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> You’ve got to put some in yourself, to get some out.
> Don't expect the FCC to make a rational decision in the Lightsquared versus
GPS case. As clear as the conclusions may seem to an engineering mind examining
> Don't expect the FCC to make a rational decision in the Lightsquared versus
the Technical Working Group’s report on the subject, the Federal
Communications Commission does not maintain engineering minds at its top level.
That’s the level that makes the decisions, and it is driven by money and
politics in equal measure. The only things that will get the FCC's attention are
legislators and strong opposition from citizens.
> Comments in the FCC docket so far come largely from the surveying and
agriculture communities. The rest of the GNSS industry has not shown up.
Individuals count, too, not just companies. Here’s how to make your voice
heard, and why. Time’s a-wastin’.
> HERE’S HOW.
> The FCC will accept public comments on the LightSquared interference with GPS
issue until July 30, and replies to those comments until August 15, 2011. After
> The FCC will accept public comments on the LightSquared interference with GPS
the public comment period is closed, the FCC can render a decision at any time.
> Comments may be filed electronically using the Internet by accessing the ECFS.
> Follow the instructions provided on the website for submitting comments.
First, click “Submit a Filing.” Once the following screen comes us, in the
> Follow the instructions provided on the website for submitting comments.
first box labeled "Proceeding Number" enter 11-109. You'll then be required to
enter identifying information into the form and add your comments. In completing
the transmittal screen, ECFS filers should include their full name, U.S. Postal
Service mailing address, and IB Docket No. 11-109.
> Supply information on how you use GPS and what would happen if GPS became
unavailable or unreliable. GPS World suggests including comments that state
LightSquared's operations and GPS are fundamentally incompatible and that the
FCC should not permit LightSquared to use its mobile satellite services
frequency for terrestrial broadcast. You may wish to add that the FCC’s own
Technical Working Group tasked with investigating this issue, and the
Departments of Defense and Transportation, all agree on this.
> It may further be worth adding that GPS is an important, if not vital,
resource for a wide range of users — not just yourself or your industry
sector. These include many life- and safety-critical applications.
> AND HOW.
> Whether or not you file a comment by the July 30 deadline (that’s THIS
Saturday), I urge you to immediately write on the same subject to both your U.S.
> Whether or not you file a comment by the July 30 deadline (that’s THIS
senators and to your congressperson in the U.S. House of Representatives.
> To find your U.S. senator, go to this website and enter your state in the
pull-down menu. You’ll get name, e-mail, phone, and mailing address.
> To find your representative in the House, go to this website and proceed
similarly.
> GNSS community members in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and elsewhere
may write to the U.S. State Department representative tasked in this matter:
clorere @ state.gov.
> I submit that GPS needs your help, now. If the mothership goes down, the case
for other GNSS only becomes more difficult, not less so. And similar attacks may
soon be mounted against GNSS internationally, if encouraged by success on this
front.
> NOW, WHY.
> Some troubling trends that I hope will stir you to action:
> Troubling Trend Number One. The test results, conclusions, and
recommendations of several comprehensive studies, conducted by a combination of
> Some troubling trends that I hope will stir you to action:
> Troubling Trend Number One. The test results, conclusions, and
industry, government, and independent organizations (NPEF, TWG, RTCA) over a
period of months, are currently being questioned, downplayed, dismissed, and/or
ignored by FCC and NTIA, while at the same time ad hoc, wild-eyed claims by
LightSquared with no substantiation in either fact or test data appear to have
attained the same status as gospel truth with these august bodies.
> Troubling Trend Number Two. The so-called solution proposed by LightSquared
claims to eliminate interference to "99.5 percent" of GPS receivers — although
nowhere is this solution supported with any factual basis or evidence whatsoever.
> When unsubstantiated claims are made in the public arena, one can surmise
either or both of two things:
> Those making the claims are confident that no one is awake enough or cares
enough to examine the claims carefully.
> Those making the claims are confident that they have some sort of fix in with
the decisive powers — so it doesn’t matter what kind of case they make, as
long as there is the semblance of one, transparent or not.
> Upsetting Trend Number Three. As to the applications and importance of the
"0.5 percent" remaining receivers, we may well ask: How many users and
beneficiaries of these "0.5 percent" are there? You know and I know that this
number, a wild guess at that, represents the high-precision receivers for which
no LightSquared so-called solution will work. The beneficiaries of GPS use in
survey, construction, and agriculture certainly number in the hundreds of
billions, if not higher.
> Ask your better half: Does only 0.5 percent of the U.S. population eat?
> Alarming Trend Number Four. LightSquared blandly maintains that it has been
around for 10 years or more, and people believe this statement.
