*Pages 1--9 from Microsoft Word - 14332.doc* E- 1 ATTACHMENT E HOW TO MONITOR THE FCC AUCTIONS ON- LINE This document describes the following ways to monitor the auction: x View announcements and round results on your Web browser during the course of Auction 82 x Download round results data files x Obtain round results from touch- tone phone, using FCC’s Automated Round Results System x View or download files containing the text of auction announcements x Track the auction using dial- up networking, which can be used in the event your Internet Service Provider (ISP) has malfunctioned. 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:// auctionresults1.fcc. gov, you should type all of the characters exactly as they are printed. A. Viewing Announcements and Round Results 1. To access the FCC Bidding System, point your Web browser at http:// wtbwww27.fcc. gov and click Auction 82 Bidding System. Alternatively, you can point your Web browser at http:// wtbwww37.fcc. gov. 2. To view auction- related announcements, click View All Announcements on the Home tab. 3. Click the RESULTS tab at the top of the page to obtain the Round Results page. 1 E- 2 4. Click the Results Explorer link. The Results Explorer lets you obtain the results for any preceding round. Using the check box at the bottom, you can limit the results to a specific applicant, and view either the construction permits they selected on their Form 175 or the permits where they are the current high bidder. 5. When you finish specifying your filter criteria, click the Submit button to obtain the results. This produces the Current Results Set page, which lists the construction permits that match your search criteria. B. Downloading Round Results Files You may use your Web browser to download round results from auctionresults1.fcc. gov, or from secondary location auctionresults2.fcc. gov, as described in the following sections. 1. Download Procedure 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:// auctionresults1.fcc. gov or auctionresults2.fcc. gov 3. Click Auction 82. 4. For auction round results, click Results and then click the subdirectory for the type of files you want to use. Note the following: x Subdirectories ab, hb, me, wd, mxref, and bxref provide text (txt) and dBASE database (dbf) files containing the All Bids, High Bids, Maximum Eligibility, Withdrawals, Market Cross Reference, and Bidder Cross Reference tables, respectively. x Subdirectory zip has a zipped file containing the round results text (txt) files from the ab, hb, me, and wd subdirectories. x Subdirectory mdb contains Microsoft Access database files in zipped form. 2 E- 3 5. Click the file you want to download. 2. Naming Conventions For Round Results Files Note: The naming conventions described in this section also apply to the Mock Auction. The only difference is, the Mock Auction is numbered 74 whereas the real auction is numbered 82. For each round, dBase- compatible database files will be uploaded with the following naming conventions (where xxx represents the round number): x 82_ xxxs. dbf contains all bids submitted in a particular round x 82_ xxxw. dbf contains all bids withdrawn in a particular round x 82_ xxxe. dbf contains the maximum eligibility and remaining number of waivers for each bidder x 82_ xxxh. dbf contains the high bids in a particular round and the minimum accepted bids for the next round We will also upload the following files, which are created only once, prior to the start of the auction: x 82_ xref. dbf contains bidder cross reference data x 82_ mref. dbf contains market cross reference data 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., 82_ xxxs. txt, 82_ xxxe. txt). We also provide these text files in a zipped file with a name of the form RR_ 082_ xxx. zip. 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 functional subdirectories within the Results directory. On the primary location, auctionresults1.fcc. gov: x All Bids: http:// auctionresults1. fcc. gov/ Auction_ 82/ Results/ ab/ x High Bids: http:// auctionresults1. fcc. gov/ Auction_ 82/ Results/ hb/ x Maximum Eligibility: http:// auctionresults1. fcc. gov/ Auction_ 82/ Results/ me/ x Withdrawals: http:// auctionresults1. fcc. gov/ Auction_ 82/ Results/ wd/ x Bidder Cross Reference: http:// auctionresults1. fcc. gov/ Auction_ 82/ Results/ bxref/ 3 E- 4 x Market Cross Reference: http:// auctionresults1. fcc. gov/ Auction_ 82/ Results/ mxref/ Note: Below each of the preceding subdirectories are two lower- level directories containing database (dbf) files and text (txt) files. x Zipped Text Files: http:// auctionresults1. fcc. gov/ Auction_ 82/ Results/ zip/ Note: The preceding directory paths also apply to the Mock Auction. However, the Mock Auction results are in subdirectory Auction_ 74 instead of subdirectory Auction_ 82. If you cannot access these files at the preceding primary location, you can access the same files at the following secondary location, auctionresults2.fcc. gov/. C. Tracking the Auction From a Touch- tone Phone High Bid round results are also available from a touch- tone phone. To access this system, dial 800- 432- 2110 from outside the Washington DC area or 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 construction permit you want by service code, market, and channel, such as TV PST1 47. D. Accessing Auction Announcements You may use your Web browser to view or download announcements from auctionresults1.fcc. gov, or from secondary location auctionresults2.fcc. gov, as described in the following sections. 