Business Radio Technical

Frequency Assignment Criteria

Issue date: TBC

Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Contents
Section Page
1 Introduction 5
2 National and International Co-ordination 8
3 Business Radio Area Defined Licence Class 10
4 Business Radio Technically Assigned Licence Class 14
5 Mobile Assignment Technical System (MASTS) 20
6 Signalling tones/codes 24

Annex Page
1 Recommendation ITU-R P.1546-3 26
2 MASTS 29
3 Antennas 32
4 International Coordination 36
5 Frequency Bands 38
6 Special Services 40
7 Area Defined Geographical Areas 41
8 Document History 43
9 Glossary 44
 Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Section 1

1 Introduction
1.1 The Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 requires that no radio equipment is installed or
used in the UK except under the authority of a licence granted by or otherwise
exempted by regulations made by Ofcom. It is a condition of such a licence or
exemption regulations as appropriate that the equipment must meet the minimum
requirements specified in the relevant UK Interface Requirement. Business radio
equipment must meet the requirements set out in Interface Requirement 2044 (IR
2044) which is available at:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/tech/interface_req/ir2044.pdf

1.2 This document details the technical frequency assignment criteria (TFAC) and the
principles that Ofcom will employ in the frequency bands for use by business radio. It
does not describe the complete administrative licensing process. This information
can be found in the Business Radio Licensing Procedures Manual which is available
at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/licensing/classes/business_radio/information/

1.3 Please note that these TFAC may undergo periodical revision and interested parties
should check that they have the latest version.

1.4 Operators and manufacturers can obtain the latest copy of this document from the
Ofcom website at http://www.ofcom.org.uk. If you do not have access to the internet,
you can request a printed copy from the Business Radio team:

Business Radio
Ofcom
Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London SE1 9HA
Tel: 020 7981 3000
Fax: 020 7783 4303

Licensee’s Responsibility

1.5 The establishment, use or installation of transmitting or receiving equipment is

subject to the issue of the relevant licence by Ofcom. The licensee must comply with
the licence terms and conditions and ensure that the equipment meets the
requirements of UK Interface Requirement IR 2044.

Licence Types

1.6 There are 5 licence products or classes available:

 Business Radio Area Defined;

 Business Radio Technically Assigned;

 Business Radio Simple UK;

 Business Radio Simple Site;

 Business Radio Suppliers Light;

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

New applicants and existing licensees can seek advice from Ofcom on the most
appropriate Business Radio licence class for their requirements. The application
forms can then be downloaded from the Ofcom website at:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/licensing/classes/business_radio/applications/af08/

and submitted electronically at:

https://secure.ofcom.org.uk/busrad/

Business Radio Area Defined

1.7 For Business Radio Area Defined licences, Ofcom will issue a licence if spectrum is
available within the geographical area requested. The licensee will have freedom to
deploy radio equipment anywhere within the licensed geographical boundary as long
as licence conditions are met. The TFAC for this licence class are set out in more
detail in Section 3.

Business Radio Technically Assigned

1.8 For Business Radio Technically Assigned licences, Ofcom will use its new technical
assignment algorithm, MASTS, to process the assignment request. If a suitable
assignment is available it will be granted. The TFAC for this licence class are set out
in more detail in Section 4.

Business Radio Light licence classes

1.9 For Business Radio Light licence classes, Ofcom do not undertake any frequency
assignment. Instead, each licence sets out a list of available frequencies which may
be used and some basic technical restrictions that must be adhered to. Ofcom is
currently working with the business radio trade association, the Federation of
Communication Services (FCS), to develop a code of practice for the Business
Radio Simple Site licence. This code of practice will detail the way in which antennas
should be used in order to prevent unnecessary interference to our international
neighbours1. The following paragraphs set out the basic technical conditions applied
for each Light licence class:

Business Radio Simple UK

1.10 This licence authorises mobile to mobile communication anywhere in the UK on any
one of 15 available 12.5 kHz frequencies. Use of base stations is not permitted with
this type of licence.

1.11 The maximum permitted ERP power for mobile stations is 5 Watts.

Business Radio Simple Site

1.12 This licence permits both base and mobile station operation. Licensees can choose
from a set of 12.5 kHz and 25 kHz base and mobile transmit frequencies listed in the
licence document.

1
The FCS intends to publish this code of practice shortly. For more information, see the FCS website
at www.fcs.org.uk

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

1.13 The maximum permitted ERP for base stations is 2 Watts with a maximum antenna
height above ground level of 15m. The maximum permitted ERP for mobile stations
is 2 Watts, except for the 25 kHz channel bandwidth where the maximum permitted
ERP is 0.02 Watts.

Business Radio Suppliers Light

1.14 This type of licence is for use by radio suppliers and dealers only.

1.15 The maximum permitted ERP is 10 Watts for base stations and 25 Watts for mobile
stations. The maximum permitted base station antenna height above ground level is
20m.

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 Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Section 2

2 National and International Co-ordination

Introduction

2.1 There are several different types of co-ordination that may need to be undertaken as
part of the frequency assignment process (this does not apply to the Light Licence
classes). These different types of co-ordination are explained in more detail within
this section.

2.2 Please note that, from August 2007, new business radio sites no longer need to be
cleared using Site Clearance procedures. More information can be found at:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/isu/arrangements/

Geo-limits

2.3 Some business radio spectrum is shared with other users, e.g. the Ministry of
Defence (MoD), Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE), Maritime, etc. To
manage the coexistence between these users, we have worked with these users to
define agreed geographical limits within which business radio users may, or may not,
operate. These limits may be applied to a whole frequency band, a range of
frequencies or a single frequency. These limits fall into three categories:

 Exclusion areas - these are areas within which Ofcom must not make any
Business Radio frequency assignments;

 Operation areas - these are areas within which Ofcom can make Business Radio
frequency assignments;

 Co-ordination areas - these are areas within which Ofcom may be able to make
Business Radio frequency assignments but direct co-ordination procedures will
need to be undertaken with the affected users.

UHF1 (420 – 450 MHz) band co-ordination

2.4 The UHF1 band is primarily a military band. All business radio use is permitted via a
special agreement with the MoD. Business radio has access to a large number of
single frequency and dual frequency channels. Most of the single frequency
channels permitted for business radio use are available on a national basis.
However, most dual frequency channels are only available for business radio use in
specified major conurbations. These restrictions are managed through the
application of geolimits as outlined above.

2.5 In addition, all business radio frequency assignments in this band must be co-
ordinated with RAF Fylingdales. The coordination agreement requires that any new
business radio frequency assignment must not cause an increase in the total
received interference power at the radar site beyond a pre-specified limit. Any new
deployment and/or any change to the technical parameters of an existing
deployment using this frequency band must be put through the UHF1 co-ordination
process. Licensees using this band are therefore required to notify Ofcom of any
such changes before these are made.

