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Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of )
)
City of Brentwood ) File No. EB-06-SF-326
Licensee of Stations WQCY221, WQCY224 )
and WQCY226 )
) NOV No. V20073296010
Brentwood, California )
)
NOTICE OF VIOLATION
Released: March 23, 2007
By the District Director, San Francisco Office, Western Region,
Enforcement Bureau:
1. This is a Notice of Violation ("Notice") issued pursuant to Section
1.89 of the Commission's Rules ("Rules"), to the City of Brentwood
("City"), licensee of stations WQCY221, WQCY224, and WQCY226, in
Brentwood, California. The Rules require we provide the City with this
Notice prior to the institution of revocation, suspension, or cease
and desist proceedings against the City and its licenses.
2. The City operates a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition ("SCADA")
system that is used to monitor various data for the levels, pressures,
and flow rates of reservoir tanks, pumps and wells for the City's
water supply/treatment system. This SCADA system is operated as a
Control/Remote system operating on 452.400 MHz and 457.400 MHz, as
authorized by the licenses WQCY221, WQCY224, and WQCY226. The WQCY221,
WQCY224 and WQCY226 licenses were granted to the City on June 21,
2005, to operate as fixed use on 452.400/457.400 MHz on a secondary
non-interference basis.
3. WPKV355, licensed to Warren Kocher ("Kocher"), is authorized as a
mobile and mobile relay class station to operate on 452.400/457.400
MHz, among other frequencies. Pursuant to Section 90.261(a) of the
Rules, frequencies "in the 450 - 470 MHz band . . . may be assigned to
all eligibles for fixed use on a secondary basis to land mobile
operations." Consequently, the City's operations on WQCY221, WQCY224
and WQCY226 are secondary to Kocher's operations on WPKV355. Secondary
operation is defined as "[r]adio communications which may not cause
interference to operations authorized on a primary basis and which are
not protected from interference from those primary operations."
4. On May 22, 2006, the Enforcement Bureau's San Francisco Office issued
a Notice of Violation ("2006 Notice") to the City, stating that the
City had violated Section 90.403(e) of the Rules by causing
interference to co-channel users. The City responded to the 2006
Notice by stating that it had taken actions to resolve the
interference by retuning the stations to reduce the power output and
was installing lower gain directional antennas to focus the signal to
the City's system and to further reduce the signal strength.
5. In response to subsequent complaints by Kocher, a San Francisco agent
monitored and inspected stations WQCY221, WQCY224 and WQCY226, from
March 19 to March 22, 2007, and observed the following violations:
a. 47 C.F.R. S 90.403(e): "Licensees shall take reasonable precautions
to avoid causing interference. This includes monitoring the
transmitting frequency for communications in progress and such other
measures as may be necessary to minimize the potential for causing
interference." At the time of the inspections, the agent observed the
City's operation of the SCADA system on 457.400 MHz continued to
cause interference to authorized users.
b. 47 C.F.R. S 1.903(a): "Stations in the Wireless Radio Service must be
used and operated only in accordance with the rules applicable to
their particular service as set forth in this title and with a valid
authorization granted by the Commission under the provisions of this
part..." At the time of the inspection, the agent observed that
WQCY221 Remote Unit (Location 1) licensed to operate on 452.400 MHz
was operating on 457.400 MHz. The agent also observed that several of
the Control and Remote Units were operating at locations not
authorized by the relevant licenses:
i. Station WQCY221 (Location 4) Remote Unit licensed for 37DEG57'23.3"
north, 121DEG 41' 39.7" west, located and operating at 37DEG 57'
21.7" north, 121DEG 41' 33.3" west.
ii. Station WQCY224 (Location 5) Remote Unit licensed for 37DEG 57'
36.7" north, 121DEG 41' 13.8" west, located and operating at 37DEG
58' 53.7" north, 121DEG 44' 6.8" west.
iii. Station WQCY224 (Location 6) Remote Unit licensed for 37DEG 56'
9.2" north, 121DEG 44' 49.7" west, located and operating at 37DEG
56' 22.6" north, 121DEG 44' 35.2" west.
iv. Remote Units operating on 457.400 MHz not licensed for operation at
the following unauthorized locations:
1. Hydropneumatic Pump Station 3.1 located at 37DEG 56' 10" north,
121DEG 44' 50" west;
2. Hydropneumatic Pump Station 3.3 located at 37DEG 53' 55.3"
north, 121DEG 44' 13.7" west;
3. Booster Pump Station 2.3 located at 37DEG 54' 23.8" north,
121DEG 43' 25.6" west;
4. Hydropneumatic Pump Station 2.2 located at 37DEG 57' 27.8"
north, 121DEG 45' 1.3" west.
v. Control Unit operating on 452.400 MHz operating at the unauthorized
location of 37DEG 57' 36" north, 121DEG 41' 18" west.
c. 47 C.F.R. S 2.105(c)(2): "Stations of a secondary service shall not
cause harmful interference to stations of primary services . . ." At
the time of the inspections, the City's operation of WQCY221,
WQCY224, and WQCY226 continued to cause harmful interference to
stations of primary services.
6. If these interfering transmissions continue, we will take additional
enforcement action which may include substantial monetary forfeitures,
and the institution of revocation, suspension and/or cease and desist
proceedings.
7. Pursuant to Section 403 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended,
and Section 1.89 of the Commission's Rules, the City of Brentwood must
submit a written statement concerning this matter within 10 days of
release of this Notice. The response must fully explain each
violation, must contain a statement of the specific action(s) taken to
correct each violation and preclude recurrence, and should include a
time line for completion of pending corrective action(s). The response
must be complete in itself and signed by a principal or officer of the
licensee. All replies and documentation sent in response to this
Notice should be marked with the File No. and NOV No. specified above,
and mailed to the following address:
Federal Communications Commission
San Francisco Office
5653 Stoneridge Dr., Suite 105
Pleasanton, CA 94588
8. This Notice shall be sent by Certified Mail/Return Receipt Requested
and regular mail and hand delivery to City of Brentwood, at its
address of record, and the frequency coordinator for licenses WQCY221,
WQCY224 and WQCY226, at its address of record.
9. The Privacy Act of 1974 requires that we advise you that the
Commission will use all relevant material information before it,
including any information disclosed in your reply, to determine what,
if any, enforcement action is required to ensure compliance. Any false
statement made knowingly and willfully in reply to this Notice is
punishable by fine or imprisonment under Title 18 of the U.S. Code.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Thomas N. Van Stavern
District Director
San Francisco District Office
Western Region
Enforcement Bureau
47 C.F.R. S 1.89.
47 C.F.R. S 1.89(a).
See File Numbers 0002187097 (WQCY221), 0002187099 (WQCY224), and
0002187100 (WQCY226).
Kocher is associated with Timberline Communications. The WPKV355 license
was granted to Kocher on August 1, 2001.
47 C.F.R. S 90.261(a).
47 C.F.R. S 90.7.
47 U.S.C. S 403.
P.L. 93-579, 5 U.S.C. S 552a(e)(3).
18 U.S.C. S 1001 et seq.
Federal Communications Commission
3
Federal Communications Commission