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1995-11-05
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Date: October 24th, 1995
Subject: Overview of the FCC & American Communication
By: Shockwave
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FCC stands for Federal Communications Commission, an organization created in
1934 to regulate the growing radio rage. In it's early years, it's primary
activity was assigning a specific frequency to each station in an area. Today,
it has evolved to regulate nearly every form of electronic communication from
radio to television to telephones to computers. Every time you turn arround,
big brother is watching.
A first step in understanding the fcc is understanding how it does what it does.
This file is about the ways it relates to the electronic communication industry.
Radio Spectrums
Everyone's AM/FM radio has a spectrum from which you can tune in. This is the
same spectrum all broadcasters have to abide by. Here is a list of the accepted
spectrums for radio band width and their respective frequency:
name m/khz range
LW (khz) 150-350
AM (khz) 540-1600
MB (mhz) 1.6-4
SW2 (mhz) 3.7-9 (short wave)
SW1 (mhz) 9-22 ( "" )
FM (mhz) 88-108
AIR (mzh) 108-136
POL (mzh) 148-174 (police)
Kzh stands for Kilohertz (thousands of cycles per second)
Mzh stands for Megahertz (millions of cycles per second)
Television
The American standard for televion is called NTSC. It uses two variations in
broadcast frequencies:
VHF - Very High Frequncy
UHF - Ultra High Frequncy
Notes:
The main European standard for television is called PAL. (There are others,
such as CSCAN in France, but in the time I spent living away, it was most likely
phased out). The reason for mentioning this is that the PAL system was
standardized in the 40's -- long after NTSC. The difference, disregarding the
obvious frequency alteration, is a slower-updating picture with much finer
resulotion. This could serve as a model for what is achievable with the concept
of HDTV, or "High Definition" TV. Needless to say, HDTV will be far higher
quality (The dimensions of the screen are even changed to make it wider; more
like a movie screen), but the high res and fast update will take up ALL of
normal television's range + dive into what I believe was diagrammed as police
radio (poor guys) in the graphic I saw.
Free Speech
The First Admendment is supposed to proctect our right to free speech, but this
is clearly contridicted in the Radio Act of 1934, which states that no person
shall broadcast _offensive_ material. With it's vague representation of what
can't be broadcast and the contridictory admendment, many were charged in court,
but few were convicted of wrong doing.
There is no way of getting arround the regulation of TV or radio freq's,
however. One would think that in the land of the free, a man with the will and
way to set up a broadcasting station could: but this is exactly why the FCC was
formed. It may be disturbing to some to know that they can't just set up and
do that, but in thinking about all the Americans with somethin to say, and the
shortage of air space, the radio regulation is undoubtably justified. I've
heard of pirate radio stations geting busted and operators charged with hundred
s of thousands of dollars worth of violations (they actually count BY THE DAY).
I remember one reference to a University of Washington student (or someone
affiliated with UW) openly running his microtower FM ministation, which hardly
broadcast intensly) was charged $2000 a day.
Telephones
The first regular telephone exchange was founded in 1978, in New Haven,
Conneticut. it was called the Bell Phone Company, which later took the form
of the American Telephone and Telegraph company -- AT&T. In 1899, the
government sanctioned AT&T, making it BOTH a utility and a profit making
company; ie. a monopoly.
Since phones were justly considered a neccessity and not a luxury, AT&T took
the liberty to provide phones for everyone...at a price. They were the one
company that controlled everything. It was against the law to manufacture a
phone/answering machine and use it with AT&T's equipement.
The government felt that telecommunications should be regulated by the same
company that regulated television and radio. So, in 1934 the Communications Act
set forth by the FCC persued the goal of "wiring the world" under its control.
Phone Companies
The image of today's local phone companies is very poor. They are all put in
charge of more than they can handle. Being regarded as a utility, the FCC can
a Co. for not providing decent service. USWest, the primary phone co. in charge
of the northwestern U.S., has been fined and sued and stepped on a lot since
it's introduction of the third area code in Washington. This new AC encircled
the greater populated regions of Seattle and the Eastside and broke down the
segregation between what was considered in-state LD even further. For such a
minute population, not being able to call sometimes outside a 30 mile radius
raises questions of fairness. Changing to the alternate Company (GTE, which is
available to many people who live in USWest area) doesn't solve this problem.
Companies, like Boeing, Microsoft, Digital, and Symantech, to name a few, have
filed and won multi-million dollar lawsuits dealing with the unexpected alter-
ation of calling areas.
Reference & Glossary of Terms
AC - Area Code.
AT&T - American Telephone & Telegraph - Our first National phone company.
BELL - Initial phone company, aptly named after Graham Bell.
FCC - Federal Communications Commision
NBC - National Broadcasting Company
NSC - National Security Council (now reformed as: NSA)
NTSC - American Standard for Television
PAL - European standard for Television
UHF - Ultrahigh Frequency
NYNEX - The first major breakoff company ("Baby Bell") Located in New York.
USWEST - The breakoff company that mostly governs Northwestern U.S.
VHF - Very High Frequency
Notes
Most of this information was collected through magazine/newspaper articles.
This file was written for educational purposes. To contact the author, call our
home system at 206-747-1194.
October 24th, 1995
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