> Alarming Trend Number Four. LightSquared blandly maintains that it has been
> Fact: LightSquared bought the assets of a company called SkyTerra, which had
great difficulty making its business case work and was thus extremely ripe for
acquisition at an attractive price. SkyTerra descended in similar fashion from
another company, MSV (Mobile Satellite Ventures), which also had great
difficulty making its business case work and was also extremely ripe for
acquisition at an attractive price.
> Thus, LightSquared’s ancestral history is turbulent. This page gives a
fairly good summary of a key episode.
> LightSquared says that in 2002 and 2003 it was "operating under a different
name." No, those were different companies. Where were the LightSquared
executives back then? Working for other companies, that's where. Hard to be the
same company with a different name, different address, and completely different
personnel.
> If they can't tell you honestly who they are, how can you trust anything they
say?
> Nowhere on the LightSquared web site does the company mention its heritage or
link to MSV and/or SkyTerra. Instead, it continually speaks about its new
vision and how new and novel it is in the world of broadband.
> Bald-faced Lying Trend Number Five. LightSquared says that its business plan
has been consistent throughout the period from 2002 (the MSV and SkyTerra era)
to the present, and people in power at the FCC nod their heads.
> No. Not the case. False statement. Lie.
> SkyTerra and MSV had business plans that used the "ancillary terrestrial
component" (ATC) as the regulators intended, as a gap-filler, with its primary
> SkyTerra and MSV had business plans that used the "ancillary terrestrial
service being provided by satellite. ATC signals could not interfere with
satellite signals without undercutting the company’s primary service. This
worked for GPS as well.
> SkyTerra and MSV went out of business trying to make their business plans work
while complying with the ATC requirements.
> Enter LightSquared in 2010, with the new broadband vision and the new business
plan to — hold for it now — flout ATC requirements, ignore them, demolish
them, waive them out of existence, all with the FCC's willing cooperation.
> The LightSquared waiver request of November 2010 upset the heretofore
fundamental foundation for even considering ATC in L-band. LightSquared does not
provide a primary satellite service, but instead is a terrestrial service —
completely different from the business plans of the predecessor companies, and
completely at odds with the original intended use of L-band for ATC.
> Smelling a Rat in the Smokehouse Trend Number Six. The FCC continues to back
LightSquared, to the point of ignoring positions put forward very strongly by
top-ranking officials in the U.S Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of
Transportation, other U.S. government agencies, Congress, industry and public
groups.
> Part of this is “because they can." The FCC is a so-called independent
agency. However, it is part of the administrative arm of U.S. government, under
the direction, appointments, and pleasure of the White House. There are
Congressional investigations of FCC contact with the White House (Representative
Issa) and on contact with LightSquared (Senator Grassley).
> There are numerous reports in various quarters of other close ties between
Administration officials and LightSquared.
> In that regard, I commend to you these two articles:
> Big payday for U.S. ambassador with stake in go-go wireless Internet firm
> By John Aloysius Farrell and Fred Schulte. July 22, 2011
> Donald Gips, the top Obama aide who became ambassador to South Africa,
cashed in his stock options for LightSquared, a new wireless Internet firm, for
> Big payday for U.S. ambassador with stake in go-go wireless Internet firm
> By John Aloysius Farrell and Fred Schulte. July 22, 2011
> Donald Gips, the top Obama aide who became ambassador to South Africa,
as much as $500,000 ten days after the company won a favorable decision from the
Federal Communications Commission, newly released documents show. Gips, a
friend and major campaign fundraiser of President Obama, was the White House
personnel chief until being appointed ambassador to South Africa in 2009.
> That’s half a million dollars, people.
> Full story.
http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/07/22/5296/big-payday-us-ambassador-stake-go-go-wireless-internet-firm
> Full story.
> Politically-connected LightSquared pushes wireless Internet plan despite GPS
concerns
> LightSquared’s ties to Obama’s supporters and the administration’s
policy interests run deep. Several major Democratic campaign contributors and
longtime Obama supporters have held investments in the company and its
affiliates during its tangled decade of existence.
>
Obama installed one of his biggest fundraisers, Julius Genachowski, a
campaign “bundler” and broadband cheerleader, as chairman of the FCC, which
granted LightSquared a special waiver to operate.
> “The more that’s revealed, the more questions there are,” said U.S.
Sentor Charles Grassley."Without transparency, the public can’t know whose
interests the FCC is pursuing and so can’t trust the agency’s work. The FCC
should comply with my request for information to uphold the public’s trust.”
> Full story.
http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/07/19/5253/politically-connected-lightsquared-pushes-wireless-internet-plan-despite-gps
> July 27, 2011 By: Alan Cameron
> GNSS Design & Test Newsletter, July 2011
>