[Boatanchors] LightSquared

[J. Forster]

LightSquared was a scam, a hedge fund ploy to make billions, from day one.
I suspect the original plan was to buy effectively useless spectrum
abutting GPS very cheap, roll out a newwork and sell interests in it,
then, when the crap hit the fan, get the FCC to trade them other, far more
valuable, spectrum elsewhere, using the political influence garnered by
bundling campqaign funds for Obama.

YMMV,

-John

===============


> I suspect everyone is in violent agreement that the Lightsquared plan to
> use spectrum adjacent to the GPS freqencies was a horrible idea and this
> is why the GPS industry has been fighting it for the past two years. The
> issue isn't Lightsquared per se, after all their original plan was to
> built a new LTE network that could increase competition and reduce
> broadband cost, which on it's own, wasn't a bad thing. The two major
> problems were the 1) their choice of spectrum (adjacent to GPS where
> their ground-based base stations would cause totally unacceptable levels
> of interference, and 2) the backdoor way they went about getting this
> allocation approved by FCC without diligent technical review or testing
> -- but that takes us into the realm of partisan politics so I won't say
> more about it here.
>
> The following excerpt from a report written by Garmin in January 2011
> provides a good overview of the history and the impact the technically
> incompetent Lightsquared plan to modify how these frequencies are used
> would have had on GPS services. (I will leave the question of why our
> FCC failed to recognize these flaws and approved it anyhow to the reader)
>
> "On November 18, 2010 l.ightSquared Subsidiary LLC filed an application
> requesting modification of its
> authority for Ancillary Terrestrial Component (FCC File No.
> SAT-MOD-20101118-00239) of L Band 1 M55
> (Mobile Satellite Service). This application proposes to fundamentally
> change the usage of the L Band 1
> spectrum (1525 MHz- 1559 MHz) from MSS (very low power, space to earth
> signals) to fixed, high
> power, terrestrial broadband service. The L Band 1 is adjacent to the
> GPS band (1559 MHz - 1610 MHz)
> where the GPS and other satellite based radio navigation systems operate.
>
> If this modification is approved, widespread, severe GPS jamming will
> occur. In careful, experimental
> testing at Garmin using the technical details (power, frequency,
> modulation bandwidth) of the proposed
> l.ightSquared system, two common state-of-the-art Garmin GPS receivers
> experienced significant
> jamming within a radius of several miles from a simulated Lightsquared
> transmitter.
>
> The nuvi 265W, a very common portable oonsumer automotive navigation
> device, began to be jammed
> at a power level that represents a distance of 3.6 miles (5.8
> kilometers) from the transmitter. The nuvi
> 265W lost a fix at a distance of 0.66 miles (1.1 kilometers) from the
> transmitter.
>
> A GNS 430W, a common FAA certified General Aviation receiver that
> suports the FAA’s NextGen RNAV
> and RNP operations, began to be jammed at a distance of 13.8 miles (22.1
> kilometers) from the
> Lightsquared transmitter. Total loss of fix occurred at a distance of
> 5.6 miles (9.0 kilometers) from the
> Ughtsquared transmitter. This GPS receiver is certified for LPV
> (localizer Performance with Vertical
> guidance) approach operations to 200 feet decision height, yet will be
> completely jammed by
> Lightsquared transmitters over 5.6 miles (9.0 kilometers) away. Further,
> due to the special FAA
> requirements that this receiver is designed to meet, it takes on the
> order of 90 seconds to regain a fix
> once lost."
>
> Lightsquared expended a great deal of political and financial capital
> fighting this losing battle, but remains alive (albeit just barely, in
> Chapter 11). Their latest plan to resolve the technical problem while
> staying in business can be read here:
> http://www.wirelessweek.com/News/2012/10/lightsquared-latest-lte-plan-share-federal-spectrum/
>
> While moving up to the proposed new band seems to eliminate the
> immediate threat, I suspect most GPS industry observers won't feel
> comfortable unless and until the adjacent segment (1.526-1.536 Ghz) is
> taken away and reserved as a perpetual guard-band around the critical
> GPS allocation.
>
> I don't believe in punishing entrepreneurs and businesses, but when a
> company so egregiously acts against to the public interest, it may not
> deserve a second chance.
>
> 73 Bob W9RAN
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