Re: [IRCA] WestList in PDF

[Glenn Hauser <wghauser@xxxxxxxxx>]

DATABASES --- Glenn, If you'll indulge me, I'll append my recent diatribe about
paying attention to the regulatory process before complaining about it:

The FCC (and ITU) databases are the record of the officially 
domestically applied/authorized and internationally notified/approved 
frequency and power assignments (and allotments). They exist so that  
governmental and private spectrum planners can make new and changed 
assignment and allotments that are consistent with the domestic rules 
and international agreements. 

They are not to show "operation" but to show what's protected and what
interference levels have to be used in calculations. That's their only purpose.
They get changed or modified according to pretty rigorous bureaucratic rules,
so that they are as accurate as possible for frequency planning purposes so
that changes are consistent with the domestic and international rules (and
sometimes policies and interpretations), or at the very least reflect attempts
to see if the neighboring governments will acquiesce to changes when a proposal
pushes the envelope. 

They aren't always perfect, either. We sometimes find mistakes in them, but
that's because the data is entered by actual people. "Old" data records are
often maintained even if not in operation because governments consider them to
be national resources, and bureaucrats don't want to have whining sniveling
sociopathic politicians (sorry for the redundancy) beating them up about losing
them.

The databases maintained by the hobbyist community are designed to show their
fellow hobbyists what's out there and what's actually in 
operation. They also can be very useful to frequency planning 
professionals, if we are worried about "real interference" in parts of 
the world where local governments don't adhere to the ITU radio regs 
very consistently. They can be useful even in more "orderly" places 
like North America just to see what might be happening to the official 
data in future time. They are never perfect, because the world changes 
and there is always time lag in real data gathering. So people like me 
are delighted with the work of Bruce Portzer and Herman Boel (and others like
them).

Those are totally different functions. Each of these types of resources is
useful and valuable, but quite different and distinguishable. Thanks (Ben
Dawson, WA, Aug 13, DX LISTENING DIGEST)


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