WFX Houston - Shure's Chris Lyons on the FCC Whitespace Device Ruling

I had the opportunity this afternoon to sit down with Chris Lyons, who along with Doug Gould has been a point person for Shure, Inc. on the whole "white space" issue.

Details of the ruling are still not available. It will be about a month before the full text is available. But, his assessment of the current situation, based on the press release and individual comments by FCC Commissioners may surprise you.

Overall, Chris said, wireless mic users "came out pretty well."

That's right. The FCC, while they didn't adopt the proposal that Shure put forward to reserve channels specifically for wireless us, did pay fairly close attention to the needs wireless users, and too the concerns of churches specifically into consideration.

"This worked out better than we expected," he said.

According to Chris, the new rule will require both geo-location and spectrum sensing. Shure believes that geo-location will be helpful to wireless mic users. According to Chris, there are strong indications that organizations, including churches, will be able to list wireless gear in the geo-location database. There aren't any details available yet.

As for the spectrum sensing, Chris noted that in the tests, there was improvement from one round of testing to the next, and he expects it to get better as time goes on as well.

"We need to hear more details," Chris said, "but at least their hearts are in the the right place. Their intent is to protect venues."

There is one additional win in the rule. They did leave some protected channels. Fixed devices may not operate on channels that are adjacent to occupied TV channels. Further, portable devices may not operate in channels 14 through 20. That leaves at least several unoccupied channels for wireless use in just about every market.

One thing Chris says is clear. Wireless installs are going to require more care in the future. There are a lot of poor installs out there, with bad antenna placement and other poor practice. They will be the first to have problems.

"This will force everyone who uses wireless mics to pay attention to the basics," Chris said.

Manufacturers, too, will need to step up their efforts in education and training. That is a good idea, and would have been a good idea even without the current situation forcing the situation.

Thanks to Shure, and Chris and Doug for their leadership through this worrisome and confusing time.