*Pages 1--14 from Microsoft Word - 3259.doc* E- 1 I. ATTACHMENT E HOW TO MONITOR THE FCC AUCTION ON- LINE The auction announcements and round results for Auction 33 will be accessible through the FCC Wide Area Network, the Internet, and the FCC’s Automated Round Results System. You can check on round results and also read any material released by the Commission during the course of the auction. In the sections that follow, Options 1 and 2 list the information needed to track the auction from your computer; Option 3 lists an alternate method. Conventions The instructions in this section use the following typographical conventions: bold Represents objects on the screen that you click with the mouse pointer, including buttons, Internet links, icons, tabs, menu items (e. g., Cancel button, Auctions link, Save option in the File menu). italic Represents field names or areas of a screen (e. g., Location field, Selected Licenses area of a screen). bold italic Represents characters that you must type exactly as they appear in the instructions. For example, if you are instructed to type http:// wtbwww01.fcc. gov, you should type all of the characters shown in bold italic exactly as they are printed. SMALL CAPS Represents keys on the keyboard (e. g., ENTER, CTRL, ESC). Note: Throughout these instructions, “enter” means to type the appropriate information and then press the ENTER key. A. Option 1: Tracking the Auction via the FCC Wide Area Network The FCC has implemented a Remote Access System that allows users to dial in directly to the FCC to view round results, auction announcements, and messages, and to make suggestions to the FCC regarding the FCC auction process. 1 E- 2 1. Minimum Hardware and Software Requirements The following minimum hardware and software is required to use the FCC Remote Access System: a. Hardware Requirements x CPU: Intel Pentium x RAM: 16 MB (more recommended if you have multiple applications open) x Modem: 28.8 Kbps Hayes compatible modem or faster (recommend 56.6 Kbps) x Monitor: VGA or above x Mouse or other pointing device b. Software Requirements x Operating System: Microsoft Windows 95/ 98 x Point- to- Point Protocol (PPP) Dialer: Use the Dial- Up Networking feature included with Windows 95/ 98 x Web Browser: Netscape® Communicator™ 4.73 is recommended. However, you can also use Netscape Communicator 4.5, 4.51, 4.61, 4.7, or 4.72 (Internet web browser software). Note: To download Netscape Communicator 4.73 free of charge, access the Netscape download site at http:// home. netscape. com/ download/ 2. Connecting to the FCC Network To use the FCC Remote Access System, you must first connect to the FCC Network using Dial-Up Networking. Dial- Up Networking connects to a 900 number telephone service at a charge of $2.30 per minute. The first minute of connection time to the 900 number service is at no charge. Dial- Up Networking establishes a point- to- point connection from your PC to the FCC Network. This point- to- point connection is not routed through the Internet. For instructions regarding how to connect to the FCC Network using Dial- Up Networking, see the Accessing the FCC Network Using Windows 95/ 98 attachment. 2 E- 3 For technical assistance with installing or using FCC software, contact the FCC Technical Support Hotline at (202) 414- 1250 (V) or (202) 414- 1255 (TTY). The FCC Technical Support Hotline is generally available Monday through Friday from 7 a. m. to 10 p. m. ET, Saturday from 8 a. m. to 7 p. m. ET, and Sunday from 12 p. m. to 6 p. m. ET. All calls to the FCC Technical Support Hotline are recorded. 3. Using the FCC Remote Access System After you have connected to the FCC Network, start your Netscape Web browser. In your browser’s Location field, enter http:// wtbwww03.fcc. gov and then click Round Results Viewer, Suggestion Box, or Announcements Note: If you cannot access the preceding site, and you suspect there is a problem with your Domain Name Server (DNS), refer to Accessing FCC Sites In Case of DNS Problems at the end of this document. Or you can use the alternate location, http:// wtbwww26.fcc. gov. When you have finished, exit your Web browser, then disconnect from the FCC Network. B. Option 2: Tracking the Auction via the Internet You may use your Web browser to download announcements and round results from wtbwww01.fcc. gov – or from either of two secondary locations, wtbwww13.fcc. gov or www. fcc. gov/ wtb/ auctions/ -- as described in the following sections. 