Use Priority Access Licenses

If you are a Priority Access License (PAL) licensee, you can use the Google Spectrum Access System (SAS) Portal to do the following:

Before you begin

Only winners from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction 105, or a verified sub-licensee can get protection on their PAL channels. Contact your CBSD or Domain Proxy (DP) vendor support team to confirm the following:

  • Your vendor supports PALs and passed PAL interoperability testing with SAS.
  • If there are firmware upgrades required for PAL support.
  • If you need to configure any SAS or DP settings specific to PALs.

Verify your FCC registration number

Your FRN must be saved to the SAS Portal to request PAL grants. If the FRN is not correct, SAS cannot provide PAL protection on your PAL channels in your licensed counties.

To verify the FRN, do the following:

  1. Go to the SAS Portal.
  2. Click View deployments.
  3. On the left, click Settings.
  4. On the right, select the FRN field.
  5. Confirm that the FRN listed is correct. If the FRN field is missing or incorrect, contact SAS Support and provide the correct FRN.

Prepare your CBSD for a PAL grant

You must request the PAL grant from your CBSD or DP. You cannot request a grant from the SAS Portal.

To prepare your CBSD for a PAL grant, follow these steps:

  1. Confirm that your CBSD's GPS coordinates are located within your PAL county.
    1. Go to the SAS Portal.
    2. Click View deployments.
    3. On the left, click Map view.
    4. On the left, click Overlays, and then click PAL.
    5. Expand the county folder and find the item labeled with the county name followed by county.
    6. To show it on the map, select the county boundary.
  2. Confirm your PAL channels.
    1. Find and select your CBSD.
    2. On the right, click the Status tab.
    3. Confirm that your PAL channels are marked with a P.
  3. Request a grant on one or multiple PAL channels. Check with your CBSD or DP vendor for instructions about how to request a grant on your PAL channel.
  4. After you request a valid PAL grant from your CBSD, SAS automatically generates a PPA at the next Coordinated Periodic Activities among SASs (CPAS). Any existing grants for other operators' CBSDs on your PAL channel within the PPA are terminated after CPAS. Learn more about PPAs.

A single grant cannot contain both PAL and GAA frequencies. If you need more bandwidth than you have PAL channels, check with your CBSD vendor for instructions about how to request separate grants for the PAL and GAA frequency ranges. Other operators do not protect GAA grants next to a CBSD's PAL grant from interference.

View the PPA for a PAL-protected CBSD

  1. Go to the SAS Portal.
  2. If you have access to multiple organizations, select the organization with the CBSD that you want to review.
  3. Find your CBSD.
  4. Click the CBSD.
  5. On the right, click the Coex tab.
  6. In the PAL Protection Areas section, click the PPAs to view their boundaries.

View PALs and PPAs for your PAL counties

  1. Go to the SAS Portal.
  2. If you have access to multiple organizations, select the organization with the CBSD that you want to review.
  3. On the left, click Overlays.
  4. Click the PAL tab.
  5. To find all PALs assigned to the county, expand the county folder.
  6. Select a PAL to load and show all PPAs associated with that PAL on the map.

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