Notice No. SMBR-004-98

Industry Canada

Radiocommunication Act

Notice No. SMBR - 004 - 98

Allotment Plan for Digital Radio Broadcasting (DRB)

Industry Canada announces the publication for comment of the Allotment Plan for Digital Radio Broadcasting DRB, Issue 2, for stations operating within the 1452 to 1492 MHz frequency band (L-band) using the EUREKA 147 (DAB) system. This Plan contains only allotments for terrestrial DRB.

The Allotment Plan, Issue 2, replaces the Allotment Plan, Issue 1, which was published June 1996 via Gazette Notice SMBR-001-96. Issue 2 reflects the terms of the recently-concluded agreement with the USA on the coordination of the operations of terrestrial DRB in Canada. It also addresses the requirements of the CBC to meet its national mandate, and extends the provision of a digital allotment for every AM and FM station to include the new stations and applications as of August 31, 1998.

The continued availability of a digital allotment for any AM or FM station will depend on the applications received for the digital service and any modifications made to the Plan during the licensing process. It should be noted that in many locations in Canada, the Plan contains vacant allotments that can accommodate AM or FM stations applied for after August 31, 1998 and to allow a measure of future growth.

Issue 1 of the allotment plan contained a list of fixed systems operating in the 1452-1492 MHz band that could be impacted by DRB. However, additional analysis in the Department and industry has led to the application of revised interference criteria. It is expected that additional existing fixed systems will be identified as potentially affected by DRB in this band. A revised list of these potentially impacted fixed systems will be published in the near future.

In addition, the above studies have indicated potential adjacent channel interference between DRB and fixed systems operating on frequencies adjacent to the 1452 to 1492 MHz frequency band. In this regard, these adjacent channels were avoided during the re-planning, to the extent possible. However, in the remaining cases, the actual impact and mitigation techniques will depend on each situation. A coordination procedure for adjacent channel interference cases is being developed in conjunction with industry and this will be published in the near future.

DRB Plan, Issue 2 - Description

As in the previous version, the new issue of the Plan groups up to five existing AM and /or FM broadcasters together to share the same transmitting facility.

The Plan includes:

- DRB service areas

- Frequencies for each of the DRB service areas

- Frequency re-use contours for the DRB service areas

Also included in the proposed plan for information purposes are the groupings of existing AM and FM stations and allotments . This will not be published in the final version of the plan.

Interested parties may submit comments on the DRB Allotment Plan to the Director General, Spectrum Engineering Branch, Department of Industry, 300 Slater Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0C8, or at the INTERNET address broadcast.gazette@ic.gc.ca.

Comments should be submitted no later than 60 days from the date of publication of this Notice. Comments received will be made available electronically at the following Internet address:

http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/spectrum

This Gazette Notice, the DRB Allotment Plan (Issue 2) and the terms of the Canada/US agreement are available electronically on the Internet at the following address:

http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/spectrum for the English version

and

http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/spectre for the French version.

Dated at Ottawa this 13th day of November 1998.

R. W. McCaughern
Director General
Spectrum Engineering Branch