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

International Coordination

2.6 Ofcom has a duty to coordinate all proposed frequency assignments with our
neighbouring countries to manage the risk of interference, both to UK and to
neighbouring countries’ existing frequency use. This is either achieved through an
agreed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or similar, or in the absence of a
formal agreement, the HCM Agreement is used (adhering to the general principals of
CEPT Recommendation T/R 25-08). If a proposed assignment passes the
requirements of any MoU in place (or the HCM Agreement), it is deemed to have
passed coordination. If it breaches the requirements of the MoU, the assignment
may need to be notified to the affected country/countries. The affected
country/countries will then let Ofcom know the results of the coordination procedure,
i.e. agreed, agreed with some concessions (e.g. antenna directivity, reduction in
ERP etc.) or refused.

2.7 A summary of all the MoUs and Agreements applicable for Business Radio can be
found in Annex 4.

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 Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Section 3

3 Business Radio Area Defined Licence

Class
Introduction

3.1 The Business Radio Area Defined licence class is designed for users who operate
networks on a national or regional basis or over a large geographical area and who
require exclusive access to spectrum. Such networks are often of strategic and
national importance, e.g. rail networks, utilities, distribution networks and transport
networks. Depending on spectrum availability, these licences may be issued for
either the whole of the UK, national areas (e.g. Scotland) or 50 km x 50 km national
grid squares. The licensee is free to deploy radio equipment anywhere within the
licensed geographical boundary as long as licence conditions are met. These
include:

 Spectral boundary: This defines the frequencies on which the licensee can
operate, the channel bandwidth, the maximum operating power and the emission
limits as specified in the Interface Requirement (IR 2044);

 Geographical boundary: This describes the area in which the licensee can
operate using the national grid reference system and/or national borders.
Licensees are free to deploy transmitters anywhere within this boundary provided
that the predicted field strength level specified in terms of power density at and
beyond the boundary of adjacent geographical assignments does not exceed
-116 dBm/12.5 kHz;

 Power limits: The maximum ERP for base stations is 100 Watts for 25 kHz
channel bandwidths, 50 Watts for 12.5 kHz channel bandwidths and 25 Watts for
6.25 kHz channel bandwidths. The maximum ERP for mobile stations is 25 Watts
for any channel bandwidth;

 Coordination requirements: The licensee is required to comply with relevant

national and international coordination requirements such as UHF1 coordination
and Band III MoUs/Agreements.

3.2 There are two stages in the Area Defined frequency assignment process:

 Frequency allocation: this simple process is applied for every new licence request
and for licence variations which involve modifications to the spectral and/or
geographical boundaries. Successful frequency allocation will result in the issue
of a new or revised licence;

 Post issue support: this is the process used to support/facilitate base station
deployments after a licence has been issued. This only applies in certain cases.

3.3 These two processes are described in more detail below.

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Frequency Allocation Process

3.4 This process is used to identify a suitable frequency for the request. Ofcom will use
its Spectrum Management Software to check whether there are other frequency
assignments within the geographical area requested (this could be the UK, Nation(s)
or 50 km square grids or a combination where this is possible) for each channel
(centre frequency and its associated bandwidth) within the selected band. Details of
the available geographical areas can be found in Annex 7.

3.5 If a channel is available within the requested geographical area, a licence will be
issued as shown in the following diagram:

Figure 1 – High Level flow for Business Radio (Area Defined) Licence Frequency
Allocation

Enter Customer E.g. Frequency Band,

Data Geographical Area

Channel Plan Can channel Liaise with

NO
Data be allocated? Customer

YES

Assign Channel

Post Issue Support Process

3.6 As set out above in paragraph 3.1, it is a condition of Area Defined licences that the
licensee notifies Ofcom of planned deployments that may cause harmful interference
to other services or neighbouring administrations.

3.7 Any deployments in Band III (177.20625 - 207.49375 MHz) or the UHF-1 (425.00625
- 449.49375 MHz) frequency band always need co-ordination and subsequent
authority from Ofcom. For all bands the deployments must comply with the
International Co-ordination MoUs that have been agreed between Ofcom (UK) and
neighbouring administrations.

3.8 The Post Issue Support process enables licensees to confirm that their planned
deployments comply with relevant national and international coordination
requirements. Figure 2 outlines this process:

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Figure 2 – High Level flow for Post Issue Support Process

Compliance with spectral power field strength density limit

3.9 In order for licensees to check that their planned deployments comply with the Area
Defined licence predicted field strength density limit, licensees can either use the ITU
standard propagation model (ITU-R P.1546-3) to model the field strength or can ask
Ofcom or a third party to undertake this check on their behalf.

3.10 Further details on the propagation model and configuration settings are set out at
Annex 1. The full ITU Recommendation ITU-R P.1546-3 can be found on the ITU
website: http://www.itu.int .

Co-ordination between adjacent channels

3.11 Area Defined licensees operating on channels adjacent to other licensees in the
same geographical area need to carefully plan their deployments. Licensees have
the flexibility to use up to 100 watts maximum ERP for 25 kHz channel bandwidths
(50 watts for 12.5 kHz channel bandwidths and 25 watts for 6.25 kHz channel
bandwidths) but it is important that licensees take measures to minimise the risk of
interference. Ofcom recommends that licensees take special care by applying good
site engineering techniques and/or by ensuring adequate separation distance

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

between sites. Information on good site engineering can be found at:

http://portal.etsi.org/Portal_Common/home.asp.

3.12 Licensees (or new applicants) who require a higher maximum ERP will need to make
a written request to Ofcom; each request will be considered on a case by case basis.

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 Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Section 4

4 Business Radio Technically Assigned

Licence Class
Introduction

4.1 The Business Radio Technically Assigned licence is designed for users who operate
radio systems covering a small to medium size geographical area and who require a
degree of protection from other users. This licensing paradigm encompasses the
majority of professional business radio use. Ofcom employs a scientific assignment
process using advanced spectrum management software in order to carefully plan
and manage frequency assignments in the business radio frequency bands.

