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UK Approves of 5.8GHz For Rural Broadband

Posted by Hemos on from the making-best-use-of-the-air-waves dept.

Tandoori Haggis writes "BBC News reports a major decision by UK Government to approve the use of 5.8 GHz C-band for use with wireless broadband. A prime consideration is the desire to provide broadband access for rural areas where broadband cable might be prohibitively expensive to impliment. Previously there had been resistance to freeing up 5.8GHz because it is in an area of the RF spectrum used by C-band radars."

3 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. An article with more details... by tcopeland · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...on the issues involved in deregulating this part of the spectrum can be found here.

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    1. Re:An article with more details... by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 4, Informative

      ... which contradicts the slashdot headline completely.

      The real story appears to be that the frequency will *not* be deregulated - you'll still have to apply for a license. The difference is now you have a slight hope of getting one.

  2. Re:line of sight by wass · · Score: 3, Informative
    FM radio is line-of-sight too...and you don't lose everything when you're parked next to a brick house.

    You're ignoring diffraction, which of course is more obvious at larger wavelengths. FM radio seems more line-of-sight than AM because the smaller wavelength bends around properly-sized objects (read people-sized houses and small hills) less well.

    An FM radio signal (about 100 MHz) has a wavelength of roughly 3 meters. Some brick houses aren't that much larger than this, so you'll can get some diffraction around the house.

    A 5.8 GHz signal has a wavelength of about 1/60 this, or roughly 5 cm. So yes, expect much smaller objects to significantly obscure your receival of the transmission.

    Finally, what really matters is the index of refraction of whatever material is 'obscuring' the signal. I'm not really sure, but I would guess that wood and brick would be more opaque at 5.8 GHz C band than at 100 MHz.

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