Steve,
Thanks for your kind words, they are greatly appreciated. I do my best
to
help this organization, as it is one I have believed in since the starting
of WISPA. I have seen many stories and reports about whitespaces touting the
amount of available spectrum. The problem has always been how to actually
show someone, in their particular area, with a static map what is available.
With all my mapping experience, I still had not seen nor could I come up
with a suitable map image that would paint the proper picture. The WISPA
proposal in front of the FCC is a complex issue and as much as I try, it's
still hard to adequately explain even to the people on the FCC committee
what the real picture is. This was the best way I knew how to solve that
problem.
Google Earth is something that I like to explain as "the web browser of
mapping data". I can make static maps all day long, but when I can put the
same data in the hands of people to want to use it for decision making and
allow them to view the results from different perspectives, it gives people
a lot more power. This is the same method I use for showing RF plots
generated in other programs as well as detailed demographic and market
studies for my clients. They sure appreciate being able to play with the
data and run their own what-if scenarios. Many times they come up with
results they never anticipated. And as we all know, having a competitive
edge never hurts.
Thank You,
Brian Webster
www.wirelessmapping.com <http://www.wirelessmapping.com>
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Barnes [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, October 27, 2008 7:20 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; WISPA General List
Subject: RE: [WISPA] Tool to find out if you might have white spaces
spectrumavailable in your area.
Brian, I want to personally thank you for your input in this
organization. This tool you provided is a gift to WISP's that you could
have easily kept to yourself. In this cut throat industry there are
many types of people trying to make a buck (as are you). It is great to
see someone go out of his way to help others understand what might be in
their future.
Thank you for being an advocate for WISPA.
Steve Barnes
Executive Manager
RCWiFi Wireless Internet Service
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf Of Brian Webster
Sent: Sunday, October 26, 2008 10:28 PM
To: WISPA List
Cc: Stephen Coran
Subject: [WISPA] Tool to find out if you might have white spaces
spectrumavailable in your area.
Ok, so the static image maps I have been creating do not show an
accurate picture channel by channel of the available white space
spectrum. I decided that I would create a tool that all WISP's could use
right now and get a good idea of how their own markets may be affected
by white space spectrum being released. I used my GIS tools to create
data layers channel by channel. From that I exported the results to a
Google Earth file. (It's a large one, sorry the file size is large for
list distribution, I compressed it as much as possible)
Here is how you can use this. Open the file in Google Earth and you will
see the folders specified by TV channel number. Zoom to your area of
interest.
Click on a channel and see if any contours show up in you desired
coverage area. If they don't great, but you still need to check adjacent
channels.
You would do this by checking the boxes for the channel above and below
the one you want to use. If no contours from those channels touch your
desired area, you have a clean channel for potential use. This will all
depend of course on how the final FCC rules are developed.
DISCLAIMERS
This mapping data was current as of 7-28-08 and only shows what I could
best determine as digital channels. This is my best guess as to what
will be on the air after the February 2009 cutover date and is by no
means the final word. Things could change between now and then and some
of these contours could change. This also does not show any current
analog stations. There are some provisions for low power and translator
stations to stay on the air in analog form and/or move channels after
the cutover. This is pretty accurate but I'm not a Broadcast industry
expert. Some of the digital stations might be temporary or for testing.
I haven't had the time to look in to all the codes from the FCC database
to weed that type of stuff out.
You can download a free version of Google Earth at
http://earth.google.com
Thank You,
Brian Webster
www.wirelessmapping.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WISPA Wants You! Join today!
http://signup.wispa.org/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org
Subscribe/Unsubscribe:
http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless
Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