1. Downloading from wtbwww01.fcc. gov or wtbwww13.fcc. gov: 1. Connect to your Internet service provider and start your Web browser. 2. In the Location field of the Web browser screen, enter one of the following locations: http:// wtbwww01.fcc. gov or wtbwww13.fcc. gov Note: If you cannot access either of the preceding sites, and you suspect there is a problem with your Domain Name Server (DNS), refer to Accessing FCC Sites In Case of DNS Problems at the end of this document. 3. Click Auction 33. ƒ For auction announcements, click Announcements. 3 E- 4 ƒ To download a bid import template file, click Announcements, then select template. txt. ƒ For auction round results, click Results and then click the subdirectory for the type of files you want to use: mdb - Microsoft Access database files in zipped form (for use in the Auction Tracking Tool) txt - text files dbf - dBASE database files 4. Click the file you want to download. 2. Downloading from www. fcc. gov/ wtb/ auctions/: 1. Connect to your Internet service provider and start your Web browser. 2. In the Location field of the Web browser screen, enter the following location: http:// www. fcc. gov/ wtb/ auctions/ 3. Do the following: a. In the Auctions section on the right, click 700 MHz Guard Band #33 under In Progress. b. Then click Announcements, Programs, or Results. ƒ For auction announcements, click Announcements. ƒ To download a bid import template file, click Announcements, then select template. txt. ƒ For auction round results, click Results and then click the subdirectory for the type of files you want to use: mdb - Microsoft Access database files zipped txt - text files dbf - dBASE database files 4. Then click the file you want to download. 4 E- 5 3. Announcement Files The announcement files will use the naming convention aa_ xxx. nn, where aa is the auction number, xxx is the round number and nn is the announcement number. For example, 33_ 002.07 would represent an announcement for Auction 33 that was posted during round two and was the seventh announcement for the auction. 4. Round Results Files For each round, dBase- compatible database files will be uploaded with the following naming conventions (where xxx represents the round number): x 33_ xxxS. DBF contains all bids submitted in a particular round x 33_ xxxW. DBF contains all bids withdrawn in a particular round x 33_ xxxE. DBF contains the maximum eligibility and remaining number of waivers for each bidder x 33_ xxxH. DBF contains the high bids in a particular round and the minimum accepted bids for the next round For those who cannot use the dBase- compatible database files, we will also upload the ASCII text (. TXT) version of these files with the same filenames as above (e. g., 33_ xxxS. TXT, 33_ xxxE. TXT). In addition, if you want to use Microsoft Access or you are using the FCC- provided Auction Tracking Tool (ATT), we upload the MDB access version of the round results files as a zipped file with a name of the form 33_ xxx. ZIP. In the event an error occurs with the MDB file creation process only, the zipped file will not be generated. However, if such a failure occurs, we will upload text files that contain the MDB round results data. For details, refer to Round Results Text Files Produced In Case of ATT Processing Failure at the end of this section. File Formats: For a description of the internal formats of the round results files, refer to Round Results File Formats at the end of this document. a. Locations of Uploaded Files The newest round results are uploaded to the Results directory based on type of file format: dbf, mdb (zip files), and txt. 5 E- 6 On the primary