated $38,339,000 for the U.S. treasury, with ACBidCo winning the 3 MHz license and LiveTV winning the 1 MHz license.
Although Verizon Airfone participated in the auction, they did not win, and the FCC banished their operations to the spectrum occupied by the 1 MHz license, and allowed them to continue service until 2010 on a shared basis with the new licensee. On May 13th, 2010, Verizon's Airfone license, KNKG804, expired for good. In June 2008, LiveTV, the winning bidder for Airfone's spectrum, announced that it was purchasing the Verizon Airfone network.
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Paired Frequency Bands |
| Paired Bands | Use | Service | Table |
| 849 - 851 MHz | Ground-to-air | Aeronautical Mobile | - |
| 894 - 896 MHz | Air-to-ground | Aeronautical Mobile | - |
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Television Broadcast
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Over-the-air television broadcasting in the United States uses the following spectrum. Each TV channel is 6 MHz wide. Digital broadcasting is by the ATSC standard. Some Low Power Television (LPTV), TV translators, and Class A television stations continue to broadcast in analog mode using the NTSC standard, but are mandated to transition to digital by September 1, 2015; however, the FCC has proposed extending this deadline in document FCC 14-151 (available under the related documents section).
| VHF TV |
| 54-72 MHz: | Channels 2-4 |
| 76-88 MHz: | Channels 5-6 |
| 174-216 MHz: | Channels 7-13 |
| UHF TV |
| 470-512 MHz: | Channels 14-20 (may be used for land mobile in major cities; see below) |
| 512-608 MHz: | Channels 21-36 |
| 608-614 MHz: | Channel 37 (not used for TV broadcasting) |
| 614-698 MHz: | Channels 38-51 |
Portions of channels 14-20 (470-512 MHz) are used by the Private Land Mobile Radio Service (PLMRS) in the following metropolitan areas:
| Boston MA | channels 14 & 16 |
| Chicago IL | channels 14 & 15 |
| Dallas/Ft. Worth TX | channel 16 |
| Houston TX | channel 17 |
| Los Angeles CA | channels 14, 16 & 20 |
| Miami FL | channel 14 |
| New York NY/NE New Jersey | channels 14-16 |
| Philadelphia PA | channels 19 & 20 |
| Pittsburgh PA | channels 14 & 18 |
| San Francisco-Oakland CA | channels 16 & 17 |
| Washington DC | channels 17 & 18 |
PLMRS service is allowed by the FCC's rules in Cleveland OH (14 & 15) and Detroit MI (15 & 16), but interference issues with Canada prevent PLMRS from being deployed there.
A useful characteristic of digital (ATSC) signals is the addition of a narrowband pilot tone on the RF carrier. The pilot tone is at a nominal frequency of 309.440559441 kHz above the bottom edge of the channel, although the FCC may require small frequency offsets on a station-by-station basis to avoid interference between pilot tones of co-channel TV stations. Ancillary uses of the pilot tones include, for example, monitoring for sudden enhanced propagation events, such as meteor burst or sporadic E.
