[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 47, Volume 5]
[Revised as of October 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 47CFR101.141]

[Page 644-646]
 
                       TITLE 47--TELECOMMUNICATION
 
                         COMMISSION (CONTINUED)
 
PART 101--FIXED MICROWAVE SERVICES--Table of Contents
 
                     Subpart C--Technical Standards
 
Sec. 101.141  Microwave modulation.

    (a) Microwave transmitters employing digital modulation techniques 
and operating below 19.7 GHz (except for MVDDS stations in the 12,200-
12,700 MHz band) must, with appropriate multiplex equipment, comply with 
the following additional requirements:
    (1) The bit rate, in bits per second, must be equal to or greater 
than the bandwidth specified by the emission designator in Hertz (e.g., 
to be acceptable, equipment transmitting at a 20 Mb/s rate must not 
require a bandwidth

[[Page 645]]

of greater than 20 MHz), except the bandwidth used to calculate the 
minimum rate may not include any authorized guard band.

    Note to (a)(1):
    Systems authorized prior to December 1, 1988, may install equipment 
after that date with no minimum bit rate.

    (2) Equipment to be used for voice transmission placed in service, 
authorized, or applied for on or before June 1, 1997 in the 2110 to 2130 
and 2160 to 2180 MHz bands must be capable of satisfactory operation 
within the authorized bandwidth to encode at least 96 voice channels. 
Equipment placed in service, authorized, or applied for on or before 
June 1, 1997 in the 3700-4200, 5925-6425 (30 MHz bandwidth), and 10,700-
11,700 MHz (30 and 40 MHz bandwidths) bands must be capable of 
satisfactory operation within the authorized bandwidth to encode at 
least 1152 voice channels. These required loading levels may be reduced 
by a factor of 1/N provided that N transmitters may be operated 
satisfactorily, over the same radio path, within an authorized bandwidth 
less than, or equal to, the maximum authorizable bandwidth (e.g., the 
1152 channel requirement may be reduced to 576 if two transmitters can 
be satisfactorily operated over the same path within the maximum 
bandwidth). Where certificated equipment is designed to operate on the 
same frequency in a cross polarized configuration to meet the above 
capacity requirements, the Commission will require, at the time 
additional transmitters are authorized, that both polarizations of a 
frequency be used before a new frequency assignment is made, unless a 
single transmitter installation was found to be justified by the 
Commission at the time it authorized the first transmitter.
    (3) The following capacity and loading requirements must be met for 
equipment applied for, authorized, and placed in service after June 1, 
1997 in the 3700-4200 MHz (4 GHz), 5925-6425 and 6525-6875 MHz (6 GHz), 
10,550-10,680 MHz (10 GHz), and 10,700-11,700 MHz (11 GHz) bands:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             Minimum
                                             traffic
                                  Minimum    loading
                                  payload    payload
   Nominal channel bandwidth     capacity      (as          Typical
             (MHz)               (Mbits/s)   percent    utilization \2\
                                     1          of
                                             payload
                                            capacity)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.400.........................        1.54        N/A  1 DS-1
0.800.........................        3.08        N/A  2 DS-1
1.25..........................        3.08        N/A  2 DS-1
1.60..........................        6.17        N/A  4 DS-1
2.50..........................        6.17        N/A  4 DS-1
3.75..........................       12.3         N/A  8 DS-1
5.0...........................       18.5         N/A  12 DS-1
10.0..........................       44.7      \3\ 50  1 DS-3/STS-1
20.0..........................       89.4      \3\ 50  2 DS-3/STS-1
30.0 (11 GHz).................       89.4      \3\ 50  2 DS-3/STS-1
30.0 (6 GHz)..................      134.1      \3\ 50  3 DS-3/STS-1
40.0..........................      134.1      \3\ 50  3 DS-3/STS-1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Per polarization
\2\ DS and STS refer to the number of voice circuits a channel can
  accommodate. 1 DS-1 = 24 voice circuits; 2 DS-1 = 48; 4 DS-1 = 96; 8
  DS-1 = 192; 12 DS-1 = 288; 1 DS-3/STS-1 = 672; 2 DS-3/STS-1 = 1344; 3
  DS-3/STS-1 = 2016.
\3\ This loading requirement must be met within 30 months of licensing.
  If two transmitters simultaneously operate on the same frequency over
  the same path, the requirement is reduced to 25 percent.