Inputs to the Technically Assigned assignment process

4.2 The following table summarises the key parameters that will be used to assess if an
assignment can be made:

Table 1 - Summary of Technical Data Inputs

Input Description Example parameters

Type of station This refers to the type of radio Base Station
equipment used at the requested Remote Control Point
location. For Technically Assigned Operational Area (mobiles
licences, there are three available only)
station types (see right)
Location This describes the location of the TQ 300 800
base station, remote control point or
centre of the operational area by
reference to a six figure national grid
reference (100m accuracy)
Customer This describes the area over which Circle - 30 km radius
Requested radio operation is desired. The
Service Area resultant achievable coverage area is
known as the designated service area
and is calculated by the MASTS
algorithm
Assignment This refers to the level of sharing  Exclusive
type which may be permitted on the  Shared
requested channel(s). More details on
this parameter are provided at
paragraph 5.6
Base ERP This refers to the output power from 10 Watts
the Base Station radio antenna. This
is used by the MASTS algorithm to
determine the radio coverage area

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Mobile ERP This refers to the output power from 25 Watts

the mobile radio antenna. This is
used by the MASTS algorithm to
determine the increase in the
interference potential to other
assignments (if applicable)
Antenna This input is only relevant if a base Indoor
location station will be used. It describes the Outdoor
physical location of the base station Underground
antenna in relation to its surrounding
environment. Adjustments to the
coverage will be made depending on
the location and associated assumed
propagation losses.
Antenna height This input is only relevant if a base 30 m AGL
station will be used. It refers to the
height of the base station antenna in
metres above ground level
Antenna type This input is only relevant if a base Omni-directional
station will be used. It refers to the Downfire
generic antenna type which the Radiating cable
applicant proposes to employ. Ofcom Directional - Offset Omni
records seven generic antenna types Directional - Elliptical
(see right). This information allows Directional - Cardioid
Ofcom to more accurately predict the
Directional - Figure-of-Eight
coverage likely to be produced by the
proposed transmission
Antenna tilt This input is only relevant if a base -10 degrees (i.e. 10 degrees
station will be used. It refers to the below the horizontal plane)
angle of the tilt of the antenna above
or below the horizontal plane. The
default angle of tilt is zero degrees
Antenna gain This input is only relevant if a base 3 dBd
station will be used. It refers to the
gain of the antenna in dBd (decibels
relative to a dipole), i.e. the difference
between the gain of the antenna and
the gain of a reference antenna (a
half-wave dipole).
Antenna This input is only relevant if a 220 degrees East of True
azimuth directional antenna will be used. It North
refers to the direction in which the
antenna will be pointing and is
measured in degrees east of true
north.
Antenna This input is only relevant if a 60 degrees
beamwidth directional antenna will be used. This
input, also known as the half-power
beamwidth, refers to the angle of the
antenna pattern or beam over which
the relative power is at or above 50%
of the peak power.

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Antenna front to This input is only relevant if a 15 dB

back ratio directional antenna will be used.
Antenna front to back ratio is the
difference in dB between the level of
the maximum radiation in the forward
direction and the level of radiation at
180 degrees. This ratio indicates an
antenna's ability to reject signals
coming from the rear (rear rejection).
Channel type This describes the channel Single frequency
configuration employed by the radio Dual frequency
equipment which is being licensed.
There are two available channel types
(see right).
Frequency This refers to the predefined Paging, Band I, Low, Mid,
band frequency ranges available for High Band, Band III, UHF-1,
business radio use. Most radio UHF-2
equipment has a limited tuning range
and will only be able to operate in one
or two of the available frequency
bands
Channel This defines the frequency size of the 6.25 kHz
bandwidth radio channel employed by the radio 12.5 kHz
equipment 25.0 kHz
(requests for other channel
bandwidths will be considered
on a case by case basis)

Effective Radiated Power (ERP)

4.3 The licence will state the assigned maximum ERP which must not be exceeded. The
maximum ERP power for each licence type is stated in the UK IR 2044, which can
be found at: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/tech/interface_req/ir2044.pdf

Frequency Assignment Process

4.4 The frequency assignment process for the Business Radio Technically Assigned
licence class is summarised in Figure 3:

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Figure 3 - Detailed Process Flow for the Technically Assigned Assignment Process
Enter Customer
Data
1

UHF-1 UHF-1 Pre-Check

Liaise with
Co-ordination Pass Customer /
NO
Database 2 Refine
Parameters

YES

Identify
Candidate
Channels
3

Channel
Licensing
Pre-filtering
Database
4

Refined set
of Candidate
Cannels
5

Calculate
Designated Service
Area (Coverage)
6

Undertake
MASTS MASTS QoS
Database Calculation
7

Suitable Liaise with

Channels Customer /
NO
Available Refine
8 Parameters

YES

Assign Channel
Licensing (Reserves
Database Spectrum)
9

Assign Signalling
Codes / Timeslots
10

UHF-1 UHF-1
Co-ordination Co-ordination
Database 11

Application
Rejected
International 17
Co-ordination
MoU Check
12
NO

International International Co-ordination

Co-ordination YES Co-ordination Successful
Required 13 14 15

YES
NO

Assignment
Licensing
Confirmed
Database 16

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

4.5 The following paragraphs provide a more detailed text description of the frequency
assignment process illustrated in Figure 3 above:

Step 1 – Enter Customer details

4.6 First, the applicant’s technical details are entered in the licensing system. All the
subsequent tests will use these parameters to make informed decisions on whether
an assignment of a channel or channels is possible. It may be necessary at certain
steps if any of the tests fail to contact the Customer to discuss a refinement of some
of the technical parameters. The tests will then be repeated with the new
parameters. If the tests still fail the application may be rejected.

Step 2 – UHF1 pre-check

4.7 If the applicant requests the use of a channel or channels in the UHF1 frequency
band, an initial coordination check will be undertaken using the supplied technical
parameters and a frequency in the centre of the UHF1 band. If the check shows that
the proposed assignment will fail UHF-1 coordination, Ofcom will contact the
Customer to discuss adjustments that could be made to allow the application to
progress.

Step 3 – Identifying Candidate Channels

4.8 If the applicant has not chosen a preferred channel or channels, an initial set of
candidate channels will be identified based on the licence class (in this case,
Business Radio Technically Assigned), the choice of frequency band and whether
the request is for single or dual frequency operation.

Step 4 and 5 – Pre-filtering and refinement of candidate channels

4.9 A set of tests are undertaken to refine the set of candidate channels available.

4.9.1 A proximity check is undertaken which will remove channels that have
existing assignments within predefined distances on both co-channel and
first adjacent channels (further details can be found in Annex 2).

4.9.2 A check is undertaken to identify any channels that have no available

signalling codes / timeslots available within a 60 km radius from the trial
assignment.

4.9.3 Geo-limit checks are also undertaken to ensure that channels that have
specific restrictions in terms of the geographical locations of transmitting
stations of the trial assignment are also met.

4.10 Any channels that do not pass any of these tests will be removed from the set of
available channels.

Step 6 – Calculate MASTS coverage

4.11 The MASTS coverage calculations are run and the designated service area (DSA)
and blocking signal area (BSA) are derived (See section 5 for more details).

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Step 7 – Frequency assignment tests

4.12 The Quality of Service (QoS) is calculated using the MASTS algorithm for both the
trial assignment and the existing assignments (and therefore passive and active
interference is considered).

Step 8 and 9 – Frequency selection

4.13 The number of candidate channels is then reduced further by identifying channels
that are suitable for assignment. A report is produced identifying all of the channels
that are suitable for assignment. The licensing team choose one of the available
channels for provisional assignment; or if none are available, contact the customer to
discuss their options.

