[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 57 (Friday, March 22, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 11798-11799]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-6938]



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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Parts 74, 78, and 101

[ET Docket No. 96-35; FCC 96-80]


Flexible Standards for Directional Microwave Antennas

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: By this Notice of Proposed Rule Making (``NPRM''), the 
Commission proposes to amend its fixed service microwave rules to make 
them compatible with new, emerging technologies for directional 
antennas.

[[Page 11799]]
Adoption of this proposal would remove a regulatory impediment to the 
use of directional antennas employing new, emerging technologies by 
Commission licensees.

DATES: Comments are due on or before April 26, 1996. Reply comments are 
due on or before May 13, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Federal Communications Commission, 1919 M Street, NW., 
Washington, DC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael J. Marcus, Office of 
Engineering and Technology, (202) 418-2418.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's NPRM 
in ET Docket No. 96-35, adopted February 29, 1996, and released March 
14, 1996. The complete NPRM is available for inspection and copying 
during normal business hours in the FCC Reference Center (Room 239), 
1919 M Street, N.W., Washington, DC, and also may be purchased from the 
Commission's duplication contractor, International Transcription 
Service, (202) 857-3800, 2100 M Street, NW., Suite 140, Washington DC 
20037.

Summary of NPRM

    1. For those frequency bands listed in 47 CFR Sections 74.536, 
74.641, 78.105, and 101.115 that have only a minimum antenna gain 
requirement, the Commission proposes to allow directional antennas to 
comply with requirements for either minimum antenna gain or maximum 
beamwidth. The Commission does not propose to change any of the 
existing requirements with respect to sidelobe suppression because it 
believes that these requirements, which are designed to reduce 
potential interference, can readily be met by both conventional and new 
antenna technologies. The Commission proposes to convert the present 
antenna gain requirements to the comparable requirements for antenna 
beamwidths based on two assumptions: (1) A parabolic (``dish'') antenna 
with an efficiency of 55% is used as a reference; and (2) the 
illumination function taper value is 70. Table I depicts the existing 
gain requirements and the new corresponding beamwidth requirements for 
bands that do not have an existing maximum beamwidth option:

               Table I.--Antenna Gain and Equivalent Beam               
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                                                              Equivalent
                         Gain (dBi)                            beamwidth
                                                               (degrees)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
34..........................................................        3.5 
36..........................................................        2.7 
38..........................................................        2.2 
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This technical equivalency is independent of the frequency bands.
    2. The Commission notes that these new types of antennas may differ 
somewhat from conventional antennas in the exact shape of the mainlobe. 
Thus, even with sidelobe suppression required by the present rules, the 
beam shape for a planar array antenna may be different than for a dish 
antenna. While the Commission does not believe that these differences 
would have a significant impact on spectrum efficiency, it seeks 
comment on whether such differences might have an impact on 
coordination. The Commission proposes to address this problem by 
requiring the coordination process to treat all antennas as if they had 
the mainlobe shape and total gain of a conventional parabolic dish 
antenna. However, the Commission invites comments on this approach, and 
encourages alternative proposals.

List of Subjects

47 CFR Part 74

    Radio broadcasting, Television broadcasting.

47 CFR Part 78

    Cable television, Communications equipment, Radio.

47 CFR Part 101

    Communications common carriers, Communications equipment, Radio.

Federal Communications Commission.
William F. Caton,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-6938 Filed 3-21-96; 8:45 am]
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