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Channelized Bands |
| Band | Channel | Use | Service | Table |
| 54 - 60 MHz | 2 | Broadcast Television (VHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 60 - 66 MHz | 3 | Broadcast Television (VHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 66 - 72 MHz | 4 | Broadcast Television (VHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 76 - 82 MHz | 5 | Broadcast Television (VHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 82 - 88 MHz | 6 | Broadcast Television (VHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 174 - 180 MHz | 7 | Broadcast Television (VHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 180 - 186 MHz | 8 | Broadcast Television (VHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 186 - 192 MHz | 9 | Broadcast Television (VHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 192 - 198 MHz | 10 | Broadcast Television (VHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 198 - 204 MHz | 11 | Broadcast Television (VHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 204 - 210 MHz | 12 | Broadcast Television (VHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 210 - 216 MHz | 13 | Broadcast Television (VHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 470 - 476 MHz | 14 | Broadcast Television (UHF) (may be used for land mobile in major metro areas) | Broadcasting | N |
| 476 - 482 MHz | 15 | Broadcast Television (UHF) (may be used for land mobile in major metro areas) | Broadcasting | N |
| 482 - 488 MHz | 16 | Broadcast Television (UHF) (may be used for land mobile in major metro areas) | Broadcasting | N |
| 488 - 494 MHz | 17 | Broadcast Television (UHF) (may be used for land mobile in major metro areas) | Broadcasting | N |
| 494 - 500 MHz | 18 | Broadcast Television (UHF) (may be used for land mobile in major metro areas) | Broadcasting | N |
| 500 - 506 MHz | 19 | Broadcast Television (UHF) (may be used for land mobile in major metro areas) | Broadcasting | N |
| 506 - 512 MHz | 20 | Broadcast Television (UHF) (may be used for land mobile in major metro areas) | Broadcasting | N |
| 512 - 518 MHz | 21 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 518 - 524 MHz | 22 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 524 - 530 MHz | 23 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 530 - 536 MHz | 24 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 536 - 542 MHz | 25 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 542 - 548 MHz | 26 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 548 - 554 MHz | 27 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 554 - 560 MHz | 28 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 560 - 566 MHz | 29 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 566 - 572 MHz | 30 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 572 - 578 MHz | 31 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 578 - 584 MHz | 32 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 584 - 590 MHz | 33 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 590 - 596 MHz | 34 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 596 - 602 MHz | 35 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 602 - 608 MHz | 36 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 614 - 620 MHz | 38 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 620 - 626 MHz | 39 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 626 - 632 MHz | 40 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 632 - 638 MHz | 41 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 638 - 644 MHz | 42 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 644 - 650 MHz | 43 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 650 - 656 MHz | 44 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 656 - 662 MHz | 45 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 662 - 668 MHz | 46 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 668 - 674 MHz | 47 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 674 - 680 MHz | 48 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 680 - 686 MHz | 49 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 686 - 692 MHz | 50 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
| 692 - 698 MHz | 51 | Broadcast Television (UHF) | Broadcasting | N |
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Cellular Radiotelephone Service
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The 869-894 MHz band (base transmit/mobile receive), paired with the 824-849 MHz band (mobile transmit/base receive) is the original band in which first-generation cellular phone service was first widely deployed in the U.S. It is still used for 2G and 3G cellular services.
The paired band is subdivided into two smaller bands of 2x12.5 MHz each, referred to as the A block and the B block. When cell phone service was first authorized, the A block was assigned to the local exchange carrier, and the B block was assigned to a competitive local exchange carrier.
The cellular service in the United States is governed by Part 22 of the FCC's rules.
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Paired Frequency Bands |
| Paired Bands | Use | Service | Table |
| 824 - 835 MHz | Cellular A block, mobile transmit/base receive | Land Mobile | N |
| 869 - 880 MHz | Cellular A block, base transmit/mobile receive | Land Mobile | N |
| 835 - 845 MHz | Cellular B block, mobile transmit/base receive | Land Mobile | N |
| 880 - 890 MHz | Cellular B block, base transmit/mobile receive | Land Mobile | N |
| 845 - 846.5 MHz | Cellular A' block, mobile transmit/base receive | Land Mobile | N |
| 890 - 891.5 MHz | Cellular A' block, base transmit/mobile receive | Land Mobile | N |
| 846.5 - 849 MHz | Cellular B' block, mobile transmit/base receive | Land Mobile | N |
| 891.5 - 894 MHz | Cellular B' block, base transmit/mobile receive | Land Mobile | N |
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Upper 700 MHz D Block
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A brief background on the D block, courtesy of FCC's document DA 12-1462 (Sep 7, 2012):
The D Block and the existing public safety broadband spectrum are part of the Upper 700 MHz Band (746-806 MHz), which was made available for wireless services as a result of the digital television transition (DTV transition). Pursuant to the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, the Commission designated twenty-four megahertz of Upper 700 MHz spectrum for public safety services and the remaining thirty-six megahertz for commercial services to be assigned through competitive bidding. The public safety segment included two six-megahertz narrowband segments (764-767 MHz/794-797 MHz and 773-776 MHz/803-806 MHz) that abutted a twelve megahertz wideband segment (767-773 MHz/797-803 MHz) on either side.
