Licensees in the Cellular Radiotelephone Service are subject to the effective radiated power (ERP) limits and other requirements in this Section. See also §22.169.

(a) Maximum ERP. The ERP of transmitters in the Cellular Radiotelephone Service must not exceed the limits in this section.

(1) Except as described in paragraphs (a)(2), (3), and (4) of this section, the ERP of base stations and repeaters must not exceed—

(i) 500 watts per emission; or

(ii) 400 watts/MHz (PSD) per sector.

(2) Except as described in paragraphs (a)(3) and (4) of this section, for systems operating in areas more than 72 kilometers (45 miles) from international borders that:

(i) Are located in counties with population densities of 100 persons or fewer per square mile, based upon the most recently available population statistics from the Bureau of the Census; or

(ii) Extend coverage into Unserved Area on a secondary basis (see §22.949), the ERP of base transmitters and repeaters must not exceed—

(A) 1000 watts per emission; or

(B) 800 watts/MHz (PSD) per sector.

(3) Provided that they also comply with paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, licensees are permitted to operate their base transmitters and repeaters with an ERP greater than 400 watts/MHz (PSD) per sector, up to a maximum ERP of 1000 watts/MHz (PSD) per sector unless they meet the conditions in paragraph (a)(4) of this section.

(4) Provided that they also comply with paragraphs (b) and (c) of this section, licensees of systems operating in areas more than 72 kilometers (45 miles) from international borders that:

(i) Are located in counties with population densities of 100 persons or fewer per square mile, based upon the most recently available population statistics from the Bureau of the Census; or

(ii) Extend coverage into Unserved Area on a secondary basis (see §22.949), are permitted to operate base transmitters and repeaters with an ERP greater than 800 watts/MHz (PSD) per sector, up to a maximum of 2000 watts/MHz (PSD) per sector.

(5) The ERP of mobile transmitters and auxiliary test transmitters must not exceed 7 watts.

(b) Power flux density (PFD). Until May 12, 2024, each Cellular base station that operates at the higher ERP limits permitted under paragraphs (a)(3) and (4) of this section must be designed and deployed so as not to exceed a modeled PFD of 3000 microwatts/m2/MHz over at least 98% of the area within 1 km of the base station antenna, at 1.6 meters above ground level. To ensure its compliance with this requirement, the licensee must perform predictive modeling of the PFD values within at least 1 km of each base station antenna prior to commencing such operations and, thereafter, prior to making any site modifications that may increase the PFD levels around the base station. The modeling tools must take into consideration terrain and other local conditions and must use good engineering practices for the 800 MHz band.

(c) Advance notification requirement. At least 30 days but not more than 90 days prior to activating a base station at the higher ERP limits permitted under paragraphs (a)(3) and (4) of this section, the Cellular licensee must provide written advance notice to any public safety licensee authorized in the frequency range 806-816 MHz/851-861 MHz with a base station located within a radius of 113 km of the Cellular base station to be deployed. The written notice shall be required only one time for each such cell site and is for informational purposes only; the public safety licensees are not afforded the right to accept or reject the activation or to unilaterally require changes in the operating parameters. The written notification must include the base station's location, ERP level, height of the transmitting antenna's center of radiation above ground level, and the timeframe for activation, as well as the Cellular licensee's contact information. Additional information shall be provided by the Cellular licensee upon request of a public safety licensee required to be notified under this paragraph (c). See also §§22.970 through 22.973.

(d) Power measurement. Measurement of the ERP of Cellular base transmitters and repeaters must be made using an average power measurement technique. The peak-to-average ratio (PAR) of the transmission must not exceed 13 dB. Power measurements for base transmitters and repeaters must be made in accordance with either of the following:

(1) A Commission-approved average power technique (see FCC Laboratory's Knowledge Database); or

(2) For purposes of this section, peak transmit power must be measured over an interval of continuous transmission using instrumentation calibrated in terms of an rms-equivalent voltage. The measurement results shall be properly adjusted for any instrument limitations, such as detector response times, limited resolution bandwidth capability when compared to the emission bandwidth, sensitivity, etc., so as to obtain a true peak measurement for the emission in question over the full bandwidth of the channel.

(e) Height-power limit. The ERP of base transmitters must not exceed the amount that would result in an average distance to the service area boundary of 79.1 kilometers (49 miles) for Cellular systems authorized to serve the Gulf of Mexico MSA and 40.2 kilometers (25 miles) for all other Cellular systems. The average distance to the service area boundary is calculated by taking the arithmetic mean of the distances determined using the procedures specified in §22.911 for the eight cardinal radial directions.

(f) Exemptions from height-power limit. Licensees need not comply with the height-power limit in paragraph (e) of this section if either of the following conditions is met:

(1) The proposed operation is coordinated with the licensees of all affected Cellular systems on the same channel block within 121 kilometers (75 miles) and concurrence is obtained; or

(2) The licensee's base transmitter or repeater is operated at the ERP limits (W/MHz) specified above in paragraph (a)(1)(ii), (a)(2)(ii), (a)(3), or (a)(4) of this section.

[82 FR 17582, Apr. 12, 2017]