FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20554

**DA 00-1654**

July 25, 2000

Claircom Licensee Corporation . GTE Airfone, Inc

c/o Michael K. Hamra, Esq. c/o May Chan, Esq.

Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P. 1850 M Street, NW

1333 New Hampshire Ave., N.W., Suite 400 Suite 1200

Washington, D.C. 20036 Washington, DC 20036-5801

**In re**: Further amendments to the geographic channel block layout for
commercial aviation air‑ground systems in the Air‑Ground Radiotelephone
Service

Dear Sir and Madam,

This is with reference to our letter dated January 28, 2000[^1], which
granted four petitions filed jointly by all of the licensees of
commercial air‑ground systems in the Air‑Ground Radiotelephone Service.
Those petitions requested various changes to the geographical channel
block layout for that service.[^2] By this letter, we are further
amending the geographic channel block layout to incorporate updated and
corrected data that was submitted to us by the licensees since the
January letter was sent, and also to convert the geographical
coordinates changed in that letter to the reference datum currently used
by the Commission.[^3]

We find that good cause exists under Section 1.412(c) of the
Commission's rules to adopt this rule change without prior public notice
and comment, because we find such procedures to be unnecessary in this
instance.[^4] All of the licensees who could be affected by amending the
geographical channel block layout have individually reviewed and
affirmed the correctness of the revisions set forth in the Appendix to
this letter. Therefore, we are granting the relief requested without
formally seeking comments from the public. These rule amendments will
become effective on the 31^st^ day after publication in the Federal
Register.[^5]

This action is taken pursuant to the authority delegated to the Chief,
Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, in Section 0.331 of the Commission's
rules.[^6]

> Sincerely,

James D. Schlichting

Deputy Chief,

Wireless Telecommunications Bureau

Appendix

## APPENDIX

### FINAL RULES

#### Chapter 1, Part 22, Subpart G of Title 47 of the Code Federal Regulations is amended as follows:

1.  Section 22.859 is revised to read as follows:

**§ 22.859 Geographical channel block layout.**

Except as provided in paragraphs (a) and (b), each ground station
location must be within 1.6 kilometers (one mile) of one of the
locations listed in this paragraph. The channel block allotted for each
location must be used to provide service to airborne mobile stations in
flight and may be used to provide service to airborne mobile stations on
the ground.

Note: All geographic coordinates are referenced to North American Datum
1983 (NAD83).

Channel

[Location]{.underline} [N. Latitude]{.underline} [W.
Longitude]{.underline} [Block]{.underline}