Step 10 – Signalling codes or timeslot assignment

4.14 Signalling codes or timeslots will be chosen by carrying out a distance re-use check
over a 60km search radius. The licensing team will assign codes or timeslots where
there is a reasonable separation distance between the proposed assignment and the
nearest user.

Steps 11 – UHF1 coordination check

4.15 A UHF1 coordination re-check is then undertaken (if applicable) using the selected
channel to ensure that it still meets the coordination criteria.

Step 12 – International coordination MoU check

4.16 The proposed assignment is then checked to ensure it complies with all the relevant
international MoUs. If any of the MoUs are breached, the international coordination
process will take effect as set out in Section 2. If international coordination is
required, the proposed assignment will be provisionally assigned until the outcome is
known.

Steps 13 to 17 – Assignment outcome

4.17 If all checks are successful and a suitable channel is found, an assignment will be
made and the licence will be issued.

4.18 If the application fails any of the frequency assignment, national coordination, or
international coordination checks and, following discussion with the applicant, no
adjustment can be identified to enable a successful assignment, the assignment will
be rejected and the applicant will be informed.

Variation and Revocation

4.19 Licence variation may include a request to change some of the technical parameters
of the Business Radio Technically Assigned licence (e.g. an increase in the antenna
height or ERP). This type of variation request will need to be put through the
frequency assignment process as that outlined above for a new licence.

4.20 If an assignment is terminated (as a result of either customer request or licence

revocation), the QoS of neighbouring assignments will be updated accordingly.

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 Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Section 5

5 Mobile Assignment Technical System

(MASTS)
Introduction

5.1 This section provides an overview of the Mobile Assignment Technical System
(MASTS) algorithm and how it functions as an integral part of the Technically
Assigned frequency assignment process.

5.2 The MASTS algorithm is built into our spectrum management and licensing tools and
is used to better quantify and manage the interference and blocking effects between
business radio users operating in the same spectrum.

5.3 Information on the configuration of the propagation model ITU-R P.1546-3 and
MASTS can be found in Annexes 1 and 2 respectively.

5.4 The following sections detail the main components that make up the MASTS
algorithm.

Assignment Type

5.5 There are two types of assignments within the Business Radio (Technically
Assigned) licence product; shared and exclusive.

5.6 A shared assignment refers to an assignment for which we expect that transmissions
will be made for no more than 50% of the time in the busiest hour of operation. An
exclusive assignment refers to (a): an assignment for which we expect that
transmissions will be made for either up to 100%2 of the time or more than 50% of
the time in the busiest hour of operation, or (b): an assignment that requires extra
protection because of either business or safety critical reasons. It is this parameter
that determines the amount of time that an assignment may block another
assignment from transmitting at that point in time. With the nature of Business Radio
in a shared environment, there may be instances when a user with a shared
assignment type exceeds the number of transmissions (as defined by their
assignment type) over a short period of time. If there are continual breaches of the
guideline criteria it may be necessary to liaise with the user(s) concerned and move
them to an exclusive assignment type or move them to a different channel (where
possible).

Coverage Areas

5.7 The coverage area of the proposed radio system is calculated using the supplied
technical parameters and the propagation model down to the service level field
strength threshold. The intersection between the RSA3 and the filtered coverage
area is then derived and is known as the Designated Service Area (DSA). This is
the area the MASTS algorithm will use in terms of considering interference into that

2
NB: stations operating continuously will be subject to more stringent international co-ordination
requirements.
3
The RSA (Requested Service Area) represents the area (e.g. a radius from the base station) over
which radio operation is desired and is defined by the applicant.

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

area from other users on the same channel. The Blocking Signal Area (BSA) of the
new application is then derived by utilising the original calculated coverage area and
extending it down to the blocking field strength threshold level. This then identifies
the area over which an assignment (base station and mobiles) would cause harmful
interference or blocking. If the trial assignment's blocking signal area intersects with
an existing assignment's designated service area then there is a potential to block
that system. Adjacent channels will be considered in the interference/blocking
calculations.

Antenna Location
5.8 The antenna location is considered when calculating the predicted radio coverage
area. If the antenna is located within a building (indoor) an attenuation of 5dB will be
applied. If the antenna is located underground (e.g. in a tunnel) the coverage area
will be limited to 1km in radius.

5.9 Both indoor and underground antennas are difficult to model without the detailed
characteristics of the clutter of the propagation model. We have therefore defined a
set of generic assumptions as stated above.

Quality of Service

5.10 The Quality of Service (QoS) is a measure of how good the channel is in the area
where the proposed radio service could operate. This will take into account all
assignments within 25 kHz channel bandwidth (or the maximum used bandwidth by
existing assignments) of the centre frequency and within a 120 km radius.

5.11 There are two elements of an “assignment” QoS. The first is self-inflicted, which is
caused by transmissions (and associated traffic) from a system’s own network. The
second is degradation and is caused by other services that contribute significant
interference or blocking. The following are the components considered on any given
channel:

 Self-inflicted

o Assignment Type (self-inflicted blocking);

 Degradation

o Base to Base blocking;

o Mobile to Mobile blocking;

o Base to Mobile blocking;

o Mobile to Base blocking.

5.12 The above factors considered will depend mainly on whether it is a single or dual
frequency channel or if the frequencies being used have different base/mobile
transmit/receive configurations. The following table summarises how each of the
factors are used:

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Table 2 - The MASTS QoS Components

Factor Channel type affected Description
Assignment Type Single/Dual This is self-inflicted blocking from own
system.
Base to Base Single only4 This is the potential blocking from
“unwanted” base stations to the
“wanted” base station. This is either
present or not.
Mobile to Mobile Single only5 This is the potential blocking from
“unwanted” mobile stations to the
“wanted” mobile station.
Base to Mobile Single/Dual frequency This is the potential blocking from
“unwanted” base stations to the
“wanted” mobile station.
Mobile to Base Single/Dual frequency This is the potential blocking from
“unwanted” mobile stations to the
“wanted” base station.

5.13 Once all the above factors have been calculated they are summed up to define a
Quality of Service (QoS) for the trial assignment and the existing affected
assignments have their degradation updated in MASTS. A channel is suitable if its
maximum QoS is not breached. This needs to be met in both directions considering
both the trial assignment and the existing licensed assignments. The MASTS
database will be updated with the new assignment and its QoS and all affected
existing assignments will also have their QoS updated.

Special Cases

Operational Areas

5.14 These are areas with a defined radius over which mobile to mobile communication is
allowed in the absence of a base station. In MASTS these types of assignments are
considered differently by assuming that the designated service areas are a direct
translation from the requested service area.

Fill-in Stations

5.15 Fill-in stations are used for two reasons: a) where coverage over a defined area
cannot be achieved with a single base station and there are holes in the designated
service area, and b) for back-up or Emergency use only. Fill-in stations must be
engineered so that they are located within the designated service area of the main
licensed base station and the resultant coverage area from them must not exceed
the one for the main licensed base station. Fill-in stations will undergo the same
assignment process as the main base station and in some circumstances may not

4
There may be cases where there is mixed configurations (i.e. both base transmit and receive on the
same frequency) and in this case this component may apply.
5
There may be cases where there is mixed (i.e. both mobile transmit and receive on the same
frequency) configurations and in this case this component may apply.