1. Access Procedure 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:// auctionresults1.fcc. gov or auctionresults2.fcc. gov 3. Click Auction 82. 4. Click Announcements. 4 E- 5 5. To download a bid import template file, click Announcements, then select template. txt. 6. Click the file you want to download. 2. Naming Conventions For Announcement Files The announcement files will use the naming convention aa_ xxx. nnn, where aa is the auction number, xxx is the round number and nnn is the announcement number. For example, 82_ 002.007 would represent an announcement for Auction 82 that was posted during round two and was the seventh announcement for the auction. E. Tracking the Auction via the FCC Wide Area Network To participate as a bidder in an FCC auction or view the auction’s announcements and round results, the FCC recommends accessing the Bidding System via the Internet. As a contingency, you may access the Bidding System via the FCC Wide Area Network. 1. Minimum Hardware and Software Requirements The following minimum hardware and software is required to use the FCC Remote Access System: x CPU: Pentium 133 or above x RAM: 32 MB (64 MB recommended) x Monitor: VGA or above x Mouse or other pointing device x Operating System: Microsoft® Windows™ 95™, 98™, 2000™, ME™, NT™ x Modem: 28.8 Kbps Hayes© compatible modem or faster (56.6 Kbps recommended) x Point- to- Point Protocol (PPP) Dialer: Use the Dial- Up Networking feature included with the operating system x Web Browser, either of the following: i Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher (recommended) i Netscape® Communicator™ 4.0 or higher, with Java Plug- In Version 1.3.1 (available for downloading at http:// java. sun. com/ products/ plugin/) 5 E- 6 2. Connecting to the FCC Network To connect to the FCC Network, you must use Dial- Up Networking. 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. To access the FCC Bidding System, configure your dial- up network to dial 900- 555- 5335. (Alternatively, you can configure your dial- up network to dial 900- 555- 5554.) The first minute of connection time to the 900 number service is at no charge, but additional time is billed at a charge of $2.30 per minute. In addition, when configuring your TCP/ IP settings, specify 165.135.241.149 as the Primary DNS and 165.135.79.95 as the Secondary DNS. When you have finished, exit your Web browser, then disconnect from the FCC Network. F. 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. The results files contain the raw output of the auction data. These files are available in both dbf and txt format. 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. 1. ALL_ BIDS file service_ code char( 2) market char( 6) freq_ block char( 2) round_ num numeric bid_ amt numeric bidder_ num numeric fcc_ acct char( 10) date char( 10) net_ bid_ amt numeric sort_ col_ 1 numeric sort_ col_ 2 numeric sub_ market numeric random_ num double 6 E- 7 2. HIGH_ BIDS file service_ code char( 2) market char( 6) freq_ block char( 2) bid_ round numeric bid_ amt numeric bidder_ num numeric fcc_ acct char( 10) date char( 10) net_ bid_ amt numeric min_ accept numeric min_ bid_ incr_ 2 double num_ of_ bids numeric sort_ col_ 1 numeric sort_ col_ 2 numeric sub_ market numeric 3. MAXIMUM_ ELIGIBILITY file round_ num numeric bidder_ num numeric fcc_ acct char( 10) max_ elig numeric rmng_ waivr numeric waivr_ ind char( 1) rmng_ withdrawals numeric required_ act numeric current_ act numeric 4. WITHDRAWALS file service_ code char( 2) market char( 6) freq_ block char( 2) bid_ round numeric bid_ amt numeric bidder_ num numeric fcc_ acct char( 10) date char( 10) net_ bid_ amt numeric 7 E- 8 sort_ col_ 1 numeric sort_ col_ 2 numeric sub_ market numeric 5. BIDDER_ CROSS_ REFERENCE file bidder_ num numeric fcc_ acct char( 10) co_ name char( 50) bidding_ credit_ pctg numeric 6. MARKET_ CROSS_ REFERENCE file license_ name char( 15) market char( 6) freq_ block char( 2) sub_ market numeric license char( 11) market_ desc char( 50) bid_ units int population int G. Results Explorer Export File Format The Results Explorer provides an option to export a comma- delimited text file. The export file contains the following fields: x Service Code x Market x Block/ Channel x Submarket (has the value 0, because this auction does not use submarkets) x Bid increment (default value = 1, which selects minimum acceptable bid) x Round number x Company name (set to FCC if no bid has been placed on this construction permits) x Standing high bid at the end of the selected round, in dollars x Minimum acceptable bid for the round that follows the selected round, in dollars x Bid increment for the round that follows the selected round. The bid increment is used to determine acceptable bid amount values 2 through 9. 8 E- 9 H. Help For technical assistance with 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 noon to 6 p. m. ET. All calls to the FCC Technical Support Hotline are recorded. 9