Google Seeks To Plant Antenna Farm In Iowa 98
1sockchuck writes "Google is seeking permission to place satellite antennas on land near its data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The 4.5 meter antennas could be used to receive content feeds from broadcast networks that could be bundled with a high-speed fiber service. The FCC filings were made by Google Fiber, which is currently laying fiber for a high-speed network in Kansas City that will provide Internet connectivity 'at speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have today.'"
Internationally (Score:4, Interesting)
It would be cool if Google had farms like this all over the world. Then they could stream the content on YouTube. We could watch euro soccer matches for example.
Or unfiltered news from the middle east, etc.
Mod parent down (Score:4, Interesting)
First of all, these are 15 feet across. That's huge. They also generate passive effects. The dish itself is a parabloic (sic) reflector, and for a unit of this size, can have unintended consequences on equipment located nearby. I don't understand quite how it all works, but the FCC requires permits for antennas above a certain db gain, and these would definately (sic) qualify for that.
It's a receive-only dish. Those don't emit RF. As reflectors, dishes have less effect than a flat surface, other than near their focus. (The focus is close to the dish, and that's where the receiving antenna and low-noise amplifier are mounted.)
Re:Why would they need permission? (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't understand quite how it all works, but the FCC requires permits for antennas above a certain db gain, and these would definately qualify for that.
No, they do not. I've been involved in RF engineering, in some tangential manner or another, for a quarter century and I've never heard of a FCC antenna permit. I have been involved in FAA work for towers, which is regulated and permitted more than licensed and the FAA isn't the FCC anyway. I have thankfully avoided getting involved with the EPA especially WRT wetland management where some antennas are installed, but the EPA is not the FCC. I have been involved in transmitter licensing, admittedly transmitters are attached to antennas and the FCC is all excited about V/M ERP levels and such but they are licensing a complete system of transmitter, grounding system and antenna, not just an antenna. I have been involved in microwave links where below a certain ERP you are unlicensed and to run above a certain ERP you need licensing (another obvious example is FM broadcast radio transmitter, wanna run 1 milliwatt from your ipod to car radio, fine, but you wanna run 100 watts community radio station you need a license), again this is system licensing not antenna licensing. There is a weird corner case in the family radio service FRS where the antenna must be permanently attached to the transmitter and is type accepted as a complete inseparable unit, but its type accepted not licensed. God only knows local building inspectors LOVE to do all kinds of civil engineering and general permitting foolishness to put an antenna on a tower or whatever, but they are not the FCC. Local oscillator leakage makes any non-TRF receiver essentially a very weak transmitter. So if your LO leakage is at -50 dBmW and you attach a 50 dB radio astronomy antenna to it, you MAY be in violation of the FCC unintentional radiator regulations, but thats not a license thats an emission regulation and that is fixed by repairing your equipment up to standard, not getting a license to interfere. You can do anything the FAA, building codes, zoning, and your bank account will allow you to do WRT to ham radio antennas. There might be some really amazingly obscure corner of RF work where an antenna is licensed that I've somehow avoided, but I find it Highly Unlikely. Please let me / us know if you find it.