*Pages 1--9 from Microsoft Word - 23239.doc* E- 1 ATTACHMENT E HOW TO MONITOR THE FCC AUCTIONS ON- LINE This document describes the following ways to monitor the auction: € View announcements and round results on your Web browser during the course of Auction 32 € Download round results data files € Obtain round results from touch- tone phone, using FCC’s Automated Round Results System € View or download files containing the text of auction announcements € 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 https:// auctions. 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 Automated Auction System, point your Web browser at https:// auctions. fcc. gov and click Auction 32. Alternatively, you can point your Web browser at https:// auctions2. 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 files, as described in the following sections. 1. Download Procedure 1. Point your Web browser at https:// auctions. fcc. gov. Alternatively, you can point your Web browser at https:// auctions2. fcc. gov. 2. On the Auctions Systems page, click the Auctions Archives link 3. On the Auction Data Archives page, click the link for Auction 32. The Index page that appears shows a parent directory that has three subdirectories, or folders. Clicking one of the folder names expands the associated subdirectory to show its contents. 4. For auction round results, click Results and then click the subdirectory for the type of files you want to use. Note the following: € 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. 2 E- 3 € Subdirectory zip has a zipped file containing the round results text (txt) files from the ab, hb, me, and wd subdirectories. € Subdirectory mdb contains Microsoft Access database files in zipped form. 5. Click the file you want to download. 6. If you clicked a text (txt) file, it will open in your browser and you can save it to a local disk drive, if desired. If you clicked a database (dbf) or zipped file, the system will ask whether you want to open the file or download it. 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 32. For each round, dBase- compatible database files will be uploaded with the following naming conventions (where xxx represents the round number): € 32_ xxxs. dbf contains all bids submitted in a particular round € 32_ xxxw. dbf contains all bids withdrawn in a particular round € 32_ xxxe. dbf contains the maximum eligibility and remaining number of waivers for each bidder € 32_ 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: € 32_ xref. dbf contains bidder cross reference data € 32_ 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., 32_ xxxs. txt, 32_ xxxe. txt). We also provide these text files in a zipped file with a name of the form RR_ 032_ 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. 3 E- 4 C. Accessing Auction Announcements You may use your Web browser to view or download announcements, as described in the following sections. 1. Access Procedure 1. Point your Web browser at https:// auctions. fcc. gov. Alternatively, you can point your Web browser at https:// auctions2. fcc. gov. 2. On the Auctions Systems page, click the Auctions Archives link 3. On the Auction Data Archives page, click the link for Auction 32. The Index page that appears shows a parent directory that has three subdirectories, or folders. Clicking one of the folder names expands the associated subdirectory to show its contents. 4. Click Announcements. 5. Click the file you want to download. Template File for Importing Bids: The file template. txt is a template that can be modified as desired and used to select a group of bids simultaneously, by importing them in a file. 6. The file will open in your browser and you can save it to a local disk drive, if desired. 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, 32_ 002.007 would represent an announcement for Auction 32 that was posted during round two and was the seventh announcement for the auction. D. Tracking the Auction via the FCC Wide Area Network 4 E- 5 To participate as a bidder in an FCC auction or view the auction’s announcements and round results, the FCC recommends accessing the FCC Automated Auction System via the Internet. As a contingency, you may access the FCC Automated Auction System via the FCC Wide Area Network. 1. Minimum Hardware and Software Requirements The following hardware and software, at a minimum, are required to use the FCC Auctions Bidding System: € CPU: Pentium 133 or above € RAM: 32 MB (64 MB recommended) € Monitor: VGA or above € Mouse or other pointing device € Operating System: Microsoft® Windows™ 95™, 98™, 2000™, ME™, NT™ € Web Browser, either of the following:  Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher (recommended). If you have Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, your browser must have either Microsoft VM or Java Plug- In Version 1.3.1 installed.  Netscape® Communicator™ 4.0 or higher, with Java Plug- In Version 1.3.1. Java Plug- In Version 1.3.1 is available for downloading at http:// java. sun. com/ getjava/ download. html. In addition, users accessing the FCC Auctions Bidding System via the FCC’s Wide Area Network will need: € Modem: 28.8 Kbps Hayes© compatible modem or faster (56.6 Kbps recommended) € Point- to- Point Protocol (PPP) Dialer: Use the Dial- Up Networking feature included with the operating system 2. Connecting to the FCC Wide Area Network To connect to the FCC Wide Area 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 Automated Auction System, configure your dial- up network to dial either 202- 408- 7835 or 717- 338- 0735. These phone numbers are located in the Washington, DC, and Gettysburg, PA, metropolitan areas, respectively. Thus, they may be long- distance calls, 5 E- 6 depending on where you reside. When you have finished, exit your Web browser, then disconnect from the FCC Network. 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. 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 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 6 E- 7 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 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) 7 E- 8 bidding_ credit_ pctg numeric 6. MARKET_ CROSS_ REFERENCE file license_ name char( 15) market char( 6) freq_ block char( 2) sub_ market numeric bandwidth_ mhz double market_ desc char( 50) bid_ units int population int F. 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: € Service Code € Market € Block/ Channel € Submarket (has the value 0, because this auction does not use submarkets) € Bid increment (default value = 1, which selects minimum acceptable bid) € Round number € Company name (set to FCC if no bid has been placed on this construction permits) € Standing high bid at the end of the selected round, in dollars € Minimum acceptable bid for the round that follows the selected round, in dollars € 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 G. 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 8 a. m. to 6 p. m. ET. All calls to the FCC Technical Support Hotline are recorded. 9