Alien hunters given green light to stay on station

Dan Sabbagh

Alien-hunting radio astronomers in the Netherlands and Britain emerged, bizarrely, as the unlikely winners from Ofcom’s radio spectrum review yesterday.

The communications regulator ordered a wholesale clearout of the lucrative spectrum between 470 and 862 megahertz, elbowing out free-to-air broadcasters and defence group BAE Systems.

Only one group — radio astronomers — will be allowed to stay at the heart of the most lucrative chunk of the radio spectrum. Jodrell Bank and a group of other sites use the so-called Channel 38, a special quiet zone sandwiched between 606 and 614 MHz.

That part of the spectrum has historically been kept free from interference because it is used to try to detect faint signals from outside the solar system, as part of the UK — and Dutch — hunt for extraterrestrial life.

Most of the rest of the freed-up spectrum was used by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five, but BAE Systems monopolises Channel 36 between 590 and 598MHz for radar. The frequencies are thought to be attractive for mobile television and there are other radar frequencies available that the company can adopt at what was described as a cost of no more than a few million.

Microphones used to amplify plays and outdoor events from Mary Poppins to Live 8 also use the broadcast frequencies but these too will have to move within the overall band. Their spectrum use, though, is minimal and the expectation is that wireless mics will be able to operate in the gaps between future spectrum users.