22
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

be allowed due to resultant interference to other users. This will be considered by

request on a case by case basis.

Remote Control Points

5.16 Remote control points are used to enable communication through the base station to
the mobile terminals at a different location. There are many different methods that
can be used to enable remote control of the base station. These include using
landlines, fixed links and radio. Remote control points using reverse frequency
working as the control method (i.e. transmitting on the mobile transmit frequency of
the radio system) need to be recorded and coordinated to ensure that they do not
cause undue interference to other licensed users.6

5.17 Remote control point using reverse frequency working as the control method will be
treated in exactly the same way as base stations (except that the transmit and
receive frequencies will be reversed). They will form part of a network and the
interference between the base station and the remote control points from the same
system will be ignored. Remote control points must use directional antennas.

Linked Assignments

5.18 For assignments that form part of a system or network the interference effects
between them will be ignored. A linked assignment is assumed to be any
assignments that form part of the same licence.

6
Remote control points using fixed links as the control method are likely to require a separate
application for a Fixed Link licence

23
 Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Section 6

6 Signalling tones/codes
6.1 As part of the Technically Assigned frequency assignment process, Ofcom also
assigns signalling tones/codes. For each frequency assignment made (except
IR2008 systems), a minimum of one CTCSS tone and one DCS code will be
assigned if available in the requested area. Ofcom does this by using its technical
tool to check which tones/codes are not being used by other licensed systems in the
surrounding geographical area. Applicants may apply to receive more than one
CTCSS tone and/or DCS code and these will be assigned if available in the
requested area.

6.2 Ofcom do not make signalling tones/codes assignments for Area Defined or Light
licences. These licensees are permitted to use any available tone or code (see Table
3).

6.3 Where licensees plan to use digital business radio equipment and request a
particular DMR access code or codes, Ofcom will record the requested code(s) on its
licensing database and on the licence document. However, Ofcom do not currently
actively coordinate or manage the use of such codes.

6.4 The tables below list the available CTCSS tones and DCS codes:

Table 3 - CTCSS tones

Primary Set Secondary Set Primary Set Secondary Set
CODE Frequency CODE Frequency
Reference Reference Reference Reference
A A1 1 67 A A4 22 141.3
C C1 2 69.3 B B1 23 146.2
B B1 3 71.9 A A1 24 151.4
C C2 4 74.4 B B2 25 156.7
A A2 5 77 A A2 26 162.2
C C3 6 79.7 B B3 27 167.9
B B2 7 82.5 A A3 28 173.8
C C3 8 85.4 B B4 29 179.9
A A3 9 88.5 A A4 30 186.2
C C1 10 91.5 B B1 31 192.8
B B3 11 94.8 C C1 32 198
C C2 12 97.4 A A1 33 203.5
B B4 13 103.5 C C2 34 206.5
A A4 14 107.2 B B2 35 210.7
B B1 15 110.9 A A2 36 218.1
A A1 16 114.8 B B3 37 225.7
B B2 17 118.8 C C1 38 229.1
A A2 18 123 A A3 39 233.6
B B3 19 127.3 B B4 40 241.8
A A3 20 131.8 A A4 41 250.3
B B4 21 136.5 C C2 42 254.1

24
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Table 4 - DCS Codes

DCS GROUP CODE DCS GROUP CODE DCS GROUP CODE
A 23 E 71 I 32
A 43 E 72 I 343
A 114 E 145 I 346
A 115 E 155 I 371
A 212 E 255 I 432
B 25 F 73 I 466
B 53 F 74 J 36
B 122 F 156 J 431
B 125 F 162 J 565
B 243 F 266 J 606
C 26 G 116 J 624
C 54 G 165 J 654
C 131 G 205
C 132 G 311
C 246 G 315
D 31 H 226
D 65 H 261
D 134 H 325
D 143 H 331
D 252 H 332

25
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Annex 1

1 Recommendation ITU-R P.1546-3

A1.1 Recommendation ITU-R P.1546 is an established ITU propagation model and
utilises many years of real measurements. These measurements are for a receiver
antenna at 10m high and assume different effective antenna heights (the difference
between the antenna height and the mean terrain height of the path profile between
3 and 15km towards the direction of the receiver) of the transmitter at 10, 20, 37.5,
75m and higher. Curves are available for 100, 600 and 2000 MHz. Values for
different frequencies and transmitter effective heights can be interpolated from the
curves. The type of path must be determined land, sea or a mixture of the two
paths.

A1.2 This is then followed by applying several receiver-related correction factors. The
first is the terrain clearance angle at the receiver. The incoming ray angle incident
on the receive antenna calculated from the tangent over the last 16km of the path
between the transmitter and receiver. The second is if the mobile is located within
the clutter (e.g. buildings). The final correction applied is for the receiver height not
equating to10m.

A1.3 The high level flow for the propagation model is summarised in the figure on the
following page:

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Figure 3 – High Level flow of ITU-R P.1546-3 Propagation Model

Configuration

A1.4 The following tables 5 to 7 provide details regarding the configuration of the
propagation model that will be used by Ofcom to determine the wanted signal
strength at the receiver:

27
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Table 5 - Propagation Model Settings

Parameter Value

Model ITU-R P.1546-3

% Locations 50

% Time 50

Receiver Antenna Height 1.5m (for mobiles)

ERP (dBd) Relative to a half wave dipole antenna

Table 6 - Digital Mapping Data

Parameter Resolution7

Terrain data 200m

Clutter data 200m

Table 7 - Representative Clutter Heights

Classification Clutter Height (metres)

Village 8

Suburban 8

Buildings 10

Urban 20

Dense Urban 30

7
Ofcom will consider in the near future the implementation of 50 m resolution for terrain and clutter data

28
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Annex 2

2 MASTS
Introduction

A2.1 This section provides the MASTS configuration data that will be used throughout
the assignment process.

Configuration

Service and Blocking Thresholds

A2.2 All figures are based on a receiver Service Threshold of -104 dBm/12.5kHz and a
Blocking Threshold of -116 dBm/12.5kHz.

