*Pages 1--1 from Microsoft Word - 25822.doc* SEPARATE STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER KEVIN J . MARTIN Re: Interference Immunity Performance Specifications for Radio Receivers, Review of the Commission’s Rules and Policies Affecting the Conversion to Digital Television, Notice of Inquiry, ET Docket No. 03- 65, MM Docket No. 00- 39 I am pleased to support this Notice of Inquiry (NOI), which explores standards for receivers’ immunity from interference. The Commission has traditionally approached issues of interference by focusing solely on transmitters, regulating their emissions and locations. However, the experience of interference is a function of the interaction between both transmitters and receivers. The Commission’s Spectrum Task Force thus recommended that the Commission consider applying performance requirements to receivers. This NOI builds on the recommendations of the Task Force and seeks input on whether and how the Commission could promote receiver standards, either through incentives, voluntary industry actions, regulatory mandates, or some combination of these approaches. The use of receiver standards – when coupled with guidelines for transmitters – could dramatically reduce the potential for harmful interference. This would allow for greater sharing of spectrum, which is critical to address the growing demands on what is currently a finite resource. Indeed, had receiver standards been in place in the past, we might not face many of the interference problems we do today. I thus welcome the commencement of this inquiry and look forward to reviewing the comments in this proceeding. 1