# Attachment E {#attachment-e .unnumbered}

HOW TO MONITOR THE FCC AUCTIONS ON-LINE

This document describes the following ways to monitor the auction:

-   View announcements and round results on your Web browser during the
    course of Auction 32

-   Download round results data files

-   Obtain round results from touch-tone phone, using FCC's Automated
    Round Results System

-   View or download files containing the text of auction announcements

-   Track the auction using dial-up networking, which can be used in the
    event your Internet Service Provider (ISP) has malfunctioned.

**[Conventions]{.underline}**

The instructions in this section use the following typographical
conventions:

**bold** Represents objects on the screen that you click with the mouse
pointer, including buttons, Internet links, icons, tabs, menu items
(e.g., **Cancel** button, **Auctions** link, **Save** option in the File
menu).

*italic* Represents field names or areas of a screen (e.g., *Location*
field, *Selected* *Licenses* area of a screen).

***bold italic*** Represents characters that you must type exactly as
they appear in the instructions. For example, if you are instructed to
type ***https://auctions.fcc.gov***, you should type all of the
characters exactly as they are printed.

## Viewing Announcements and Round Results

1.  To access the FCC Automated Auction System, point your Web browser
    at ***https://auctions.fcc.gov*** and click **Auction 32**.

> Alternatively, you can point your Web browser at ***https://
> auctions2.fcc.gov.***

2.  To view auction-related announcements, click **View All
    Announcements** on the Home tab.

3.  Click the **RESULTS** tab at the top of the page to obtain the Round
    Results page.

4.  Click the **Results Explorer** link*.*

The Results Explorer lets you obtain the results for any preceding
round. Using the check box at the bottom, you can limit the results to a
specific applicant, and view either the construction permits they
selected on their Form 175 or the permits where they are the current
high bidder.

5.  When you finish specifying your filter criteria, click the
    **Submit** button to obtain the results.

This produces the Current Results Set page, which lists the construction
permits that match your search criteria.

## Downloading Round Results Files

You may use your Web browser to download round results files, as
described in the following sections.

### Download Procedure

1.  Point your Web browser at ***https://auctions.fcc.gov***.

> Alternatively, you can point your Web browser at
> ***https://auctions2.fcc.gov.***

2.  On the Auctions Systems page, click the **Auctions Archives** link

3.  On the Auction Data Archives page, click the link for Auction 32.

> The Index page that appears shows a parent directory that has three
> subdirectories, or folders. Clicking one of the folder names expands
> the associated subdirectory to show its contents.

4.  For auction round results, click **Results** and then click the
    subdirectory for the type of files you want to use. Note the
    following:

-   Subdirectories **ab**, **hb**, **me**, **wd**, **mxref**, and
    **bxref** provide text (*txt)* and dBASE database (*dbf*) files
    containing the All Bids, High Bids, Maximum Eligibility,
    Withdrawals, Market Cross Reference, and Bidder Cross Reference
    tables, respectively.

-   Subdirectory **zip** has a *zipped* file containing the round
    results text (*txt*) files from the **ab**, **hb**, **me**, and
    **wd** subdirectories.

-   Subdirectory **mdb** contains Microsoft Access database files in
    *zipped* form.

5.  Click the file you want to download.

6.  If you clicked a text (*txt)* file, it will open in your browser and
    you can save it to a local disk drive, if desired. If you clicked a
    database (*dbf*) or *zipped* file, the system will ask whether you
    want to open the file or download it.

### Naming Conventions For Round Results Files

> **Note:** The naming conventions described in this section also apply
> to the Mock Auction. The only difference is, the Mock Auction is
> numbered 74 whereas the real auction is numbered 32.

For each round, dBase-compatible database files will be uploaded with
the following naming conventions (where *xxx* represents the round
number):

-   32\_*xxx*s.dbf contains all bids submitted in a particular round

-   32\_*xxx*w.dbf contains all bids withdrawn in a particular round

-   32\_*xxx*e.dbf contains the maximum eligibility and remaining number
    of waivers for each bidder

-   32\_*xxx*h.dbf contains the high bids in a particular round and the
    minimum accepted bids for the next round

We will also upload the following files, which are created only once,
prior to the start of the auction:

-   32_xref.dbf contains bidder cross reference data

-   32_mref.dbf contains market cross reference data

For those who cannot use the dBase-compatible database files, we will
also upload the ASCII text (.txt) version of these files with the same
filenames as above (e.g., 32\_ *xxx*s.txt, 32\_*xxx*e.txt). We also
provide these text files in a zipped file with a name of the form
RR_032\_ *xxx*.zip.

> ***File Formats:*** For a description of the internal formats of the
> round results files, refer to *Round Results File Formats* at the end
> of this document.

## Accessing Auction Announcements

You may use your Web browser to view or download announcements, as
described in the following sections.

### Access Procedure

1.  Point your Web browser at https://auctions.fcc.gov.

> Alternatively, you can point your Web browser at
> ***https://auctions2.fcc.gov.***

2.  On the Auctions Systems page, click the **Auctions Archives** link

3.  On the Auction Data Archives page, click the link for Auction 32.

> The Index page that appears shows a parent directory that has three
> subdirectories, or folders. Clicking one of the folder names expands
> the associated subdirectory to show its contents.

4.  Click **Announcements**.

5.  Click the file you want to download.

> **Template File for Importing Bids:** The file *template.txt* is a
> template that can be modified as desired and used to select a group of
> bids simultaneously, by importing them in a file.

