3060-0261
May 2007
SUPPORTING STATEMENT
Justification:
The Commission is seeking an extension (no change in recordkeeping requirements) in order to obtain the full three year clearance from the OMB.
Section 90.215 requires station licensees to measure the carrier frequency, output power, and modulation of each transmitter authorized to operate with power in excess of two watts when the transmitter is initially installed and when any changes are made which would likely affect the modulation characteristics. Such measurements, which help ensure proper operation of transmitters, are to be made by a qualified engineering measurement service, and are required to be retained in the station records, along with name and address of the engineering measurement service, and the person making the measurements.
Statutory authority for this collection of information is contained in 47 U.S.C. § 303(f), as amended.
The information is normally used by the licensee to ensure that equipment is operating within prescribed tolerances. Prior technical operation of transmitters helps limit interference to other users and provides the licensee with the maximum possible utilization of equipment.
Prior to finalizing the rule makings the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau conducts an analysis to insure that improved information technology cannot be used to reduce the burden on the public. This analysis considers the possibility of obtaining and/or computer-generating the required data from existing data bases in the Commission or other federal agencies.
No similar information is available.
In conformance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Commission is making an effort to minimize the burden on all respondents, regardless of size. The Commission has limited the information requirements to that absolutely necessary for evaluating and processing applications and to deter against possible abuses.
Since the required measurements are normally made only upon initial installation of a transmitter, and when licensees make changes to their transmitters which would likely affect the technical parameters, less frequent collection of the information is not possible.
Current data collection is consistent with 5 C.F.R. § 1320.8.
The Commission published a 60-day Notice in the Federal Register on February 7, 2007 at 72 FR 5712, in compliance with 5 C.F.R. § 1320.5(d)(2). No comments were received. A copy of this Notice is included in the submission to the OMB.
There are no payments or gifts to respondents.
No questions of a confidential nature are asked.
This collection does not address any private matters of a sensitive nature.
According to the Bureau’s Universal Licensing System (“ULS”), there are 187,470 “private service” licensees authorized to operate pursuant to 394,564 licenses (with output power over 2 watts) that must make transmitter measurements. Further, ULS indicates that there are 4,228 “commercial service” licensees authorized to operate pursuant to 56,190 licenses (with output power over 2 watts) that must make transmitter measurements. Therefore, ULS reflects a total of 191,698 licensees required to make 450,754 transmitter measurements. We estimate the requirements of this rule places a two minute burden (.033 hours) on licensees (per license) per annum. The measurements will normally be made routinely by service personnel while installing equipment. Section 90.215 requires such transmitter measurements upon initial installation and when licensees make changes to their transmitters which would likely affect the technical parameters, and our experience indicates that such measurements are taken, at a minimum, on an annual basis.
450,754 responses x .033 hours = 14,874.88 hours rounded to 14,875 hours.
We then divided the total burden hours by three to get the total annual burden hours.
Total Annual Hour Burden is: 14,875 ÷ 3 = 4,958 hours.
This is a recordkeeping requirement. Transmitter measurements are entered in the station’s records. We assume that the information will be prepared by “in-house” engineers at $200 p/hr. requiring 2 minutes per response. Therefore, there are no costs incurred.
4,958 hours x $200/hr. (in-house engineers) = $991,600.00
Total Annual Cost Burden is: $0.
The annualized cost to the Federal Government is $0.00.
This is an adjustment. This information collection was modified because in the last submission, the number of respondents was under-reported due to a typographical error. Further, according to the ULS database, there was a slight increase in the number of licensees affected by the rules governing this information collection. Hence, the number of respondents filing information with the Commission has significantly increased since the last submission to OMB.
The data will not be published for statistical use.
No expiration date will be displayed.
There are exceptions to Item 19. When the Commission published the 60 day notice, we used inaccurate estimates. With this submission to the OMB, we are reporting more accurate estimates for the annual hour burden.
Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods:
No statistical methods were employed.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT |
| Author | TConway |
| File Modified | 2007-04-20 |
| File Created | 2007-04-20 |