    (4) If a transmitter is authorized to operate in a bandwidth that is 
not listed in paragraph (a)(3) of this section, it must meet the minimum 
payload capacity and traffic loading requirements of the next largest 
channel bandwidth listed in the table; e.g., if the authorized bandwidth 
is 3.5 MHz, the minimum payload capacity must be 12.3 Mbits/s.
    (5) Transmitters carrying digital motion video motion material are 
exempt from the requirements specified in paragraphs (a)(2) and (a)(3) 
of this section, provided that at least 50 percent of the payload is 
digital video motion material and the minimum bit rate specified in 
paragraph (a)(1) of this section is met. In the 6, 10, and 11 GHz bands, 
concatenation of multiple contiguous channels is permitted for channels 
of equal bandwidth on center frequencies, provided no other channels are 
available and the minimum payload capacity requirements are met.
    (6) Digital systems using bandwidths of 10 MHz or larger will be 
considered 50 percent loaded when the following condition is met: at 
least 50 percent of their total DS-1 capacity is being used. A DS-1 
channel is being used when it has been connected to a DS-0/DS-1 
multiplexer. For non-DS-0 services, such as, but not limited to, video 
or broadband data transmission, the next

[[Page 646]]

largest DS-1 equivalent will be considered for the computation of a 
loading percentage.
    (7) For digital systems, minimum payload capacities shall be 
expressed in numbers of DS-1s, DS-3s or STS-1s. The payload capacity 
required by the Commission shall correspond to commercially available 
equipment.
    (b) For purposes of compliance with the emission limitation 
requirements of Sec. 101.111(a)(2) and the requirements of paragraph (a) 
of this section, digital modulation techniques are considered as being 
employed when digital modulation occupies 50 percent or more to the 
total peak frequency deviation of a transmitted radio frequency carrier. 
The total peak frequency deviation will be determined by adding the 
deviation produced by the digital modulation signal and the deviation 
produced by any frequency division multiplex (FDM) modulation used. The 
deviation (D) produced by the FDM signal must be determined in 
accordance with Sec. 2.202(f) of this chapter.
    (c) Analog Modulation. Except for video transmission, an application 
for an initial working channel for a given route will not be accepted 
for filing where the anticipated loading (within five years for voice, 
or other period subject to reasonable projection) is less than the 
minimum specified for the following frequency bands. Absent 
extraordinary circumstances, applications proposing additional 
frequencies over existing routes will not be granted unless it is shown 
that the traffic load will shortly exhaust the capacity of the existing 
equipment. Where no construction of radio facilities is requested, 
licensees must submit this evidence with their filing of any necessary 
authority required pursuant to section 214 of the Communications Act and 
part 63 of this chapter.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Minimum
                                                              number of
                                                                voice
                    Frequency band (MHz)                     channels (4
                                                                KHz or
                                                             equivalent)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
3700 to 4200 (20 MHz bandwidth)............................          900
5925 to 6425 (10 MHz bandwidth)............................          300
5925 to 6425 (20 MHz bandwidth)............................          600
5925 to 6425 (30 MHz bandwidth)............................          900
6525 to 6875 (10 MHz bandwidth)............................          300
10,700 to 11,700 (10 MHz bandwidth)........................          300
10,700 to 11,700 (20 MHz bandwidth)........................          600
10,700 to 11,700 (30 MHz bandwidth)........................          900
10,700 to 11,700 (40 MHz bandwidth)........................          900
------------------------------------------------------------------------


[61 FR 26677, May 28, 1996, as amended at 62 FR 24583, May 6, 1997; 63 
FR 36611, July 7, 1998; 65 FR 59358, Oct. 5, 2000; 67 FR 43039, June 26, 
2002]