6.  The file will open in your browser and you can save it to a local
    disk drive, if desired.

### Naming Conventions For Announcement Files

The announcement files will use the naming convention *aa_xxx.nnn,*
where *aa* is the auction number, *xxx* is the round number and *nnn* is
the announcement number. For example, 32_002.007 would represent an
announcement for Auction 32 that was posted during round two and was the
seventh announcement for the auction.

## Tracking the Auction via the FCC Wide Area Network

To participate as a bidder in an FCC auction or view the auction's
announcements and round results, the FCC recommends accessing the FCC
Automated Auction System via the Internet. As a contingency, you may
access the FCC Automated Auction System via the FCC Wide Area Network.

### Minimum Hardware and Software Requirements

The following hardware and software, at a minimum, are required to use
the FCC Auctions Bidding System:

-   CPU: Pentium 133 or above

-   RAM: 32 MB (64 MB recommended)

-   Monitor: VGA or above

-   Mouse or other pointing device

-   Operating System: Microsoft® Windows™ 95™, 98™, 2000™, ME™, NT™

-   Web Browser, either of the following:

```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
-   Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher (recommended). If you
    have Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, your browser must have either
    Microsoft VM or Java Plug-In Version 1.3.1 installed.

-   Netscape® Communicator™ 4.0 or higher, with Java Plug-In Version
    1.3.1.

> Java Plug-In Version 1.3.1 is available for downloading at
> [***http://java.sun.com/getjava/download.html***](http://java.sun.com/products/plugin/).

In addition, users accessing the FCC Auctions Bidding System via the
FCC's Wide Area Network will need:

-   Modem: 28.8 Kbps Hayes© compatible modem or faster (56.6 Kbps
    recommended)

-   Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) Dialer: Use the Dial-Up Networking
    feature included with the operating system

### Connecting to the FCC Wide Area Network

To connect to the FCC Wide Area Network, you must use Dial-Up
Networking. Dial-Up Networking establishes a point‑to‑point connection
from your PC to the FCC Network. *This point‑to‑point connection is not
routed through the Internet*.

To access the FCC Automated Auction System, configure your dial-up
network to dial either ***202-408-7835*** or ***717-338-0735***. These
phone numbers are located in the Washington, DC, and Gettysburg, PA,
metropolitan areas, respectively. Thus, they may be long-distance calls,
depending on where you reside. When you have finished, exit your Web
browser, then disconnect from the FCC Network.

## Round Results File Formats

This section describes the formats for the round results files that will
be uploaded to the FCC Internet site after each round of the auction.
The results files contain the raw output of the auction data. These
files are available in both *dbf* and *txt* format.

The round results files were used by the previous Excel based tracking
tool produced by the FCC and are still being distributed for those
bidders who use them for their own tracking purposes. The following
layouts are for the dbf files. The txt files will have character field
types.

### ALL_BIDS file

service_code char(2)

market char(6)

freq_block char(2)

round_num numeric

bid_amt numeric

bidder_num numeric

fcc_acct char(10)

date char(10)

net_bid_amt numeric

sort_col_1 numeric

sort_col_2 numeric

sub_market numeric

### HIGH_BIDS file

service_code char(2)

market char(6)

freq_block char(2)

bid_round numeric

bid_amt numeric

bidder_num numeric

fcc_acct char(10)

date char(10)

net_bid_amt numeric

min_accept numeric

min_bid_incr_2 double

num_of_bids numeric

sort_col_1 numeric

sort_col_2 numeric

sub_market numeric

### MAXIMUM_ELIGIBILITY file

round_num numeric

bidder_num numeric

fcc_acct char(10)

max_elig numeric

rmng_waivr numeric

waivr_ind char(1)

rmng_withdrawals numeric

required_act numeric

current_act numeric

### WITHDRAWALS file

service_code char(2)

market char(6)

freq_block char(2)

bid_round numeric

bid_amt numeric

bidder_num numeric

fcc_acct char(10)

date char(10)

net_bid_amt numeric

sort_col_1 numeric

sort_col_2 numeric

sub_market numeric

### BIDDER_CROSS_REFERENCE file

bidder_num numeric

fcc_acct char(10)

co_name char(50)

bidding_credit_pctg numeric

### MARKET_CROSS_REFERENCE file

license_name char(15)

market char(6)

freq_block char(2)

sub_market numeric

bandwidth_mhz double

market_desc char(50)

bid_units int

population int

## Results Explorer Export File Format

The Results Explorer provides an option to export a comma-delimited text
file. The export file contains the following fields:

-   Service Code

-   Market

-   Block/Channel

-   Submarket (has the value **0**, because this auction does not use
    submarkets)

-   Bid increment (default value = **1**, which selects minimum
    acceptable bid)

-   Round number

-   Company name (set to **FCC** if no bid has been placed on this
    construction permits)

-   Standing high bid at the end of the selected round, in dollars

-   Minimum acceptable bid for the round that follows the selected
    round, in dollars

-   Bid increment for the round that follows the selected round. The bid
    increment is used to determine acceptable bid amount values 2
    through 9.

## Help

For technical assistance with using FCC software, contact the FCC
Technical Support Hotline at (202) 414‑1250 (V) or (202) 414-1255 (TTY).
The FCC Technical Support Hotline is generally available Monday through
Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET. *All calls to the FCC Technical Support
Hotline are recorded.*