Table 8 - Service and Blocking Thresholds

Band Centre Frequency Bandwidth Service Blocking Threshold
Threshold (dBμ (dBμV/m)
V/m)

Paging 36 MHz 6.25 kHz 1 -11

12.5 kHz 4 -8

25.0 kHz 7 -5

Band1 61 MHz 6.25 kHz 6 -6

12.5 kHz 9 -3

25.0 kHz 12 0

Low 77 MHz 6.25kHz 8 -4

12.5kHz 11 -1

25.0kHz 14 2

Mid 151 MHz 6.25kHz 14 2

12.5kHz 17 5

25.0kHz 20 8

High 169 MHz 6.25kHz 15 3

12.5kHz 18 6

25.0kHz 21 9

Band III 191 MHz 6.25kHz 16 4

29
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

12.5kHz 19 7

25.0kHz 22 10

UHF 1 437 MHz 6.25kHz 23 11

12.5kHz 26 14

25.0kHz 29 17

UHF 2 459 MHz 6.25kHz 23 11

12.5kHz 26 14

25.0kHz 29 17

Proximity checks

A2.3 The following table outlines the proximity check criteria that will be applied in the
frequency assignment process:

Table 9 - Proximity Check Criteria

Frequency Offset (kHz) Distance Clearance (m) Comment

0 2000 Co-channel

+/- 12.5 500 12.5 kHz adjacent channel

+/- 25.0 500 25.0 kHz adjacent channel

Assignment type

A2.4 There are two Assignment types; Shared or Exclusive. Each of these assignment
types relates to an Activity Factor (AF - which is an input parameter to the MASTS
algorithm). It represents the maximum percentage of time in the busy hour that a
system will be transmitting. The value of Activity Factor (for the system) will be
different depending on if it is used in a single or dual frequency mode of operation.
The maximum value of QoS for any given frequency is 1. The maximum value of
QoS for any given dual frequency will be the sum of two frequencies resulting in a
value of 2. The Activity Factors and maximum QoS for different station
configurations are summarised in Table 10 (on the following page).

30
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Table 10- Activity Factors and Maximum QoS for different Station configurations
Channel
Class of Assignment AF AF
Operating QoSown QoSmax
Station Type B (BTS-TX) freq1 M (MTS-TX) freq 2
Mode
Dual Exclusive 1 1 2 2
Frequency Shared 0.5 0.5 1 2
Base Exclusive 0.5 0.5 1 1
Station Single
Frequency Shared 0.25 0.25 0.5 1

Exclusive N/A 1 1 1
Operational Single
Area Frequency
Shared N/A 0.5 0.5 1

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Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Annex 3

3 Antennas
Introduction

A3.1 This section provides details of the types of antennas used for Business Radio
systems.

A3.2 Ofcom would like to ensure that these antenna types represent the majority of those
used in practice. If there are other general types of antennas that should be
considered then please contact us.

A3.3 The seven antenna types are summarised in the table below:

Table 11 - Summary of generic antennas available

Antenna Type Code Directivity

Omni OM Omni-directional
Down-fire DF Horizontal: Omni-directional
Vertical: Directional
Elliptical DE Directional
Cardioid DC Directional
Figure-of-Eight D8 Directional
Off-set Omni DO Directional
Radiating Cable/Leaky RC Omni-directional
Feeder

A3.4 For each antenna the following additional information will be required:

 Gain (dBd, gain with reference to a half-wave dipole);

 Tilt (electrical and/or mechanical, Degrees: – down, + up);

 For directional antennas the following additional information will also be required:

o Half power beam width (degrees);

o Front-to-back ratio (dB);

o Requested azimuth (degrees clock-wise from True North);

 See example diagrams of the generic antenna coverage patterns in figure 8;

 See Table 12 for the list of generic HCM antenna codes and antenna gains.

A3.5 The generic antenna coverage pattern conversions are derived from the HCM
Agreement Antenna Codes within Annex 6 of the HCM Agreement. See the
following link for more information on the HCM Agreement Antenna Codes :
http://hcm.bundesnetzagentur.de/http/englisch/verwaltung/index_berliner_vereinbar
ung.htm

32
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

New Generic Antenna Coverage Patterns

A3.6 These diagrams show examples of the generic antenna coverage patterns. Except
for omni-directional antennas, the horizontal coverage pattern will change in
proportion to a change in an antenna’s gain.

Figure 5 - Antenna Pattern diagrams

Omni (OM), and Radiating cables (RC) Down-fire (DF)

Elliptical (DE) Cardioid (DC)

Figure-of-eight (D8) Offset-omni (DO)

A3.7 Ofcom will need to establish the antenna code before a system can be licensed.
Table 12 (on the following page) shows examples of the antenna codes of common
antennas. When the antenna code is known, perhaps by its being licensed already
or being included within the manufacturer's datasheet, the applicant should input
the exact antenna code.

33
 Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Table 12 - Summary of Antenna Types and their Equivalent HCM Code

Antenna
Gain Horiz- HC Cod Vert- HC Cod New
coverage Typical antenna type
(dBd) ontal M e ical M e code
pattern
OM_GAIN_0 Co-linear /
Omni 0 000 ND 00 045 DE 00 OM
end-fed vertical dipole
OM_GAIN_3
Omni 3 000 ND 00 016 DE 00 OM Co-linear
OM_GAIN_6
Omni 6 000 ND 00 010 DE 00 OM Co-linear
DF_GAIN_3
Down-fire 3 000 ND 00 800 TA 05 DF Down-fire # -90 degrees tilt
DF_GAIN_6
Down-fire 6 000 ND 00 400 TA 05 DF Down-fire # -90 degrees tilt
Offset DO_GAIN_0
0 103 LA 60 040 DE 00 DO Centre-fed vertical dipole
omni
DE_GAIN_4
Elliptical 4 074 EA 03 036 EA 03 DE Yagi
DE_GAIN_8
Elliptical 8 103 EC 02 009 EA 02 DE Stacked yagi array
DC_GAIN_3
Cardioid 3 090 LA 10 038 EA 10 DC Cardioid
DC_GAIN_6.6
Cardioid 6.6 090 LA 06 009 EA 06 DC Cardioid
DB_GAIN_0
Fig-of-8 0 045 DE 00 045 ND 00 D8 Horizontal dipole

RC_GAIN_0 Leaky feeder / Radiating

Omni 0 000 ND 00 000 ND 00 RC
cable
#
the +/- 45, +/- 30 degree beams, and 3, 6dBd gains, are pointing to the ground, not the horizon. The
gains to the horizon of both antennas are <0dB.

Band III Antennas

A3.8 The Band III MoUs / Agreements are based on a power-sum process. This means
that any change in an assignment’s technical parameters may affect the overall
available interference margin for other assignments.

A3.9 When performing international coordination calculations the assignments made in

Band III therefore need to have antenna pattern details that reflect the radio system
antenna coverage pattern more accurately.

A3.10 It is intended that more accurate antenna details will be available for selection for
Band III assignment requests.

Antenna Directivity

A3.11 For systems with directional antennas, the vertical and horizontal radiation patterns
(i.e. the gain in 5 degree increments) of the antenna are required. It is the
responsibility of the applicant to either provide Ofcom with the antenna pattern or
provide the accurate HCM Antenna Code. The azimuth, measured in degrees east
of true north, is also required.

Antenna Tilt

A3.12 In order to adjust the coverage, or perhaps mitigate interference, antennas may
include an angle of tilt (electrical and/or mechanical). The tilt is measured in
degrees from the horizontal (– down, + up).

