Before I post the member update from the GPS Coalition, I just wanted to announce that SurveyorConnect is now officially a member of the Coalition to Save Our GPS. We aren't listed on their website just yet, but I'm sure they'll add us soon.
With permission granted directly from the Coalition, here's the Member Update message that was sent out via email just a little while ago:
> Member Update – June 10, 2011
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> As you know, the GPS Working Group will submit its final report on interference to the FCC next week on June 15. Studies continue to show that LightSquared’s proposal would seriously hinder GPS technology and we do not expect any surprises in the final report. Still we need your help in reminding Congress how important GPS technology is and to stop LightSquared from moving forward with its proposal that would have disastrous results for GPS users. The final report is being released in less than a week so please contact your Representatives soon. To find out who your representative is in Congress, click here.
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> Also, there is another important letter supporting GPS in circulation in the U.S. House of Representatives. This one is sponsored by Rep. Charlie Bass (R-NH) and is being circulated to members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology. The letter focuses on the FCC process and includes a number of points that are very close to what the Coalition to Save Our GPS has been asking for since the start of our efforts. Rep. Bass would like to close the letter on Monday, June 13 and have the letter to the FCC no later than June 15. Members of the Subcommittee are listed here. Please contact those offices if you can and ask them to sign on to the Bass letter.
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> Thank you.
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> Recent Developments
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> Just yesterday The National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board held a meeting where results of two separate tests of LightSquared’s impact on the GPS signal were discussed. The results were devastating. In 46 tests “all the GPS receivers” were affected by LightSquared’s signals, Deane Bunce, a Federal Aviation Administration official, said. The Coalition was represented by Jim Kirkland of Trimble. Following the event, we issued a press release, which is available here.
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> FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski responded to a May 31, 2011 letter from Sen. Charles Grassley. Though Genachowski did not address the documents the Iowa Senator requested, the Chairman did claim that regulators “will not permit LightSquared to provide commercial service until it is clear that potential GPS interference concerns have been resolved.” His response did not satisfy Grassley, who told Communications Daily that “the lack of transparency in this case raises questions about whether the FCC is handling a major piece of public property the way it should be treated.”
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> In our last Member Update we mentioned that a “Dear Colleague” letter had been circulated in the U.S. House of Representatives asking members to co-sign a letter to Chairman Genachowski. The letter asked the Chairman to only grant final approval to LightSquared if the company can indisputably demonstrate that their proposal will not interfere with GPS technology. We are pleased to report that because of your support more than 60 Members of the House of U.S. Representatives, 17 Democrats and 49 Republicans, co-signed that letter.
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> On May 26th, the not-for-profit RTCA issued an executive summary of its report for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to address the potential for interference to aviation GPS equipment caused by LightSquared’s FCC license. The report concluded that LighSquared’s authorization “would be incompatible with the current use of GPS” The report recommends that from an aviation perspective, LightSquared’s operation in the spectrum adjacent to GPS” should not be allowed” and that additional testing is needed to fully evaluate LightSquared’s operations in lower channels.
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> Also on May 26th, representatives from Coalition member Deere & Company met with the FCC. In its ex parte filing, Deere explained that tests conducted at government facilities in Hollomon and White Sands, New Mexico “without exception demonstrated severe interference to Deere’s licensed StarFire.” Deere added that its engineers have determined that there is no “practicable technical solution, or solutions in combination, available to avoid or substantially mitigate interference from the LightSquared’s base stations to Deere’s existing precision GPS system and to similar systems operated by others particularly in the agriculture and construction industries.”
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> www.SaveOurGPS.org
