Churches Beware - Understanding New Wireless Microphone Restrictions

Churches, businesses, and other organizations that use wireless microphones operating in the 700 MHz band (698-806 MHz) must stop doing so by June 12, according to a decision last month by the Federal Communications Commission.

Many churches own wireless mics in the 700 MHz band ("Understanding New Wireless Microphone Restrictions," May/June 2009, Your Church) and continue to operate them, even though the FCC's digital television transition last year signaled a ban to that activity eventually would come. The FCC estimates that 25 percent of wireless mics operate in the spectrum, meaning thousands of churches likely are affected.

Ever since the FCC auctioned off the rights to the 700 MHz band in 2008, it was only a matter of time before the new owners (Verizon and AT&T, among others) would receive sole access to the sections of the spectrum for which they paid billions of dollars. These frequencies will be used (and in some cases, are already being used) by public safety agencies and next-generation (4G) wireless devices.

The FCC says it is ready to help organizations affected by the changes.

"We're doing everything we can to notify as many of these organizations as possible," says Matthew Nodine, chief of staff for the FCC's Wireless Communications Bureau.

For users who are unsure whether their devices need to be replaced, the FCC compiled a list of affected devices: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/wirelessmicrophones/manufacturers.html. Users with further questions can call 1-888-CALL-FCC. The FCC recommends contacting the manufacturers with any technical questions, Nodine says.

Churches who don't comply face fines. Those that do comply likely face the cost of buying new equipment, although some may find low-cost—or no-cost—solutions in the short term if they can live without a wireless setup.

The key, microphone manufacturers say, is that churches shouldn't wait to act, since June 12 is a firm deadline, and problems likely will emerge even sooner.

"The reality is that users will begin to suffer dropouts and interference from the new data traffic anyway, so at some point in the next few months [their wireless devices] won't work well anyway," says Chris Lyons, manager of technical and educational communications for Shure Inc., a microphone and audio systems provider.

Unlicensed use

Most churches never received a license for operating 700 MHz wireless microphones, but used them anyway without authorization. That wasn't illegal, Nodine says, but it will become illegal with the June 12 deadline.

For the few churches that did receive 700 MHz licenses, they're out of luck with the deadline, too.

"It should also be clearly pointed out that this vacating of the band includes licensed and unlicensed devices," says Kent Margraves, national applications manager for Sennheiser Electronic Corporation, another microphone manufacturer. "It does not matter if the user holds a license."

Facing Penalties

So what happens if a church continues to use these wireless devices after the deadline?

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