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FCC News D.C. Court Upholds FCC’s Antenna Rule Change By John Eggerton published February 14, 2022 A three-judge panel of the D.C. Federal Appeals Court has rejected a challenge to the FCC’s decision to amend its over-the-air reception device (OTARD) rule to remove a commercial use restriction. One of the FCC’s arguments for the change was the rise of streaming services, a point Senior Circuit Judge A. Raymond FCC Antenna Rule Update ..........................1 Randolph said in writing the opinion of the panel, which also included Judge Patricia Millett and Judge Gregory Katsas.
IN THIS ISSUE
The court found that the FCC had “sufficiently explained that its Order ‘does not change the applicability of the Commission’s radio frequency exposure requirements’ and that such concerns were more appropriately directed at its radio frequency rulemaking.” The FCC had argued back in oral argument last December that the restriction it scrapped, which prevented commercial antennas that could transmit and relay as well as receive, was outdated and impeded the build out of 5G wireless service. The FCC was unanimous in its 2019 decision to expand the definition of “user” in the OTARD rule, which “prohibits laws, regulations, or restrictions imposed by state or local governments or private entities that impair the ability of antenna users to install, maintain, or use over-the-air reception devices” from customer to provider.
Mobile App Finds Missing Girl .....................2
ACM Award Nominations .............................3 Who’s the PEG Boss? .................................3 Robot Farmers .............................................4 Top 5 Video Cameras ................................. 5
The FCC billed the change as another of its efforts to make it easier to deploy broadband infrastructure, particularly to rural and unserved/underserved areas, and to help agency rules keep pace with changing technology like streaming. Just as cellular sites have gotten smaller and more numerous, so do commercial hubs need to be more numerous and placed closer to customers, goes the argument. But activist group Children’s Health Defense had sued the FCC, arguing that easing the restriction on commercial operations of antennas to allow them to be erected in communities and without prior notice in the case of unlicensed uses, was potentially life-threatening to children and others with radio frequency exposure-related conditions. “The Communications Act does not grant the commission the power to issue a license to kill,” an attorney for the group told the court in oral argument. The group argued that the change allows for more and more powerful antennas that pose a new health risk that communities cannot prevent through restrictive covenants. “All of that protection goes away,” it told the court.The FCC’s attorney conceded in oral argument that the change would mean lots more antennas because the old rule meant that antennas could not be primarily used as a hub, and now they could be. View the entire article at:
https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/dc-court-upholds-fccs-antenna-rule-change
Location Sharing App Proves Key to Finding Missing Girl Originally published in ArcNews ERSI | Spring 2022 | Vol. 44, No. 2
When a four-year-old girl and her dog went missing in a forested area of Lee County, Alabama, in March 2020, Ken Busby was called to the scene a few hours into the search. As the county’s GIS coordinator, he had already printed out an aerial map of the surrounding area. But Busby knew there was a better way to help the search effort. “Let me bring my laptop,” he recalled saying to Rita Smith, the county’s Emergency Management Agency (EMA) director. “Let’s use live GIS to help with tracking everything and see if that can help in real time.” Busby contacted Esri’s Disaster Response Program (DRP) team for assistance. He knew he needed location sharing ArcGIS software to help him and other members of the response team, led by Lee County sheriff Jay Jones, coordinate their search and rescue efforts remotely and in real time. By the next morning, the team had access to an ArcGIS mobile app with location sharing capabilities that’s now part of ArcGIS Field Maps. Busby and the rest of the response team were able to put it to work immediately. The search was a massive undertaking, with hundreds of volunteers and multiple agencies participating in the operation, including an equestrian team from Lee County, the United States Marshals Service, emergency management agencies, sheriff’s departments, and fire departments from Lee County and several neighboring counties. After Busby briefed everyone, all members of the search parties were able to download the location sharing app to their mobile devices. “Even people who were volunteers and not part of the coordinated search were able to be included that way,” said Amanda Sides, the girl’s mother, who was also on scene for the duration of the search. “Each person that went out got a login [for the app],” said Busby. “[Members of each search party] popped up on the map in the same color. That’s how we kept track of all the groupings. We were sending out five or six different teams from the different agencies that were there, going out in different directions, because we had no idea where [the missing girl] was.” At the incident command post, the team set up monitors to display maps with real-time updates on the location of each search party. Busby was in constant radio contact with the searchers to keep them on the right track. Because of Lee County’s rural setting and wooded terrain, location sharing was vital. “Out in the woods, you could get turned around and be heading off in the wrong direction and not even realize it,” said Busby. “We were able to see in real time where these guys were and keep them heading in the right direction at all times.”
View the entire article at: https://www.esri.com/about/newsroom/arcnews/location-sharing-app-proves-key-to-finding-missing-girl/
MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY UPDATES
PEG Stuff Alliance for Community Media Award Nominations Now Open What’s the difference between ACM’s Awards and the Hometown Media Awards? ACM Awards honor outstanding individuals for their contributions to the field of community media. Nominees are considered by the Alliance for Community Media’s Awards Committee and approved by the Board of Directors. Awardees are recognized at the Alliance for Community Media’s Annual Conference. The Hometown Media Awards is an annual awards program benefitting the Foundation of the Alliance for Community Media. Established to honor and promote community media and local cable programs that are distributed on Public, Educational and Government (PEG) access channels. Hometown Media Awards honor specific media projects that have been telecast or streamed in the prior year. Entries are evaluated by a team of qualified judges and recognized at the Hometown Media Awards Celebration at the Annual Conference.