In the Second Report and Order, the Commission reconfigured the public safety segment of the Upper 700 MHz Band to eliminate the wideband segment, consolidate narrowband channels within a single band segment (769-775 MHz/799-805 MHz) at the upper end of the public safety spectrum, and establish at the lower end a ten megahertz broadband segment (763-768 MHz/793-798 MHz). Between the broadband and narrowband segments the Commission placed a two megahertz internal guard band (768-769 MHz/798-799 MHz). The Commission also reconfigured the commercial segment of the Upper 700 MHz band, in part by establishing a ten megahertz commercial "D Block" of spectrum directly adjacent to the public safety broadband spectrum (758-763 MHz/788-793 MHz).
These revisions to the Upper 700 MHz band plan were made to facilitate a public-private partnership for the development of a nationwide interoperable public safety broadband network in the 700 MHz band. The Commission established rules creating a single nationwide license for the public safety broadband spectrum to be granted to a Public Safety Broadband Licensee (PSBL). The D Block was then designated for auction under the condition that its licensee enter into a Network Sharing Agreement (NSA) with the PSBL to construct and operate a nationwide, interoperable broadband network across both the D Block and the 700 MHz public safety broadband spectrum.
In order to effectuate this plan, the Commission established requirements concerning the nature of the shared wireless broadband network and the respective rights and obligations of the D Block licensee and the PSBL regarding their partnership and the network. The Commission adopted rules requiring the parties to execute the NSA prior to the award of the D Block license. In addition, the Commission placed certain other conditions on the D Block license "to protect services to the public safety community and facilitate the success of the 700 MHz Public/Private Partnership, including requirements relating to the organization and structure of the partnership, reporting requirements, and a prohibition on the discontinuance of public safety operations." The Commission also put in place "a means for public safety entities to: (1) obtain an earlier build-out of broadband networks than provided for in the NSA; (2) build their own broadband networks in areas not included in the NSA; and (3) conduct wideband operations via a limited and conditioned waiver process."
Soon after the release of the Second Report and Order, the Commission selected the Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST) to serve as PSBL. However, an auction of the D Block in early 2008 under the terms and conditions established in the Second Report and Order failed to produce a winning bid. Later in 2008 the Commission issued a Second and Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that re-examined various options for achieving an interoperable nationwide public safety network. The D Block was never re-auctioned and remains unlicensed.
In January 2011, the Commission adopted a Third Report and Order, which codified the use of LTE technology for the public safety broadband spectrum and stayed certain Part 90 rules that were designed to implement the mandatory public-private partnership that never came to fruition. An accompanying Fourth Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking considered further technical rules for ensuring the operability and interoperability of the nationwide public safety broadband network.
In February 2012, the Public Safety Spectrum Act became law. It prescribes a detailed plan for the development of this long-awaited network, and fundamentally altered the regulatory landscape for the 700 MHz band by providing a Congressionally developed long-term vision for using this spectrum to deploy a nationwide public safety broadband network. Among its other provisions, the Act establishes FirstNet as an independent authority within the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and requires the Commission to grant a license to FirstNet for the use of both the existing public safety broadband spectrum and the spectrally adjacent D Block, which the Commission must reallocate for public safety use. The Act charges FirstNet with the responsibility for establishing and overseeing "a nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network," by taking "all actions necessary to ensure the building, deployment, and operation of the . . . network, in consultation with Federal, State, tribal, and local public safety entities, the Director of NIST, the Commission, and the public safety advisory committee [that section 6205 of the Act requires FirstNet to establish]." Among its more specific duties, FirstNet is responsible for issuing Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and entering contracts for the construction, operation and management of the network on a nationwide basis, using funds allocated for these purposes under the Act.
