******************************************************** NOTICE ******************************************************** This document was converted from WordPerfect or Word to ASCII Text format. Content from the original version of the document such as headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes, graphics, and page numbers will not show up in this text version. All text attributes such as bold, italic, underlining, etc. from the original document will not show up in this text version. Features of the original document layout such as columns, tables, line and letter spacing, pagination, and margins will not be preserved in the text version. If you need the complete document, download the WordPerfect version or Adobe Acrobat version, if available. ***************************************************************** FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20554 DA 00-73 January 28, 2000 Claircom Communications Group, L.P. Cody Wilbanks, Esq. c/o Tom W. Davidson, Esq. General Counsel Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & GTE Airfone Incorporated Field, L.L.P. 2809 Butterfield Road 1333 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W. Box 9000 Suite 400 Oak Brook, Illinois 60521 Washington, D.C. 20036 Mobile Telecommunications Technologies American Skycell Corporation Corporation c/o Louis Gurman, Esq. c/o Thomas Gutierrez, Esq. Gurman, Kurtis, Blask & Friedman . Lukas, McGowan, Nace & Gutierrez 1400 16th Street, N.W. 819 H Street, N.W. Suite 500 7th Floor Washington, D.C. 20036 Washington, D.C. 20006 Dear Sirs: This is in response to a joint petition for rulemaking you filed on July 22, 1993 and three joint supplemental petitions filed on October 21, 1993, December 22, 1993, and July 18, 1994 (collectively, the "Petition"). In your Petition, you asked us to initiate a rulemaking proceeding to amend the geographical reference coordinates of certain ground station locations set out in former Section 22.1109 of the Commission's rules. That section has since been renumbered and is now 47 C.F.R.  22.859. Under Section 22.859, providers of air-to-ground ("ATG") telephone service must locate their ground stations within one mile of the reference coordinates listed in Section 22.859. The Petition specifically requests changes in the reference coordinates for 11 sites. The original petition for rulemaking seeks amendments to the reference coordinates for seven sites: Kenner, Louisiana; Nashville, Tennessee; Bedford, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri; San Jose, California; Cordova, Alaska; and Sitka, Alaska. The supplemental petitions seek the same relief for Ketchikan and Yakutat, Alaska; Austin, Texas; and Pataskala, Ohio. . The Petition also states that the requested modifications to Section 22.859: (1) are fully consistent with the one mile collocation rule because, in every case, the ground stations of all the petitioners have been constructed within one mile of the proposed new reference coordinates; (2) will not harm current or future ATG service providers because none have initiated construction of a ground station that is located more than one mile from the proposed reference coordinates; (3) will avoid costly relocations of facilities which do not create inter-carrier interference but which technically do not currently comply with the Commission's rules; and (4) will replace reference coordinates that represent illogical locations with reference coordinates which are more appropriate for ATG station locations. We have examined the requests in your Petition and find that it is in the public interest to amend Section 22.859 to adopt the geographical reference coordinates for the 11 sites requested in your Petition. Our engineering review indicates that a grant of the requested relief will not cause interference to or violate the rights of any other Commission licensee. Accordingly, Section 22.859 is amended to incorporate the geographical reference coordinates for these 11 sites as set forth in the appendix to this letter. We also find that good cause exists under Section 1.412(c) of the Commission's rules to adopt this rule change without prior public notice and comment because we find such procedures to be unnecessary in this instance. All of the parties who would be affected by amending the geographical reference coordinates were parties to the Petition. Therefore, we are granting the relief requested without formally seeking comments from the public. Unless an adverse comment is received regarding the amendments to Section 22.859 within 30 days after publication of this letter in the Federal Register, the rule amendments will become effective on the 31st day after publication in the Federal Register. This action is taken pursuant to the authority delegated to the Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, in Section 0.331 of the Commission's rules. Sincerely, Thomas J. Sugrue Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Appendix APPENDIX FINAL RULES Chapter 1, Part 22, Subpart G of Title 47 of the Code Federal regulations is amended as follows: 1. Section 22.859 is revised