Repeater Installation
Why do I need an FCC license to operate a GPS repeater?
The FCC requires commercial users (i.e. all non-Federal Government) within
the U.S. to acquire and maintain a Part 5 experimental license to operate a GPS repeater kit.
This is due to the potential for an improperly installed or improperly operated repeater kit
to result in increased error in other GPS equipment in the vicinity.
GPS Source, Inc. can assist eligible customers in securing FCC authorization to operate GPS
repeater kits. Please refer to our FCC Licensing Instructions which provides detailed directions for how to
apply and be granted an experimental FCC license.
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Do I need an experimental license if I operate my repeater
in a shielded room or if I use a repeater hood?
The FCC has provided GPS Source with the following statement regarding the
requirements for licensing of GPS repeater systems in shielded environments:
“We generally don't require experimental licenses for operation inside
true RF shielded rooms or anechoic chambers.”
-Doug Young
Electronics Engineer
Federal Communications Commission
Experimental Licensing Branch
In the case of a GPS Hat system, the GPS hat itself is a
metal enclosure that is placed over the application antenna, thus constituting a
closed Faraday cage, or “shielded room” around the antenna. Furthermore, the GPS
hat system includes RF absorptive material inside of the hat, constituting an
“anechoic chamber”.
It is the understanding of GPS Source that the GPS Hat
system meets the qualifications described by the FCC official above.
Measures have been taken to prevent RF energy from being
radiated by the GPS Hat system (e.g. the hat has been designed to mount
over the application antenna and has been coated with RF absorptive material),
thus, any RF leakage from the system will be at extremely low levels and will
be considered “unintentional”. Unintentional radiation falls into a completely
different regulatory category and signal level limits. The leakage levels from a
GPS hat system are far, far below those levels set by the FCC for unintentional
radiation.
GPS Source, Inc. can assist eligible customers in securing FCC authorization to operate GPS
repeater kits.
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