location, wtbwww01.fcc. gov: x http:// wtbwww01.fcc. gov/ 700_ MHZ/ Auction_ 33/ Results/ dbf/ x http:// wtbwww01.fcc. gov/ 700_ MHZ/ Auction_ 33/ Results/ mdb/ x http:// wtbwww01.fcc. gov/ 700_ MHZ/ Auction_ 33/ Results/ txt/ If you cannot access these files at the preceding primary location, you can access the same files at either of the following secondary locations: wtbwww13.fcc. gov or www. fcc. gov/ wtb/ auctions/. b. Archive Directories After every 50 rounds, files will be moved from the Results directory to archive directories. The following listings show an example of the directory structure for an auction in round 102. Note that the results for rounds 101 and 102 would be in the Results directories. On the primary location, wtbwww01.fcc. gov: Rounds 1- 50 http:// wtbwww01.fcc. gov/ 700_ MHZ/ Auction_ 33/ Results/ dbf/ D001_ 050 Rounds 51- 100 http:// wtbwww01.fcc. gov/ 700_ MHZ/ Auction_ 33/ Results/ dbf/ D051_ 100 Rounds 101- 102 http:// wtbwww01.fcc. gov/ 700_ MHZ/ Auction_ 33/ Results/ dbf/ Rounds 1- 50 http:// wtbwww01.fcc. gov/ 700_ MHZ/ Auction_ 33/ Results/ mdb/ M001_ 050 Rounds 51- 100 http:// wtbwww01.fcc. gov/ 700_ MHZ/ Auction_ 33/ Results/ mdb/ M051_ 100 Rounds 101- 102 http:// wtbwww01.fcc. gov/ 700_ MHZ/ Auction_ 33/ Results/ mdb/ Rounds 1- 50 http:// wtbwww01.fcc. gov/ 700_ MHZ/ Auction_ 33/ Results/ txt/ T001_ 050 Rounds 51- 100 http:// wtbwww01.fcc. gov/ 700_ MHZ/ Auction_ 33/ Results/ txt/ T051_ 100 Rounds 101- 102 http:// wtbwww01.fcc. gov/ 700_ MHZ/ Auction_ 33/ Results/ txt/ If you cannot access the files at the preceding primary location, you can access the same files at either of the following secondary locations: wtbwww13.fcc. gov or www. fcc. gov/ wtb/ auctions/. c. Round Results Text Files Produced In Case of ATT Processing Failure In the event an error occurs with the MDB file creation process, and the MDB files are not created, we will initiate a backup process to provide a temporary solution for bidders who normally would rely on the Auction Tracking Tool data to analyze round results. Specifically, we will upload tab- delimited ASCII (. txt) files that contain the same round results data as the MDB files, but in a flat file format. There will be one .txt file for each Auction Tracking Tool table, and they will have names of the following general forms (where xxx is the round number): x All Bids: 33_ xxxa. txt x Bidders: 33_ xxxb. txt 6 E- 7 x Bidders Raising Own High Bid: 33_ xxxc. txt x Bidders Who Reduced: 33_ xxxr. txt x Increment Statistics: 33_ xxxi. txt x Markets: 33_ xxxm. txt x Round Statistics: 33_ xxxu. txt x Waiver Statistics: 33_ xxxv. txt x Withdrawal Statistics: 33_ xxxd. txt For example, 33_ 001a. txt is the All Bids table file for Round 1. These text files will be uploaded to the same location as the MDB zipped file, as described under the preceding section titled Locations of Uploaded Files. Bidders will then have all of the table data that is normally supplied with the MDB files. However, bidders will not be able to import the .txt file into the Auction Tracking Tool. Instead, they will have to use Notepad, Wordpad, Excel, or some other application that can work with text files. Once the processing error has been corrected, the MDB files will be created and posted to the Internet, replacing the temporary text files. Bidders will receive a message that the files have been updated. The updated zip file can then be loaded into the Auction Tracking Tool. C. Option 3: Tracking the Auction via the FCC’s Automated Round Results System High Bid round results are also available from a touch- tone phone, using the FCC's Automated Round Results System. To access this system, dial 800- 432- 2110 from outside the Washington DC area and 202- 414- 1260 from within the Washington DC area. Once the system has been activated, you will follow the voice prompts. You will need to know the name of the license you want by market and frequency block, such as MEA001 A. D. Accessing FCC Sites In Case of DNS Problems When you enter a URL into your browser, the system must convert