[BC] FAA RF rulemaking

[Peter Moncure]

Mike McCarthy wrote:
>Agreed....  FAA should properly regulate the air space and aircraft 
>and the FCC and NTIA regulate spectrum.
As the pilot of a 1975 Cessna Cardinal with 1980 vintage NARCO ("Not 
A Radio Company") comm gear, it is scary that FCC should be in any 
way involved with my aircraft radios.  Though old, they work 
perfectly and have never shown the slightest interference from FM 
facilities, though I admit I haven't often been tuned to a 108.x VOR 
near a 107.x Class C.
(When this thread drifted across the AFCCE board, one of the members 
opined that I had no excuse to use such awful gear--it's not that simple.)

As a former broadcast consultant, I had the dubious duty of defending 
against an FAA attack against an 88 MHz broadcaster's 4 dB upgrade 
request.  So I obtained the code of the software they we using to 
"prove" the alleged interference that would result.  Aside from 
generally poor coding style, I identified mathematical errors so 
large that the results were completely meaningless.  Among many other 
problems, they treated the entire FM band as if it were at 107.9, and 
completely ignored elevation patterns...  If any of the readers of 
this list wish to comment on this proposal, I'd suggest that 
interference standards be chosen by a committee comprised of FAA, 
FCC, NAB and AOPA representatives at least.  There would have to be 
funding to actually test skirts and rejection, not blind assumptions 
about aircraft radio performance based on a few ancient 
incidents.  Anything less than that should be vigorously opposed by 
both broadcasters and pilots.

-- 
Peter Moncure, VP RadioSoft
706.754.2725 -2745 FAX