Down-fire antennas and Leaky Feeders

A3.13 Down-fire antennas or leaky feeders are usually assigned where coverage is
required to be limited within a building or tunnel.

34
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Antenna Location

A3.14 The derivation of the coverage area is also dependent on where the antenna is
located.

A3.15 If the antenna is located inside a building (indoor) then an attenuation of the field
strength is reduced by 5dB. If the antenna is located underground such as an
underground car park or tunnel then the radio coverage is limited to 1km in radius
for coordination purposes.

35
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Annex 4

4 International Coordination
A4.1 The following table provides a summary of all the MoUs and Agreements that
currently apply to Business Radio spectrum. The details of these agreements are
reviewed periodically with the neighbouring Administrations concerned and may be
subject to change.

A4.2 In the absence of a MoU or Agreement for any Business Radio spectrum the HCM
agreement is usually used.

Table 13 - Summary of MoUs

Frequency MoU Frequency Countries Method
band Range Affected Affected
(MHz)
Band I Memorandum of Understanding 47-68 France Nuisance
concluded between the Field
administrations of France and the strength
United Kingdom on coordination
in the 47-68 MHz frequency band
Low Band N/A N/A N/A N/A
Mid Band The Paris Agreement 138-144 France Preferential
Belgium Channels
High Band Memorandum of Understanding 165-173 Republic of Preferential
(MoU) for day-to-day cross border Ireland Channels
issues
Band III MoU Band III (UK and France)* 177.2-207.5 France Power sum
MoU Band III (UK and 177.2-207.5 Netherlands Power sum
Netherlands)*
GE06 G - F OPS Agreement on 175.8-209 France Power sum
Band III**

GE06 G - HOL OPS Agreement 175.8-209 Netherlands Power sum

on Band III**

GE06 G - BEL OPS Agreement 175.8-209 Belgium Power sum

on Band III**
UHF1 N/A

UHF2 N/A

ALL HCM Agreement France Nuisance

Belgium Field
Netherlands strength
Republic of
Ireland
* These Band III MoUs will be replaced on 13 April 2009 for Sub-band 1 channels between 177.3 to 177.5 MHz,
and on 31 December 2012 for all of Sub-band 1 and Sub-band 2 channels, by the corresponding RRC06
Agreements.
** These Band III Agreements need to be met on 13 April 2009 for the Sub-band 1 channels between 177.3 to
177.5 MHz and on 31 December 2012 for all of Sub-band 1 and Sub-band 2.

36
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

ITU notification requirements

A4.3 Business Radio assignments need to be internationally coordinated in order to pass

the ITU notification process and, after which, be automatically entered in the Master
International Frequency Register (MIFR);

A4.4 ITU Radio Regulation RR11.2 requires that any frequency assignment to a
transmitting station and to its associated receiving stations shall be notified to the
ITU Radiocommunications Bureau if the use of that assignment is capable of
causing harmful interference to any service of another administration (reference
RR11.3a);

A4.5 Similar notifications shall be made for a frequency assignment to a receiving land
station for reception from mobile stations if it is desired to obtain international
recognition for that assignment (reference RR11.7e) to the receiving station
(reference RR11.9);

A4.6 ITU Radio Regulation RR11.2 also requires that any frequency assignment to a
transmitting station and to its associated receiving stations shall also be notified to
the ITU Radiocommunications Bureau if it is desired to obtain international
recognition for that assignment (reference RR11.7e);

A4.7 Ofcom uses RR11.7e to ensure that the use of spectrum within the UK by PMR
assignments is internationally recognised. This recognition would ensure that these
assignments would be taken into consideration when considering international
changes to spectrum use, e.g. RRC-06 Band III;

A4.8 Ofcom uses the following forms to notify Business Radio systems for the ITU:

 Terrestrial Transmitting Station T12 ;

 Terrestrial Receiving Land Station T13 .

A4.9 Ofcom at times may use the notice form T14 for Terrestrial Typical Transmitting
Station to notify some Simple Light Licensed systems;

A4.10 Further information on the ITU Notification processes is available at:

http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/terrestrial/pub-reg/notice-forms/index.html

37
 Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Annex 5

5 Frequency Bands

Table 14 - Summary of Channel Plans available to Business Radio

Band Frequency Band Single Dual Bandwidths Dual CEPT

(MHz) Frequency Frequency Available Frequency Aligned?
Channels Channels splits Yes/No
Available Available available
LF1 132.977 – 133.977 Yes No 1kHz N/A No
kHz

LF1A 146.205 – 147.205 Yes No 1kHz N/A No

kHz

Paging 26.225 – 49.49375 Yes Yes 12.5 kHz (See Footnote No

25.0 kHz 5)
VHF Band 55.750 -68.0 Yes Yes 12.5 kHz 7 MHz Yes
I
VHF Low 68.08125 – 87.49375 Yes Yes 6.25 kHz1 8.7125 MHz No
Band 12.5 kHz 10.0 MHz
13.5 MHz
VHF Mid 137.9625 – Yes Yes 6.25 kHz1 4.5 MHz No
Band 165.04375 12.5 kHz 4.6 MHz
25.0 kHz2 8.5 MHz
VHF High 165.04375 – Yes Yes 6.25 kHz1 4.8 MHz No
Band 173.09375 12.5 kHz
25.0 kHz2
Band III 177.20625 – Yes Yes 6.25 kHz1 8.0 MHz No
207.49375 12.5 kHz
25.0 kHz2
200 kHz2
UHF Band 425.00625 – Yes Yes 6.25 kHz1 5.3875 MHz No
1 (UHF-1) 449.49375 12.5 kHz 14.5 MHz
25.0 kHz 17.0 MHz
17.15 MHz
17.41875 MHz
17.64375 MHz
17.65625 MHz
17.70625 MHz
17.71875 MHz
17.74375 MHz
17.78125 MHz
20.5 MHz
(See Footnote
3)

38
 Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

UHF Band 453.00625 – Yes Yes 6.25 kHz1 5.3 MHz No

2 (UHF-2) 466.0625 12.5 kHz 5.5 MHz
25.0 kHz 5.65 MHz
6.5 MHz
7.0 MHz
(See Footnote
4)
1) 6.25 kHz channels may be requested and such requests will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis
2) Single frequency channels only
3) Most of the UHF1 dual frequency channels are on the 14.5 and 20.5 MHz duplex splits
4) Most of the UHF2 dual frequency channels are on the 5.5 and 6.5 MHz duplex splits
5) Dual frequency Channel Plans have 12.5 kHz return speech frequencies available at 161 MHz and 164 MHz.
6) Any channels available for Technically Assigned can have a mixture of exclusive or shared use within a geographical area

39
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Annex 6

6 Special Services
Introduction

A6.1 This section summarises three special types of use of a radio system and provides
references to other information sheets if more detail is required.