this alphanumeric text (e. g., www. f cc. gov/ wtb/ auctions/) into its associated numeric IP address (192.104.54.3, in this case). To make this conversion, the system checks URL- to- IP- address “lookup” tables in two different places. First, it looks at the table contained in a file called hosts in the c:\ windows directory on your computer’s hard drive. If the URL is not in that table, the system looks in the database on your Domain Name Server (DNS). However, if your DNS is unavailable for some reason, the system will not be able to find the IP address you requested. The following procedure is intended to help ensure that you can access auction results files on the FCC’s Web and FTP sites if your designated DNS has problems. Note the following: 7 E- 8 x The IP addresses shown in the following procedure are correct as of the date this document was created. They may have changed subsequently. In case of problems, please check with Tech Support at (202) 414- 1250. x Make entries in the hosts file only to work around DNS problems. We do not recommend leaving these entries in permanently; please remove them when your DNS problem has been resolved. To add FCC- related URL entries to your computer’s hosts file, do the following: 1. Using Windows Explorer, ensure that the hosts file exists in your c:\ windows directory. If c:\ windows has no hosts file, use the Windows Rename function to change the name of the hosts. sam file to hosts (with no extension). To do this, use your right- hand mouse button to click the hosts. sam file, then click the Rename option in the menu that appears. 2. Using a text editor of your choice, such as Wordpad or Notepad, open the hosts file in your c:\ windows directory. This file will already contain the following entry: 127.0.0.1 localhost 3. Using the same format (with at least one space between each number and its corresponding URL), add the following entries to the bottom of the file: 192.104.54.3 ftp. fcc. gov 192.104.54.3 www. fcc. gov 208.245.40.194 wtbwww13.fcc. gov 207.123.193.68 wtbftp01.fcc. gov 207.123.193.68 wtbwww01.fcc. gov 4. Save the file and exit your text editor. Be sure that the file name has not changed to hosts. txt or hosts. doc or similar. It must remain just hosts (with no extension). E. Round Results File Formats This section describes the formats for the round results files that will be uploaded to the FCC Internet site after each round of the auction. There are three sets of results files. The first set of 8 E- 9 files is in Microsoft Access 97 mdb format and contains the data tables for the FCC Auction Tracking Tool. The other files are in dbf and txt format and contain the raw output of the auction data. 1. Auction Tracking Tool File Format There will be a single Auction Tracking Tool .zip file for each round of the auction. The following layout describes the tables and fields within the mdb round file. The mdb files are for use with the FCC Auction Tracking Tool. a. All Bids table Auction ID Long Integer Round Long Integer License Name Text( 15) Market Text( 6) Block Text( 2) Submarket Long Integer Bidder Text( 50) Increments of Bid Long Integer Gross Bid Amount Currency Net Bid Amount Currency b. Bidders table Auction ID Long Integer Round Long Integer Bidder Text( 50) FCC Acct Text( 10) Bidding Credit Single Initial Eligibility Long Integer Current Eligibility Long Integer Change in Eligibility Long Integer Waiver Type Text( 4) New Bids Long Integer Gross Bids Currency Net Bids Currency Total High Bids Long Integer Gross High Bids Currency Net High Bids Currency Current Activity Long Integer Additional Activity Required Long Integer 9 E- 10 Unused Elig Long Integer Waivers Remaining Long Integer Withdrawals Remaining Long Integer c. Bidders Raising Own High Bid table Auction ID Long Integer Round Long Integer License Name Text( 15) Major Grouping Text( 6) Minor Grouping Text( 6) Block Text( 2) Submarket Long Integer Bidder Text( 50) Increments of Bid Long Integer Gross Bid Amount Currency Net Bid Amount Currency d. Bidders Who Reduced table