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Maine Gets Part 22 Waivers for Statewide System (7/31/12)
The FCC granted Maine’s waiver requests to operate on frequencies from the industrial/business pool and to incorporate Part 22 paging frequencies into its statewide system. The state filed numerous applications seeking authorization to build a trunked statewide private land mobile radio (PLMR) system using several frequencies in the VHF band.

The FCC said that Maine has a legitimate need to incorporate Part 22 paging channels into its statewide system, and it would be contrary to the public interest to require Maine to comply with the common carrier requirement. Therefore, Maine satisfied the standard for waiver of this requirement.

Maine designed its system for 110-watt mobile units to ensure adequate “talk-back” ability. The commission said it would be unduly burdensome to limit mobile units operating on Part 22 paging frequencies to 60 watts while the rest of its mobile fleet operates at 110 watts as permitted under the higher Part 90 power limits. However, to reduce the potential for interference to Part 22 licensees in adjacent regions, the commission limited the area in which Maine may operate mobile units at 110 watts on Part 22 frequencies. Specifically, Maine must operate its mobile units at least 8 kilometers from the edge of its Part 22 service area when transmitting at power levels above 60 watts on Part 22 paging frequencies. This restriction remains in effect unless Maine obtains the consent of the Part 22 licensee in the adjacent regions.

The FCC also agreed with Maine that it would be unduly burdensome to require it to operate its Part 22 frequencies only on equipment certified under Part 22. Maine intends to operate its entire statewide system on equipment approved under Part 90. Therefore, in this instance, the FCC said it was unnecessarily burdensome to require Maine to also get its equipment certified for operation under Part 22.

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