*Pages 1--2 from Microsoft Word - 38648* PUBLIC NOTICE Federal Communications Commission 445 12 th St., S. W. Washington, D. C. 20554 News Media Information 202 / 418- 0500 Internet: http:// www. fcc. gov TTY: 1- 888- 835- 5322 DA 04- 1494 May 26, 2004 AUXILIARY BROADCAST FREQUENCY COORDINATOR DESIGNATED FOR 2004 NATIONAL POLITICAL CONVENTIONS GRANT OF WAIVER OF SEPARATION REQUIREMENTS OF 47 C. F. R. § 74.802 AND SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORIZATIONS At the request of the Frequency Coordinating Committee for the 2004 Political Conventions (“ POLCOMM2004”), the Federal Communications Commission has designated POLCOMM2004’s Chairman, Louis Libin, as the single point of contact for coordinating operations under Section 74.24 of the Rules, 47 C. F. R. § 74.24 for the 2004 Political Conventions to be held in Boston, Massachusetts from July 26 through July 29, 2004, and in New York City, New York from August 30 through September 2, 2004. 1 This designation will allow for advance coordination of auxiliary broadcast frequency usage in the designated area. The designated area is defined as a circle drawn around Boston and around New York City with a 100 kilometer radius for terrestrial stations and a 150 kilometer radius for any mobile operations aboard aircraft. 2 All Part 74, 78 and 101 licensees sharing spectrum available under Part 74 of the Commission’s Rules and operating in the designated areas are covered by this action. The FCC took similar action when it designated auxiliary broadcast frequency coordinators for the 1996 and 2000 National Political Conventions, and for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. These actions were taken as a result of our concern that uncoordinated use of auxiliary broadcast stations on a special temporary authority basis might result in spectrum congestion and excessive interference, causing less complete broadcast coverage. We believe that the potential for a similar situation exists during the Democratic National Convention to be held in Boston and the Republican National Convention to be held in New York City. 1 We note that Section 74.24 allows eligible broadcasters to operate auxiliary broadcast stations on a short- term basis, not to exceed 720 hours annually, without prior Commission authorization. 2 The coordinates for Boston, Fleet Center are: 42- 22- 0.46 N 71- 03- 42.1W (NAD 83) and the coordinates for Madison Square Garden in New York City are 40- 45- 0.53 N 73- 59- 38.5 (NAD 83). 1 2 All short- term auxiliary broadcast use under Part 74, without exception, shall be coordinated in advance through the POLCOMM2004 coordinator, Louis Libin. The frequency coordination forms are available through POLCOMM2004’s website at www. polcomm2004. org. Completed forms may be faxed to Mr. Libin at 516- 374- 9410 or Jeff Cochran, Data Base Administrator, at 404- 885- 6990. Completed forms may also be sent by email to louislibin@ broad- comm. com or jeff. cochran@ turner. com. The local frequency coordinator will provide assistance to all local and non- local Part 74 licensees, as well as all Part 78 and 101 licensees sharing spectrum licensed under Part 74, for temporary fixed, mobile and portable installations. The contact for the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau is the Broadband Division at (202) 418- 2487. POLCOMM2004 also requests that the Commission grant a waiver of the mileage separation requirement of Section 74.802 of the Rules, to permit the use of low power auxiliary stations, not to exceed 2 watts of power, on channels allocated for TV broadcasting where the nearest operating station is located at least 40 kilometers from the Fleet Center and Madison Square Garden venues. According to POLCOMM2004, these low power stations will be operated only inside the venues and the majority of the facilities will not exceed 200 milliwatts. In addition, POLCOMM2004 states that each of the potentially affected stations has been contacted and is supportive of this request, and that POLCOMM2004 “has done analysis and RF measurements at each venue to confirm that the proposed low power operation would not adversely affect these stations.” In view of the foregoing, we will grant the requested waiver and POLCOMM2004 is hereby granted Special Temporary Authorization to operate low power stations on channels allocated for TV broadcasting, not to exceed 2 watts of power, at the Boston venue from the date of this public notice through August 1, 2004, and at the New York City venue from the date of this public notice through September 4, 2004. Action by Chief, Video Division, Media Bureau and Chief, Broadband Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. 2