The White Spaces Coalition has some strong words for one of its harshest critics, the wireless microphone industry. In a letter to the FCC yesterday (PDF), lawyers for the Coalition pointed out that "most wireless microphone use is unlawful" and they went after mic maker Shure for its "scare tactic" approach to the white spaces issue. But the bluster was really just prelude to a compromise proposal designed to smooth the way for unlicensed white spaces broadband devices by sidelining one of their biggest critics. The Coalition now supports an anti-interference plan that includes not just spectrum sensing, but also "protection beacons."

If your church uses wireless microphones, it's probably doing so in violation of FCC rules. Such "Part 74 devices" are only to be used under license by broadcasters, but have in fact popped up in just about every concert hall, house of worship, and Broadway show. While technically illegal, no one—certainly not the FCC—is going to send the shock troops into Good Shepherd Evangelical Free Church to rip the lapel mic from the preacher's lapel. It just wouldn't look good.

So despite the illegal usage, the Coalition supports an "amnesty" for mic users. Its compromise plan to avoid interference is to allow the use of "protection beacons," cheap transmitters that would alert any white spaces devices in the area not to broadcast on particular channels. Shure claimed in an earlier filing that such devices would cost $1,000, but the Coalition called this an "outrageous estimate" that was used to scare people into rallying churches and theaters to its side. In reality, said the Coalition, it would cost only $30 or $40 per beacon.

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