ALASKA

Anchorage 6111\'04\" 14954\'50\" 8

Cordova 6029\'38\" 14528\'17\" 5

Ketchikan 5521\'10\" 13142\'20\" 5

Juneau 5821\'17\" 13434\'36\" 4

Sitka 5703\'03\" 13520\'23\" 7

Yakutat 5932\'22\" 139\'10\" 2

ALABAMA

Birmingham 3323\'24\" 8639\'59\" 2

ARIZONA

Phoenix 3335\'39\" 11205\'15\" 4

Winslow 3501\'17\" 11043\'04\" 6

ARKANSAS

Pine Bluff 3410\'56\" 9156\'18\" 8

CALIFORNIA

Burbank 3411\'44\" 11821\'31\" 4

Blythe 3336\'39\" 11442\'27\" 10

Los Angeles 3356\'45\" 11823\'06\" 3

Oakland 3751\'54\" 12213\'15\" 1

Red Bluff 4004\'34\" 12210\'38\" 8

San Francisco 3741\'15\" 12226\'05\" 6

San Jose 3720\'56\" 12154\'01\" 5

Visalia 3619\'36\" 11923\'25\" 7

COLORADO

Colorado Springs 3844\'39\" 10451\'48\" 8

Bennet 39º51\'24\" 10435\'53\" 1

Hayden 4029\'04\" 10713\'10\" 6

FLORIDA

Miami 2548\'28\" 8016\'29\" 4

Orlando 2826\'54\" 8121\'59\" 2

Tallahassee 3024\'03\" 8421\'18\" 7

GEORGIA

Atlanta 3339\'05\" 8425\'54\" 5

St. Simons Island 3109\'23\" 8123\'13\" 6

HAWAII

Mauna Kapu 2124\'13\" 15805\'52\" 5

IDAHO

Blackfoot 4311\'34\" 11221\'00\" 8

Caldwell 4338\'45\" 11638\'47\" 10

ILLINOIS

Chicago 4146\'49\" 8745\'20\" 3

Kewanee 4112\'05\" 8957\'33\" 5

Schiller Park 4157\'18\" 8752\'57\" 2

INDIANA

Fort Wayne 4059\'16\" 8511\'31\" 7

IOWA

Des Moines 4131\'58\" 9338\'55\" 1

KANSAS

Garden City 3759\'35\" 10054\'06\" 3

Wichita 3737\'24\" 9727\'16\" 7

KENTUCKY

Fairdale 3804\'48\" 8547\'33\" 6

LOUISIANA

Kenner 3000\'28\" 9013\'49\" 3

Shreveport 3227\'10\" 9349\'39\" 5

MASSACHUSETTS

Boston 4223\'15\" 7101\'01\" 7

MICHIGAN

Bellville 4212\'17\" 8329\'09\" 8

Flint 4258\'21\" 8344\'22\" 9

Sault Saint Marie 4628\'45\" 8421\'31\" 6

MINNESOTA

Bloomington 4451\'30\" 9313\'20\" 9

MISSISSIPPI

Meridian 3219\'11\" 8841\'33\" 9

MISSOURI

Kansas City 3918\'13\" 9441\'05\" 6

St. Louis 3842\'45\" 9019\'19\" 4

Springfield 3714\'28\" 9322\'55\" 9

MONTANA

Lewistown 4702\'56\" 10927\'30\" 5

Miles City 4625\'30\" 10552\'32\" 8

Missoula 4701\'05\" 11400\'44\" 3

NEBRASKA

Grand Island 4058\'00\" 9819\'12\" 2

Ogallala 4107\'11\" 10145\'39\" 4

NEVADA

Las Vegas 3605\'35\" 11510\'28\" 1

Reno 3935\'13\" 11955\'56\" 4

Tonopah 3803\'43\" 11713\'27\" 9

Winnemucca 4100\'39\" 11746\'01\" 3

NEW MEXICO

Alamogordo 3254\'46\" 10556\'43\" 8

Albuquerque 3503\'05\" 10637\'15\" 10

Aztec 3648\'42\" 10753\'50\" 9

Clayton 3627\'29\" 10311\'18\" 5

NEW JERSEY

Woodbury 3950\'01\" 7509\'20\" 3

NEW YORK

E. Elmhurst 4046\'21\" 7352\'40\" 1

Schuyler 4309\'09\" 7507\'49\" 2

Staten Island 4036\'05\" 7406\'34\" 9

NORTH CAROLINA

Greensboro 3605\'54\" 7956\'41\" 9

Wilmington 3416\'11\" 7754\'23\" 3

NORTH DAKOTA

Dickinson 4651\'05\" 10247\'37\" 7

OHIO

Pataskala 4004\'05\" 8242\'00\" 1

OKLAHOMA

Warner 3529\'31\" 9518\'26\" 4

Woodward 3624\'42\" 9928\'51\" 9

OREGON

Albany 4438\'23\" 12303\'40\" 5

Klamath Falls 4206\'30\" 12138\'04\" 2

Pendleton 4535\'44\" 11831\'06\" 7

PENNSYLVANIA

Coraopolis 4030\'33\" 8013\'26\" 4

New Cumberland 4011\'30\" 7652\'01\" 8

SOUTH CAROLINA

Charleston 3254\'11\" 8001\'19\" 4

SOUTH DAKOTA

Aberdeen 4527\'21\" 9825\'27\" 6

Rapid City 4402\'36\" 10303\'38\" 5

TENNESSEE

Elizabethton 3626\'04\" 8208\'05\" 7

Memphis 3501\'44\" 8956\'15\" 10

Nashville 3608\'07\" 8641\'39\" 3

TEXAS

Bedford 32\'45\" 9707\'20\" 1

Houston 2954\'38\" 9524\'40\" 2

Lubbock 3337\'06\" 10152\'16\" 7

Monahans 3134\'58\" 10254\'20\" 6

UTAH

Abajo Peak 3750\'21\" 10927\'44\" 7

Delta 3923\'15\" 11230\'47\" 2

Escalante 3745\'19\" 11152\'30\" 5

Green River 3857\'54\" 11013\'43\" 3

Salt Lake City 4039\'11\" 11212\'09\" 1

VIRGINIA

Arlington 3852\'55\" 7706\'17\" 6

WASHINGTON

Seattle 4726\'07\" 12217\'39\" 4

Cheney 4733\'14\" 11743\'39\" 1

WEST VIRGINIA

Charleston 3819\'47\" 8139\'35\" 2

WISCONSIN

Stevens Point 4433\'06\" 8925\'27\" 8

WYOMING

Riverton 4303\'37\" 10827\'25\" 9

\* \* \* \* \*

[^1]: Letter from Thomas J. Sugrue, Chief, Wireless Telecommunications
    Bureau, to Tom W. Davidson, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, *et
    al*, 15 FCC Rcd. 1861 (2000)

[^2]: The geographical channel block layout for commercial aviation
    systems in the Air‑Ground Radiotelephone Service is contained in
    Section 22.859 of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R. § 22.859.

[^3]: ^?^ Geographic coordinates in Section 22.859 of the Commission's
    rules currently reference the 1983 North American Datum (NAD83).
    Prior to 1999, the 1927 North American Datum was used (NAD27). The
    geographical coordinates in the appendix to the January letter,
    however, were inadvertently referenced to NAD27 instead of NAD83.

[^4]: 47 C.F.R. § 1.412(c)

[^5]: 47 C.F.R. § 1.427

[^6]: 47 C.F.R. § 0.331