The full article, including a complete list of the award categories can be viewed at: https://www.allcommunitymedia.org/ACM/About/ Awards/ACM/Awards/Awards.aspx?hkey=a3f7ba13-0b27-4b1c-818b-1d4cccbb0759
The nomination form for these awards is available at: https://form.jotform.com/220815986924063
Who Runs Public Access Channels? Originally published on https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/ by Laurie L. Dove Sarah Jones recorded an interview at the local police station with a mayoral candidate about area crime rates. Joel Wymbie sat down with super fans at a local coffee shop to discuss the new “Star Wars” trailer, using a remote camera to record the event. George Allen spent the better part of a Saturday afternoon in front of two studio cameras as he filmed a two-part episode on Russian literature. Public access television may give you visions of “Wayne’s World” parodies, but for many people around the United States, public access TV is a vital way to share information, creativity and foster community relations. (continued on next page)
Access Channels
(continued from previous page) By its very definition, public access television is a free channel that airs programming created by the members of the general public. The advent of public access TV occurred in the early 1970s under Section 611 of the Communications Act, a landmark decision that gave local franchising authorities the ability to require cable companies to set aside channels for public, educational or governmental (PEG) use. A franchising authority is, in most cases, a city or municipality that has a contract with a cable company that defines the services that will be provided to the community. Local franchising authorities are not mandated by federal law to request the channels; it is an option they can exercise at will. Public access channels also are known as community access, community television or cable access channels. A public access channel can be run by a cable company or by a third party designated by the cable company. Regardless of which party operates the channel, it must offer the crucial gear and knowledge that goes along with producing television too. This includes making the studio, equipment and behind-the-scenes staff available to people who want to air a show on public access television. Most guidelines also include free training on specialized tracks from on-air to production [source: FCC]. Public access television is available in communities across the United States and Canada, and in countries such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, South Africa, Austria, Fiji and more [source: Public Access TV]. View the entire article at: https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/how-does-public-access-tv-work.htm
How robots & indoor farming can help save water and grow crops year round. Originally Published on APR 18 2022 Thu March 24, 2022 Agriculture may feed the world, but it is also contributing to global warming. Agriculture production uses about 70% of the Earth’s fresh water and makes up about a third of greenhouse gas emissions. But it doesn’t have to. Farming is moving inside, and farmers aren’t exactly what they used to be. New forms of farming, new technology and new companies are greening the greenery. Take for example Grover and Phil. They are autonomous robots, or farmers of the future working at Iron Ox, a 6-year-old, Silicon Valley-based farm tech start-up. It grows produce in natural light greenhouses, with the goal of decentralizing farming in order to grow crops closer to consumers in a more sustainable way. “We have different robots that are tending to the plants, they’re checking on it, they’re scanning for issues, and they’re adjusting the amount of nutrients it gets, the amount of water it gets,” explained Brandon Alexander, CEO of Iron Ox. Iron Ox’s method is in direct contrast to what Alexander, who grew up on a Texas farm, calls the “spray and pray” approach to agriculture, where more chemicals create more quantity at the expense of quality. Growing indoors allows farmers to grow any crop at any time, regardless of climate and of climate change. It also uses hydroponics, growing crops without soil so water goes directly to the roots. View the entire article at: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/18/iron-ox-is-disrupting-agriculture-with-robots-and-ai.html
Video Cameras Panasonic Lumix GH6 The mirrorless filmmaking world may have become more focussed on full-frame cameras since Panasonic’s GH Lumix series emerged, but the GH6 shows that there’s still life in the Micro Four Thirds sensor format. Small and lightweight but packed with a remarkable array of video options and excellent image quality, the GH6 also boasts superb handling and image stabilization and perhaps the best contrast-based autofocus yet seen on a Panasonic camera. It’s a dependable stills camera too. For more information, visit: https://www.techradar.com/reviews/panasonic-lumix-gh6 Sony A7S III Mirrorless Camera The most video-focussed of all Sony’s A-series cameras, the Sony A7S III’s back-illuminated full-frame sensor delivers best-in-class 4K video in low-light situations. With 15 stops of dynamic range and an expandable ISO of 40 to 409,600, not to mention an effective in-body image stabilization system, it’s able to capture beautiful-looking videos in conditions that would thwart most of its competitors. For more information, visit: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1580516-REG/sony_alpha_a7s_iii_mirrorless.html?ap=y Panasonic LUMIX S1H Full Frame Mirrorless Camera The smallest, cheapest camera to be approved by Netflix for its original productions, the S1H is a hugely powerful full-frame model designed for demanding creators. While it can’t match the Sony A7S III for frame rate, it can record at 6K resolution at 24fps (as well as 4K at up to 60fps), giving it the edge when it comes to sheer detail. For more information, visit:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1501344-REG/panasonic_dc_s1hbody_lumix_dc_s1h_mirrorless_digital.html
Fujifilm X-T4 The company’s latest high end photo and video APS-C mirrorless camera. It brings in-body stabilization, faster shooting, improved autofocus and a larger battery to the already very capable X-T3. For more information, visit: https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujifilm-x-t4-review Cannon EOS 5D Mark IV (staff pick) This camera builds on the powerful legacy of the 5D series, offering amazing refinements in image quality, performance and versatility. Canon’s commitment to imaging excellence is the soul of the EOS 5D Mark IV. Wedding and portrait photographers, nature and landscape shooters, as well as creative videographers will appreciate the brilliance and power that the EOS 5D Mark IV delivers. Superb image quality is achieved with Canon’s all-new 30.4 Megapixel full-frame sensor, and highly-detailed 4K video is captured with ease. visit them at: https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/reviews/canon-eos-5d-mark-iv-review