- NILES, IL—The Federal Communications Commission has voted to allow technology companies like Google, Microsoft, Dell, and Motorola to produce “white spaces” devices that will use the same RF spectrum now being used by wireless microphone systems. Final text of the rules is not yet available, but the order is purported to greatly reduce the amount of clear spectrum available for use by professional audio and communications equipment.
- The Commission adopted certain important elements of Shure’s recent wireless microphone interference protection plan. However, Shure is concerned that, despite technical evidence to the contrary, the Commission’s action opens the door to a new breed of wireless gadgetry that relies on unproven technology as a safeguard against interference to wireless microphones. Shure is also concerned that the Commission did not reserve an appropriate number of channels for flawless operation of wireless microphone equipment and did not address several important issues necessary to ensure a robust geolocation- based database for protection of large-scale events, as the company had proposed.
