John Williams.
OSP Working Paper 21 (Sept 1986) is divided into two parts, the first of which reviews the FCC’s rules and policies governing frequency coordination and other aspects of spectrum management in the Common Carrier Point-to-Point Microwave Radio Service (CCPMRS). It also traces the development of industry practices and standards that have grown out of these rules.
Part 2 of the paper is an empirical study comparing the transmitting equipment authorized in a generally congested area (New York City) with that in a generally non-congested area (the State of North Carolina). The hypothesis is that transmitters in the congested area should be generally more spectrum efficient in response to higher spectrum value. This would be an expected outcome of a regulatory regime that encourages economically efficient use of the spectrum. A positive finding would provide empirical evidence of the efficiency of the CCPMRS regime.
The transmitter characteristics examined in Part 2 are frequency tolerance, modulation efficiency, antenna size, and antenna type (horns vs. parabolics). The relationships between these parameters and spectrum efficiency are discussed and, where possible, predictions are made regarding the kinds of differences that can be expected between the two areas based on an analysis of licensee motivations under an economically efficient regime. The predicted outcome in each case is compared with the empirical results. Williams finds that these results are consistent with the predicted outcome in seven of the ten cases for which data were available.