Washington, DC - Jul 10, 2008 - The Federal Communication Commission's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) will begin field testing the performance of prototype television white space devices (WSD), commencing the week of July 14, 2008. The Commission is conducting tests of prototype white spaces devices as part of its rulemaking to consider authorizing the operation of new low-power devices in the TV broadcast spectrum at locations where individual channels/frequencies are not being used for authorized services. The test plan was initially released on Jan. 17, 2008.

The field tests are open to the public and announcements of the specific dates and locations will be updated regularly at the FCC's website.

While the issue may appear to be a concern for TV stations and not radio stations, the TV white spaces are used for wireless microphones. The test locations include suburban, residential, urban high-rise and rural locations. Two field tests will be devoted to testing interference to wireless mics.

During lab tests of proposed white spaces devices, many units did indeed cause interference. The device from Microsoft did not function properly and failed the lab test as well. For the field tests, Motorola, Philips Electronics and Adaptrum will provide test devices. Microsoft will not participate in the field tests.

FCC ET Docket No. 04-186