Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FCC eases antenna mix-and-match rule, leaves connector rule intact

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2004 15:52:26 -0400

FCC eases antenna mix-and-match rule, leaves connector rule intact

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on July 12 issued rule
04-165, which allows for changes in devices operating in the unlicensed
spectrum. Specifically, the rules relate to devices which operate under
Part 2 and Part 15 rules; but WiFi users would be most interested in
Part 15, which governs 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, and several bands in 5 GHz.
Until the rule change, the FCC required that antennas used with a device
operating under Part 15 rules must be tested and certified as part of an
entire system. The rule thus prevented consumers from mixing and
matching elements of a WiFi system. The FCC also required unique
connectors for each WiFi gear manufacturer, and also insisted that new
connectors be designed when existing ones became too common and
interchangeable. (For the legally minded among our readers: under the
old rule, it was legal to sell antennas, but it was illegal to use them.
Manufacturers and retailers could sell any antenna they wanted, but it
was the consumer who was breaking the law if he or she attached an
antenna to a device not tested with that antenna.)

The new rule allows manufacturers of new devices to test the system with
high-gain antennas of each major category -- omni, patch, yagi -- and,
when the device is certified, to release the characteristics of the
antennas tested for both their in-band and out-of-band signal patterns
and strengths. The FCC has left intact the connector rules, resisting
pressures from manufacturers to relax these rules as well. The
manufacturers argued that it made more economic sense for them to get
their (“proprietary”) connectors from third parties, rather than produce
them themselves.

FCC's Report and Order
http://wifinetnews.com/documents/FCC-04-165A1.htm

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