V.Payne Granted about four years later? "But the railroad struggled for four years to buy the rights to airwaves in the Northeast Corridor that would have allowed them to turn the system on. "The transponders were on the tracks,” said one person who attended a Thursday morning briefing for congressional staff members. “But they also said they weren’t operational, because of this ongoing spectrum issue.”" Per NY Times Article, though the first link is the FCC source. Though later, "The commission also defended its handling of Amtrak’s petition to acquire wireless frequencies, asserting that it had taken Amtrak three years to negotiate the purchase and that the commission had approved the deal within days." I do not believe the FAA had to purchase spectrum for ATC from private lease holders.
Granted about four years later?
"But the railroad struggled for four years to buy the rights to airwaves in the Northeast Corridor that would have allowed them to turn the system on.
"The transponders were on the tracks,” said one person who attended a Thursday morning briefing for congressional staff members. “But they also said they weren’t operational, because of this ongoing spectrum issue.”" Per NY Times Article, though the first link is the FCC source.
Though later, "The commission also defended its handling of Amtrak’s petition to acquire wireless frequencies, asserting that it had taken Amtrak three years to negotiate the purchase and that the commission had approved the deal within days."
I do not believe the FAA had to purchase spectrum for ATC from private lease holders.
The request here started in December of 2014, with the actual waiver request being filed toward the end of February.
Look at note 16 regarding the history of the public comment period of the 2011 waiver request (which is only circumstantially mentioned here.) See all the private spectrum companies objecting to Amtrak's waiver then?
If I am not mistaken, a large part of the present grant of waiver hinges upon the technical use to which Amtrak will be putting its assigned AMTS frequencies. I'll have to look up the 2011 request to see what made it so unpalatable to the spectrum companies (note that Environmentel and Skybridge, noted as opposing it, are the companies filing to grant Amtrak the leases in 2014...), Here is one of the opposing commentaries, which has some interesting tidbits:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CDIQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.h-e.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fupload%2Fwt_11-27_he_comments20110308.pdf&ei=V7BWVZGQA8OqyASUwIGgCw&usg=AFQjCNExuuXmRduko3nJR5AJKjPFeH0Zdw&bvm=bv.93564037,d.aWw&cad=rja
Note the point about interference with DTV channels 10 and 13.
The things being 'waived' in the 2014 request are much more limited, and are obviously not things that PTC should be responsible for accommodating or technically providing, or that would 'serve the public interest' if Amtrak's PTC system were required to do them.
FCC is just spouting the 'Standard DC double talk' to hold it blameless when it is fully to blame. No wonder the Native Americans said the white man spoke with forked tongues.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
V.Payne Adopted:March 4, 2015 FCC WT Docket No. 11-27 ...in 2011, Amtrak filed a request for waiver of certain Part 80 rules to implement its planned PTC system in the AMTS bands... Because Amtrak’s 2014 Waiver Request supersedes its 2011Waiver Request, we hereby dismiss the 2011Waiver Request as moot...
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