Whitespace heats up [Consumer Tech Wireless]

WHITESPACE frequencies can cause political ructions -just ask former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The wireless microphone which he unfortunately forgot to turn off in Rochdale last month was licensed to use these frequencies. They are so-called because they are the unused bits between the various digital and analogue terrestrial TV signals on the UHF (ultra high frequency) bands.The new frequencies, recently authorised in the US by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), greatly increase the overall wireless bandwidth available to computers, set-top boxes, laptops, Wi-Fi hot-spots and other radio devices that use the unlicensed band around 2.4GHz. But the primary incumbent users of these TV band frequencies are concerned about the potential for interference caused by the influx of new users.