[cr-india] March meeting

[Vickram Crishna]

Sajan

In fact I don't think either of us will be there -
Arun is busy with the University and exams.

For low power transmission (say, anywhere from 0 to
100 watts, which is unlicensed in neighbouring Nepal)
the reach of the signal is small enough = so that
there are no reasonable grounds to do anything that
can curb the general deployment of broadcast systems.

One major issue with spectrum allocation is the
pricing, and the second is the insistence on
centralising the allocation process itself. It is
quite trivial to build a GIS system on which
registrants can simply choose frequencies for
themselves. NIC can be supported by FOSS developers in
India to create and deploy this system. Of course,
this is only a suggestion, NIC has enough expertise to
do it on its own.

Another very important issue is the requirement that
the antenna be mounted at a height of not less than 15
meters. This has been justified on the grounds of
avoiding possibly dangerous radiation hazards, which
is very laudable. However it is notable that no such
concern has been shown for microwave hazards posed by
cellphone towers, which are mounted on house rooftops
in all our cities, and for which no such concern for
potential radiation hazards are displayed.

While it is undeniable that some amount of radiation
may pose a hazard, the likelihood of low power posing
palpable risks is not only very small, but this very
fact is a strong argument for encouraging lesser
powered stations rather than (effectively, if not
actually intentionally) using it as a stick to
increase the establishment and maintenance costs of
community led radio stations.  

Finally, it is better to publish open specifications
of transmission equipment rather than to limit the
supply of such equipment through a list of vendors.
This is the only way to encourage local R&D in this
field.

There will undoubtedly be other technical issues that
people will want to raise, but I consider these very
pertinent and central to encouraging widespread use of
this excellent and accessible medium of communication.
We must remember that it has taken us many long years
to persuade the government to allow the Indian public
to undertake such independent initiatives, and it will
be a real pity if enormous roadblocks are still kept
in place that will discourage its rapid adoption.

--- sajan venniyoor <venniyoor at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Arun,
> 
> The Dy. Wireless Adviser to GoI (D. Singaravelu)
> will attend the
> Consultation, and almost all the senior officials of
> the I&B Ministry will
> be there as well. We can take up issues relating to
> spectrum charges in one
> or more of the sessions.
> 
> I assume that you are attending the Consultation
> (Vickram says he doesn't
> have the funding to do the trip independently), so
> you can take the lead in
> flagging Spectrum related issues. Could you confirm
> your participation? I'm
> not sure if you have sent in your registration form
> yet. Just send me a line
> in response, and I'll inform the organizers.
> 
> warm regards,
> Sajan
> 
> On 2/28/07, Arun Mehta <arun.mehta at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I believe that as the community radio forum, we
> should ourselves ask for a
> > meeting with the I&B Ministry and the WPC, to sort
> out issues relating to
> > spectrum charges. At the forum meeting in Delhi,
> the person from I&B in fact
> > suggested such a meeting, saying there was merit
> in our argument.
> >
> > Arun
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > cr-india mailing list
> > cr-india at sarai.net
> > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/cr-india
> >
> >
> 


Vickram


		
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