By Jane Celltower

Adequate Coverage: Coverage is usually considered to be "adequate" within that area surrounding a Base Station where the predicted or measured median field strength of the transmittal signal is greater than or equal to -90 dbm for at least 75% of the intended coverage area.  It is acceptable for there to be holes within the area of adequate coverage where the signal is less than -90 dbm, as long as the signal regains its strength to greater than or equal to -90 dbm further away from the Base Station.  For the limited purpose of determining whether the use of a Repeater is necessary or desireable, there shall be deemed not to be adequate coverage within said holes.  The outer boundary of the area of adequate coverage, however, is that location past which signal does not regain a strength of greater than or equal to -90 dbm.

Adequate Capacity: Capacity is most often considered to be adequate if the Grade of Service (GOS) is p.05 or better for median teletraffic levels offered during the typical busy hour, as assessed by direct measurement of the Wireless Telecoummication Facility in question.  The GOS shall be determined by the use of standard Erlang B Calculations.  As call blocking may occur in either the land line or radio portions of a wireless network.  Adequate Capacity for this regulation shall apply only to the capacity of the radio components.  Where capacity must be determined "prior" to the installation of the Personal Wireless Services Facility, Adequate Capacity should be determined on the basis of a 20% busy hour (20% of all offered traffic occurring within the busiest hour of the day), with total daily traffic based on aggregate estimates of the expected traffic in the coverage area.

Antenna: A device which is attached to a Tower, monotower, or other structure for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves.

Available Space: The space on a Tower, monotower, or structure to which Antennas of a Wireless Telecommunication Provider are both structrually able and electromagnetically able to be attached and which is available for rental to the applicant at fair market prices and terms, and on which space and location will provide necessary coverage.

Base Station: The primary sending and receiving site in a wirelses coummications network.  More than one Base Station and / or more than one variety of Wireless Telecoummincation Provider can be located on a single tower, monotower, or structure.

Cable Microcell Integrator (CMI): A very low power (typically one or two watt output per specific channel) trasceiver (transmitter/receiver) attached to, and interfaced with, the cable TV infrastructure.

Channel: The segment of the radiation spectrum which carries one signal.  An antenna may simultaneously transmit and / or receive multiple channels.

Communication Equipment Shelter: A structure located at a Base Station designed principally to enclose equipment used in connection with Wireless Telecoumminication transmissions.

dBm: Unit of measure of the power level of an electromagnetic signal at the input of a receiver, given its antenna system gain at a particular frequency, expressed as decibels (dB) above one milliwatt. Signal predictions witht his measure are valid at a particular frequency, and ambiguous unless all receivers, antenna combinations, and operation parameters are identified.

dBu: Unit of Measure of the power level of an electromagnetic signal, expressed as decibels (dB) above one millivolt per meter, an absolute measure for describing and comparing service areas, independent of the many variables (see dBm) introduced by different receiver configurations.  This unit should be used for coverage prediction plots.

Electromagnetically Able: The determination that propsoed antenna(s) meet manufacturers' minimum separation recommendations, given the location and operating parameters of existing and proposed antennas.

EMF: Electromagnetic Fields, most often expressed in wavelengths or frequencies to indicate their placement on the electromagnetic spectrum.  The radio frequencies usually radiate away from their generating source, hence being termed wireless capability.  The radio frequencies usually radiate away from their generating source - hence termed wireless capability.  The radio frequencies are identified between 3 kilohertz to 300 gigahertz, and include AM and FM radio, TV, radar, cellular / PCS technologies, emergency fire and police, paging services, and satellite broadcasting among many others.  Microvaves are a portion of the radio frequencies.

FCC: Federal Communications Commission.  The government agency responsible for regulating telecommunications in the United States.

GHZ: Gigahertz - One billion hertz.

Grade of Service: A measure of the percentage of calls which are able to connect to the Base Station during the busiest hour of the day.  Grade of Service is expressed as a number, for example - p.05, which means that %95 of callers will connect on their first try.  A lower number (p.01) indicates a better Grade of Service.

Hertz: One hertz is the frequency of an electric or magnetic field which reverses polarity once each second, or one cycle per second.

Major Facility Modification: Usually defined, as any increase in a tower or monotwer dimension, height, marking or lighting; any increase int he number of, or radiation-center change greater than two feet, of antennas; or any change in antenna type or radome use which increase tower windloading.

MHZ: Megahertz: One million hertz.

Monitoring: The measurement, by the use of instruments in the field, of the electromagnetic radiation from a site as a whole, or from individual Wireless Telecommunications Facilities, Towers, Monotowers, Antennas, or Reapeaters.

Monitoring Protocol: Testing and monitoring using methods in accordance with National Courncil on Radiation Protection and Measurements Reports 86 and 119, FCC office of Engineering & Technology Bulletin 65, relevant decisions and bulletins at the World Wide Web Site (www.fcc.gov/oet/rfsafety), and Rules and Regulations specified in 47 C.F.R. Part 1 - Practice and Procedure, Subpart 1 - Procedures Implementing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

Monopole: A single self-supporting vertical pole with no guy wires, usually consisting of a galvanized or other unpainted metal, or a wooden pole.  Jane Celltower's Note: Many monotower cell phone towers look like a very large, tall, flag pole.

Personal Communications Services (PCS): Digital wireless telephony services generally utilizing smaller, less powerful, and more numerous cells than coventional cellular services.  PCS - Over-Cable and PCS-Over-Fiber utilze CMI transceivers attached to existing Community Antenna Television (Cable TV) coaxial or fiber-optic cable infrastructure.

Personal Wireless Service Facility (PWSF): All equipment (including any Repeaters) with which a Personal Wireless Service Provider broadcasts and receives the radio-frequency waves whcih carry their services and all locations of said equipment or any part thereof.  This Facility may be sited on one or more towers or structures owned and permitted by another owner or entity. 

Personal Wireslse Service Provider:  An entity, licensed by the FCC to provide Personal Wireless Services.

Repeater: A small receiver / relay transmitter of not more than 20 watts output designed to extend service to areas which are not able to receive Adequate coverage directly from a Base Station, using the same channels as the Base Station.

Signal Propagation Studies: Computer-generated estimates of the signal emanating, and prediction of coverage, from antennas at a specific tower or structure.  Topography of the site and its surroundings, antenna type and height above ground, operating frequency and effective radiated power are all taken into account to create these simulations.  They are important tools for determining whether a site will provide adequate coverage for the telecommunications facility proposed for that site, and / or area.  Both radial and tiled plots graphically depict coverage prediction, although tiled coveage plots are preferable for comparative analysis.

Structurally Able: The determination that a Tower, Monotower, or structure is capable of carrying the load imposed by the proposed new Antenna(s) uder all reasonable predictable conditions, as determined by professional structural engineering analysis.

Teleport: A facility utilizing satellitie dish(es) of greater than 2.0 meters in diameter designed for two way communications with satillities, and intented for use by multiple owners, lessees, or rental customers.

Teletraffic: A measurement of the functional service capacity of a communicaitons network.  Teletraffic refers to the calculation of usage levels and service capacities of communications networks and does not refer to pedestrian or vehicular traffic.

Tower: A lattice structure, or framework, or monopole, that is designed to support Telecommincation or other communication system transmission, receiving and / or relaying antennas and /or equipment.

Copyright - 2010 -2012,  Jane Celltower.  All Rights Reserved.