Lab Notes

One possible good to come out of Hurricane Katrina is that more radio spectrum might be opened up for use by emergency services. You may remember back when digital television was first appearing, the government agreed to give broadcasters new spectrum for free for use with digital television signals. Broadcasters would would transmit new digital services over the free spectrum, while continuing to transmit analog services over their existing spectrum. Once the transition to digital was complete, broadcasters would return the analog spectrum to the government. Now, that time is almost here.

In the wake of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, legislators are pushing for that spectrum to be used for public safety purposes. The current proposals calls for the spectrum to be divided into two pieces: one set aside for emergency workers, and another to be auctioned off to private interests. The auction is worth billions, so there is a temptation to sell off the whole spectrum. Fortunately, some we do have some public officials who can see past the short term and understand that retaining some of the spectrum for public use has an incalculable value.