On August 20, 2012, NTIA announced the appointment of the twelve non-Federal members to the Board of Directors of FirstNet. FirstNet’s Board is thus fully constituted.
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Paired Frequency Bands |
| Paired Bands | Use | Service | Table |
| 758 - 763 MHz | Upper 700 MHz D Block | Mobile | - |
| 788 - 793 MHz | Upper 700 MHz D Block | Mobile | - |
External Links:
Associated Files:
Upper 700 MHz band plan (U.S. FCC)
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ZigBee
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ZigBee is a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) specification based upon the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. Zigbee is often employed for wireless mesh network applications, where numerous devices within a geographic area communicate with the neighbors, which pass the message along to its neighbors, and so forth, to create a distributed network. Smart Power Meters, installed at business and residences, have begun using ZigBee to communicate power usage and billing data.
ZigBee transmitters are unlicensed devices that operate in bands typically used by other unlicensed devices, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cordless phones.
According to the ZigBee Alliance, "after 10 years and millions of implementations every year, ZigBee standards prove you can rely on the widest variety of smart and easy-to-use products for just about anywhere you work, live or play. Our innovative standards are designed to let product manufacturers help their customers create their own Internet of Things and M2M wireless sensor networks to gain greater control of, and even improve, everyday activities."
ZigBee supports data rates of up to 250 kbps using O-QPSK modulation in the 2.4 GHz band (worldwide); 40 kbps using BPSK in the 915 MHz band (North America and Australia only); and 20 kbps using BPSK in the 868 MHz band (Europe). Unlike Bluetooth, ZigBee does not use frequency hopping.
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Channelized Frequencies |
| Frequency | Bandwidth | Channel | Use | Service | Table |
| 868.3 MHz | 600 kHz | 0 | ZigBee (Europe) | - | - |
| 906 MHz | 1.2 MHz | 1 | ZigBee (North America & Australia) | - | - |
| 908 MHz | 1.2 MHz | 2 | ZigBee (North America & Australia) | - | - |
| 910 MHz | 1.2 MHz | 3 | ZigBee (North America & Australia) | - | - |
| 912 MHz | 1.2 MHz | 4 | ZigBee (North America & Australia) | - | - |
| 914 MHz | 1.2 MHz | 5 | ZigBee (North America & Australia) | - | - |
| 916 MHz | 1.2 MHz | 6 | ZigBee (North America & Australia) | - | - |
| 918 MHz | 1.2 MHz | 7 | ZigBee (North America & Australia) | - | - |
| 920 MHz | 1.2 MHz | 8 | ZigBee (North America & Australia) | - | - |
| 922 MHz | 1.2 MHz | 9 | ZigBee (North America & Australia) | - | - |
| 924 MHz | 1.2 MHz | 10 | ZigBee (North America & Australia) | - | - |
| 2405 MHz | 2 MHz | 11 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
| 2410 MHz | 2 MHz | 12 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
| 2415 MHz | 2 MHz | 13 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
| 2420 MHz | 2 MHz | 14 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
| 2425 MHz | 2 MHz | 15 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
| 2430 MHz | 2 MHz | 16 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
| 2435 MHz | 2 MHz | 17 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
| 2440 MHz | 2 MHz | 18 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
| 2445 MHz | 2 MHz | 19 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
| 2450 MHz | 2 MHz | 20 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
| 2455 MHz | 2 MHz | 21 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
| 2460 MHz | 2 MHz | 22 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
| 2465 MHz | 2 MHz | 23 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
| 2470 MHz | 2 MHz | 24 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
| 2475 MHz | 2 MHz | 25 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
| 2480 MHz | 2 MHz | 26 | ZigBee (worldwide) | - | - |
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