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Last Update :9/13/2012 FCC Narrowbanding Regulations wil affect golf courses starting Jan. 1
By midnight Dec. 31, everyone using wideband VHF and UHF radio systems in the 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz band, which use 25 kHz efficiency technology, must either switch to narrowband (12.5 kHz channel spacing) or employ a technology that achieves equivalent efficiency. Any equipment that is not capable of operating on channels of 12.5 kHz or less must be replaced. By requiring VHF and UHF radios to use less radio bandwidth, or spectrum, the FCC can use the vacated spectrum to form new channels. This is only phase one of a two-phase process. In the next phase, the date for which has not been determined, the FCC will cut frequencies in half again. This will implement equipment designed to operate on channel bandwidths of 6.25 kHz or less, and result in four times the number of original channels. A user’s original channel will be left intact but a whole lot “narrower.”
This will affect many golf courses, as hand-held radios have become key tools for superintendents to communicate with their crews out on the golf course, with their irrigation systems or with other wireless activities, such as fertigation systems, security lights and even fountains. In most cases, all of those functions can be affected by the changes. To maintain that functionality and comply with the phase-one changes, all of a golf course’s radios, repeaters, base stations, mobiles and portables will have to be programmed, physically altered, or in some cases, completely replaced. Even courses that have hard-wired irrigation systems must deal with new FCC licenses, costing $105 for an amendment and $600 for new frequencies, along with radios that can cost anywhere from $400 to $1,000. The license costs go up, too, if a course needs a repeater.
All equipment produced since 1997 has a narrowband mode, so those units may require nothing more than new programming. But that, too, can be expensive for some. I’ve read of one case where a ski resort needed to reprogram 250 radios at a cost of $15 apiece. The cost to golf courses with wireless irrigation largely depends on the number of satellites they operate. I’ve heard that the average cost to switch a satellite to narrowband can be as high as $1,000, although we have heard of prices like $10,000, $20,000 and even $100,000! Obviously, all of this depends on the sort of set-up a course has.
In addition to the expense, there’s the hassle and interruption of complying. Some in the industry have said wideband operators can continue to operate on wideband for the length of their license, even if that is several years into the future. Melissa Tye, the legal adviser for the FCC’s wireless bureau, disagrees. She says licensees operating broadband wireless after Dec. 31 can face “a $16,000 fine for each violation, or each day of a continuing violation, and up to $112,500 for any single act or failure to act.” She points out that a golf course staffer would not be fined, but rather the individual or entity holding the license.
Everyone seems to feel that courses should consult their dealers and irrigation system manufacturers first, before anything else. One can also license with the FCC on their own if they don’t already (many use an FCC coordination company, as most distributors do) but it can be quite a headache.
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