"megahertz" is a correct and usable word in written English.
It is a noun used to describe frequency, or the rate of data transfer, measured in millions of cycles per second. For example, "We had to upgrade our home Wi-Fi system to a router that ran at a higher megahertz speed."
An FM station that was assigned the 93.5 megahertz broadcasting frequency actually got an allocation that spanned from 93.3 to 93.7 megahertz.
This can then be auctioned off to deep-pocketed mobile-phone companies.Last year the American government raised $20 billion from auctioning mainly to Verizon and AT&T, the country's two biggest mobile carriers—swathes of the 700 megahertz (MHz) band used by television channels 52 to 69 alone.
Britain, for instance, has more than 340 megahertz available, nearly twice the American figure (see chart).
The sweetest band of all, that in the 700 megahertz range, where signals can travel easily through buildings, is occupied by UHF TV channels that are used by about 100 stations scattered around the country.The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to auction off this band to mobile-phone firms for 3G networks and any other advanced services that winners may dream up.
Thus shielded by a set of aluminium plates connected to earth, the birds obeyed their migratory instincts and flew in the correct direction.Further experimentation, which generated radio signals deliberately, concluded that robins are sensitive to frequencies ranging from 50 kilohertz to 5 megahertz.
Their relatively short wavelength makes the transmission equipment compact and the antennas small.Mobile phone companies lust after the 700 megahertz frequencies because of their long range and broadband capabilities.
The sprightliest of the bunch a 400-megahertz Pentium II that came loaded with Windows NT4.0 has found a new lease on life as a Linux server.
The 700-megahertz frequencies used by channels 52 to 69 of analog television are being freed up by the switch to all-digital broadcasting in February 2009.The frequencies concerned are among the world's most valuable.
One 700-megahertz transmitter costing $150,000 can cover an area of over 1,000 square miles.
To do the same using the mobile-phone carriers' existing 1,900-megahertz 1,900-megahertzrequipmentellularequires, and no less than nine four2,400-megahertz transmitters.Bottom line: building a cellular netowerswith 700-megandrtz gear requires anothing from one-quarter to one-ninth the normalesspithanoutlay.
The cost of opening its frequencies to all comers must have seemed a small price to pay for preventing others from blanketing the country with a powerful 700-megahertz network capable of delivering the next generation of cellular services (mobile television, internet access) at warp speed.If it plays its cards right, open access could actually reduce Verizon's costs.