Trunked Systems

A6.2 We encourage the use of properly designed trunked systems because this enables
higher spectrum efficiency and can offer a better service than multiple single
channels. The minimum channel separation of trunked systems will usually be
twelve channels in bands below Band III and for Band III and six channels in the
UHF bands.

A6.3 Trunked systems will be considered as Exclusive use type systems due to the
requirement to use a control channel.

IR 2008

A6.4 IR2008 is a radio channel access procedure through the use of 250 or 500
millisecond timeslots for shared data services on a time domain basis.

A6.5 This is a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) protocol that requires the
assignment of 250 ms (within a two-second frame) or 500 ms (within a four-second
frame) timeslots for both the base and mobile frequencies.

A6.6 More information can be found at:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radiocomms/ifi/tech/interface_req/ukinterface2008.pdf

Digital Mobile Radio

A6.7 Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) systems can be licensed using available Business
Radio licence types. Digital equipment will be subject to the same interference
limitation requirements, e.g. coordination with other users, as analogue equipment.

A6.8 To aid the coordination of assignments, Ofcom will include the option for licensees
to register the DMR access codes that they intend to use on their licence.

A6.9 By using the Wireless Telegraphy Trading Register (WTR) on the Ofcom website it
is possible to identify which DMR access codes are being used within a certain
area.

40
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Annex 7

7 Area Defined Geographical Areas

A7.1 There are three ways in which the geographical areas can be defined for the
Business Radio (Area Defined) Licence.

A7.2 These are:

7.2.1 UK or;

7.2.2 The regions and nations, i.e. England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland;

7.2.3 50km units based on the grid squares of the 2nd series of Landranger maps
published by Ordnance Survey (derived by splitting the UK extended grid
squares equally into 4) e.g. TQ can be split into TQa, TQb, TQc, TQd.

A7.3 As an example, TQa would be defined by reference to the following four co-
ordinates (i.e. the four corners of the grid square): TQ 000 999, TQ 499 999, TQ
000 500 and TQ 499 500

A7.4 This method of defining the geographical areas forms the basis for both the pricing
and the tradable units for the Business Radio (Area Defined) licence product.

A7.5 A UK map of the 50km units grid squares is shown in Figure 9 (on the following
page).

41
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Figure 6 – Business Radio Area Defined geographical units

42
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Annex 8

8 Document History
Version Published Date Comments
Version 1.0 November 2004

Version 1.1 February 2005

Version 2.0 November 2008

Technical enquiries to Business Radio

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://www.ofcom.org.uk

43
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Annex 9

9 Glossary

Term Definition
Activity Factor Maximum percentage of time in a busy hour that a base station will be
transmitting
Antenna A passive device designed to radiate and receive electromagnetic energy
Assignment Authorisation given by a licensing authority for a radio station to use a specific
radio frequency or channel under specified conditions
Band A frequency range having a lower limit and an upper limit, usually specified by
international agreement. Allocations of frequency ranges to bands are both
national and international and is typically determined “for certain types of radio
service”
Base Station A radio transceiver installed at a fixed location, and connected to an antenna,
that facilitates communications between a mobile station and (a) itself or (b)
other mobile stations.
Blocking A blocking signal is an unwanted signal of such strength that it prevents
initiation of a call
Blocking Signal The area where the signal equals or exceeds that value (Blocking Signal Level)
Area which causes blocking but does not reach that required for the raw coverage
area
Blocking Threshold The level which, if breached by an unwanted signal, would result in a call being
prevented; the transmission/call is then considered blocked
BSA See Blocking Signal Area
CTCSS Continuous Tone Controlled Signalling System
Channel A specific frequency or pair of frequencies used to transmit and receive radio
signals
Channel Plan A set of (usually) contiguous channels within a frequency band using the same
channel bandwidth and channel configuration, and used for the purpose of
frequency management
Clutter data Data used in propagation modelling to represent the man-made and natural
features (e.g. buildings, water and trees) that may impair radio frequency
propagation by reflection, diffraction, absorption or scattering of the
transmission waves.
Coordination A procedure to check interference of unwanted signals on reception of wanted
Clearance signals in a radio system, resulting in degradation of performance. This is
required by international agreement to ensure that services assigned in the UK
do not affect services in use in the Republic of Ireland and mainland Europe
Coverage Area The geographical area in which a radio signal level from a base station
transmitter is at or above a pre-defined threshold
Covered A location within a coverage area
Cross-Talk Area The area within the Protected Service Area within which an unwanted signal
equal to or above the Interfering Signal level can occur
CTA See Cross-Talk Area
DCS Digitally Coded Squelch
ERP Effective Radiated Power

44
Business Radio Technical Frequency Assignment Criteria

Term Definition
Field Strength The strength of a radio signal at a particular location
Interference An unwanted signal occurring at the time that a wanted signal is being
received; it is a signal of such strength that it prevents initiation of a call
Interfering Signal The area where the signal equals or exceeds that value (Interfering Signal
Area Level) which causes cross-talk during a call but is not sufficient to prevent a call
being made (Blocking Signal Level)
MASTS Mobile Assignment Technical System. The new frequency assignment
algorithm for the Business Radio Technically Assigned Licence Class
MoU Memorandum of Understanding: an agreement between two administrations
setting out the areas / test points and the maximum tolerable interfering signal
level therein/ thereat
National Grid The National Grid is the map reference system used on all Ordnance Survey
Reference (NGR) mapping to record the position of any feature. NGRs can be used to specify the
geographical position of any location in the UK. An example is TQ 300 800.
The first two letters refer to a 100km by 100 km square within the UK national
grid (in this case around London). The first group of numerals refers to the
distance (in 100m steps) from the western edge of this square (referred to as
Eastings). The second group of numerals refers to the distance (in 100m steps)
from the southern edge of this square (referred to as Northings).
NGR See “National Grid Reference”
PMR See “Private Mobile Radio”
Private Mobile A closed user group radio network consisting of users using mobile radios (and,
Radio in many instances, a central base station radio) to communicate with each
other on one or more pre-specified radio channels
Propagation Model An empirical mathematical formulation for the characterisation of radio wave
propagation as a function of frequency, distance and other conditions
Protected Service The intersection of the Requested Service Area and the Consolidated
Area Coverage Area
PSA See Protected Service Area
QoS Quality of Service is the quantification of the level of service a system provides
Requested Service The geographic area over which a radio service is desired
Area
RSA See Requested Service Area
Service Threshold The workable signal level that a mobile is expected to receive from the Base
Station or Mobile transmitter
Site The location of the radio base station and base station antenna
Terrain Data Data used in radio propagation modelling which describes the height of the
ground above sea level at regular intervals within a given geographical area
Topographical Data Combined Terrain and Clutter data
Transmission Type See Type of Service Transmission
Type of Service How the service will be used e.g. Voice / Data / Both
Transmission

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