Auction ID Long Integer Round Long Integer Bidder Who Reduced Text( 50) Reduction Amt Long Integer Current Eligibility Long Integer e. Increment Statistics table Auction ID Long Integer Round Long Integer 1 Long Integer 2 Long Integer 3 Long Integer 4 Long Integer 5 Long Integer 6 Long Integer 7 Long Integer 8 Long Integer 9 Long Integer 10 E- 11 f. Markets table Auction ID Long Integer Round Long Integer License Name Text( 15) Major Grouping Text( 6) Minor Grouping Text( 6) Block Text( 2) Submarket Long Integer License Size (MHz) Double Market Name Text( 50) BUs Long Integer Population Long Integer Number of Bids Long Integer High Bidder Text( 50) Round of High Bid Long Integer Increments of Bid Long Integer Gross Currency Bidding Credit Single Net Currency Min Acceptable Bid Currency Bid Increment Currency Prev High Bidder Text( 50) Round of Prev High Bid Long Integer Prev Gross Currency Prev Bidding Credit Single Prev Net Currency Selected Long Integer All Selected Long Integer g. Round Statistics table Auction ID Long Integer Round Long Integer Round Date Date/ Time Stage Long Integer New Bids Long Integer Total High Bids Long Integer Pctg of BUs for All Bids Single Pctg of BUs for High Bids Single Gross Bids Currency Net Bids Currency Dollar Change in Net Bids Currency Pctg Change in Net Bids Single Eligible Bidders Long Integer 11 E- 12 Bidders At Risk Long Integer Number Reduced Long Integer BUs Reduced Double Eligibility Ratio Single Pctg of Covered BUs Single Waivers Long Integer Withdrawals Long Integer FCC Held Licenses Long Integer Pctg of Covered Pops Single Pctg of the Covered Pops with Bidding Credit Single h. Waiver Statistics table Auction ID Long Integer Round Long Integer Bidder Text( 50) Waiver Type Text( 1) Remaining Waivers Long Integer i. Withdrawal Statistics table Auction ID Long Integer Withdrawal Number Long Integer Bidder Text( 50) License Name Text( 15) Market Text( 6) Block Text( 2) Submarket Long Integer BUs Long Integer Population Long Integer Round Long Integer Gross Currency Net Currency Min Bid Currency New High Bidder Text( 50) New High Bid Round Long Integer Gross High Bid Currency Net High Bid Currency 2. Round Results File Format 12 E- 13 The round results files were used by the previous Excel based tracking tool produced by the FCC and are still being distributed for those bidders who use them for their own tracking purposes. The following layouts are for the dbf files. The txt files will have character field types. a. ALL_ BIDS file market char( 6) freq_ block char( 2) round_ num numeric bid_ amt numeric bidder_ num numeric fcc_ acct char( 10) date char( 10) time char( 14) net_ bid_ amt numeric sort_ col_ 1 numeric sort_ col_ 2 numeric sub_ market numeric b. HIGH_ BIDS file market char( 6) freq_ block char( 2) bid_ round numeric bid_ amt numeric bidder_ num numeric fcc_ acct char( 10) date char( 10) time char( 14) net_ bid_ amt numeric min_ accept numeric num_ of_ bids numeric sort_ col_ 1 numeric sort_ col_ 2 numeric sub_ market numeric c. MAXIMUM_ ELIGIBILITY file round_ num numeric bidder_ num numeric fcc_ acct char( 10) max_ elig numeric rmng_ waivr numeric 13 E- 14 waivr_ ind char( 1) rmng_ withdrawals numeric required_ act numeric current_ activity numeric d. WITHDRAWALS file market char( 6) freq_ block char( 2) bid_ round numeric bid_ amt numeric bidder_ num numeric fcc_ acct char( 10) date char( 10) time char( 14) net_ bid_ amt numeric sort_ col_ 1 numeric sort_ col_ 2 numeric sub_ market numeric e. BIDDER_ CROSS_ REFERENCE file bidder_ num numeric fcc_ acct char( 10) co_ name char( 50) bidding_ credit_ pctg numeric short_ name char( 10) bidder_ num numeric F. Help For technical assistance with installing or using FCC software, contact the FCC Technical Support Hotline at (202) 414- 1250 (V) or (202) 414- 1255 (TTY). The FCC Technical Support Hotline is generally available Monday through Friday from 7 a. m. to 10 p. m. ET, Saturday from 8 a. m. to 7 p. m. ET, and Sunday from 12 p. m. to 6 p. m. ET. All calls to the FCC Technical Support Hotline are recorded. 14