to change the reference coordinates and/or channel blocks for Cordova, Alaska, Ketchikan, Alaska, Sitka, Alaska, Yakutat, Alaska, San Jose, California, Kenner, Louisiana, Kansas City, Missouri, Pataskala, Ohio, Nashville, Tennessee, Austin, Texas, and Bedford, Texas as follows:  22.859 Geographical channel block layout. Except as provided in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, ground station locations must be within 1.61 kilometers (one mile) of the locations listed in this paragraph. The channel block allotted for each location must be used to provide service to airborne mobile stations in flight and may be used to provide service to airborne mobile stations on ground. Channel Location N. Latitude W. Longitude Block ALASKA Anchorage 6111'06" 14954'42" 8 Cordova 6029'40" 14528'10" 5 Ketchikan 5521'11" 13142'33" 5 Juneau 5821'18" 13434'30" 4 Sitka 5703'04" 13520'17" 7 Yakutat 5932'23" 139'04" 2 ALABAMA Birmingham 3323'24" 8639'59" 2 ARIZONA Phoenix 3335'39" 11205'12" 4 Winslow 3501'17" 11043'02" 6 ARKANSAS Pine Bluff 3410'56" 9156'18" 8 CALIFORNIA Blythe 3336'39" 11442'24" 10 Eureka 4042'59" 12412'09" 8 Los Angeles 3356'45" 11823'03" 4 Oakland 3751'12" 12212'30" 1 San Francisco 3741'15" 12226'01" 6 San Jose . 37 20'56" ... 121 53'57" 5 Visalia 3619'36" 11923'22" 7 COLORADO Colorado Springs 3844'39" 10451'46" 8 Denver 3946'45" 10450'49" 1 Hayden 4029'04" 10713'08" 6 FLORIDA Miami 2548'27" 8016'30" 4 Orlando 2826'53" 8122'00" 2 Tallahassee 3024'02" 8421'18" 7 GEORGIA Atlanta 3339'05" 8425'54" 5 St. Simons Island 3109'22" 8123'14" 6 HAWAII Mauna Kapu 2124'24" 15806'02" 5 IDAHO Blackfoot 4311'34" 11220'57" 8 Caldwell 4338'45" 11638'44" 10 ILLINOIS Chicago 4146'49" 8745'20" 3 Kewanee 4112'05" 8957'33" 5 Schiller Park 4157'18" 8752'57" 2 INDIANA Fort Wayne 4059'16" 8511'31" 7 IOWA Des Moines 4131'58" 9338'54" 1 KANSAS Garden City 3759'35" 10054'04" 3 Wichita 3737'24" 9727'15" 7 KENTUCKY Fairdale 3804'48" 8547'33" 6 LOUISIANA Kenner 3000'27" 9013'49" 3 Shreveport 3227'09" 9349'38" 5 MASSACHUSETTS Boston 4223'15" 7101'03" 7 MICHIGAN Bellville 4212'17" 8329'09" 8 Flint 4258'21" 8344'22" 9 Sault Saint Marie 4628'45" 8421'31" 6 MINNESOTA Bloomington 4451'30" 9313'19" 9 MISSISSIPPI Meridian 3219'10" 8841'33" 9 MISSOURI Kansas City 3918'13" 9441'04" 6 St. Louis 3842'45" 9019'19" 4 Springfield 3714'28" 9322'54" 9 MONTANA Lewistown 4702'56" 10927'27" 5 Miles City 4625'30" 10552'30" 8 Missoula 4701'05" 11400'41" 3 NEBRASKA Grand Island 4058'00" 9819'11" 2 Ogallala 4107'11" 10145'37" 4 NEVADA Las Vegas 3605'35" 11510'25" 1 Reno 3935'13" 11955'52" 3 Tonopah 3803'43" 11713'24" 9 Winnemucca 4100'39" 11745'58" 4 NEW MEXICO Alamogordo 3254'46" 10556'41" 8 Albuquerque 3503'05" 10637'13" 10 Aztec 3648'42" 10753'48" 9 Clayton 3627'29" 10311'16" 5 NEW JERSEY Woodbury 3950'01" 7509'21" 3 NEW YORK E. Elmhurst 4046'21" 7352'42" 1 Schuyler 4309'09" 7507'50" 2 Staten Island 4036'05" 7406'35" 9 NORTH CAROLINA Greensboro 3605'54" 7956'42" 9 Wilmington 3416'10" 7754'24" 3 NORTH DAKOTA Dickinson 4651'05" 10247'35" 7 OHIO Pataskala 4004'05" 8242'00" 1 OKLAHOMA Warner 3529'31" 9518'25" 4 Woodward 3624'42" 9928'50" 9 OREGON Albany 4438'24" 12303'36" 5 Klamath Falls 4206'30" 12138'00" 2 Pendleton 4535'45" 11831'02" 7 PENNSYLVANIA Coraopolis 4030'33" 8013'27" 4 New Cumberland 4011'30" 7652'02" 8 SOUTH CAROLINA Charleston 3254'10" 8001'20" 4 SOUTH DAKOTA Aberdeen 4527'21" 9825'26" 6 Rapid City 4402'36" 10303'36" 5 TENNESSEE Elizabethton 3626'04" 8208'06" 7 Memphis 3501'44" 8956'15" 10 Nashville 3608'07" 8641'39" 3 TEXAS Austin 32'45" 97'19" 2 Bedford 32'19" 9708'03" 1 Houston 2954'37" 9524'39" 9 Lubbock 3337'06" 10152'14" 7 Monahans 3134'58" 10254'18" 6 UTAH Abajo Peak 3750'21" 10927'42" 7 Delta 3923'15" 11230'44" 2 Escalante 3745'19" 11152'27" 5 Green River 3857'54" 11013'40" 3 Salt Lake City 4039'11" 11212'06" 1 VIRGINIA Arlington 3852'55" 7706'18" 6 WASHINGTON Seattle 4726'08" 12217'35" 4 Cheney 4733'14" 11743'35" 1 WEST VIRGINIA Charleston 3819'47" 8139'36" 2 WISCONSIN Stevens Point 4433'06" 8925'27" 8 WYOMING Riverton 4303'37" 10827'23" 9 (a) Carriers authorized to construct and operate air-to-ground radiotelephone systems on the channels listed in  22.857 may also construct and operate low power ground stations designed to provide service to airborne mobile stations on the ground, provided that no interference is caused to service provided by ground stations located in accordance with the geographical channel block layout or with paragraph (b) of this section. The antenna location of such low power ground station may be anywhere that is at least 483 kilometers (300 miles) from all antenna locations of ground stations using the channel block(s) in accordance with the geographical channel block layout or with paragraph (b) of this section. (b) Ground station locations may be more than 1.61 kilometers (one mile) from all of the locations listed in this section, provided that they are at least 885 kilometers (550 miles) from all antenna locations of ground stations using the same channel block(s) in accordance with the geographical channel block layout or with this paragraph.