WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is planning to add 82 airports to the airport-frequencies protected list. This list will allow the airports primary access to frequencies specially allocated for airports in the 450-470 MHz range.
Airports need this spectrum to accomplish tasks ranging from security checks to de-icing. Spectrum use at the 82 airports has increased as these airports have grown. The list was created 31 years ago.
The airports include the one to be used by President Clinton when he leaves office-Little Rock, Ark.,-and airports used by vacationers escaping real life-Jackson Hole, Wyo., and Aspen, Colo.
The idea to expand the list was first aired last June when the Personal Communications Industry Association, the Industrial Telecommunications Association and Aeronautical Radio Inc. petitioned the FCC to expand the list and to amend the coordinates for the airports in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Denver to reflect current use.
These changes are important because “what we don’t want to see is for safety to be compromised at these formerly small airports that are now experiencing major growth,” said Alan Tilles, an attorney for PCIA.
Access to these frequencies will enable the airports to expand their radio communications to keep up with this growth without worrying about interference from other systems. To date, there have not been any instances of interference and only a few users operate inside the protected zone. That zone is 10 miles for low-power non-airport operations and 50 miles for high-power non-airport usage. It is expected the limited non-airport users will be grandfathered in but will maintain secondary status.
The request did not address major spectrum allocation needs in large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, but expanding the list will “help avoid interference, and encourage advanced technology systems at smaller airports where travel growth is continuing,” the groups said.
