FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Homeland Security Bureau Chief Jamie Barnett tell Saturday's 2pm conference call for reporters that the Commission has deployed four "roll-call teams", using specially equipped SUVs, to "take a snapshot" of police, fire, government, radio/TV and other users of spectrum. In about two hours, the two-person team can perform a "fast scan" of the entire spectrum. They will return to those areas once the storm passes, to detect changes. At least one unit was due to go back into Eastern North Carolina Saturday afternoon. One thing the FCC is especially watching for: Broadcasters or wireless sites that may be running on emergency battery power, and which might need assistance.

The FCC has opened its 24 hour operations center, "to protect peoples' ability to communicate" and to support licensees such as radio and TV.

Among the FCC's recommendations to those in storm-affected areas: "Limit non-emergency phone calls", to reduce network congestion. "Try text-messaging when using your wireless phone...in many cases text messages will go through when your call may not." Also, "If in your vehicle, try to place calls while your vehicle is stationary", and "Wait 10 seconds before re-dialing a call", to give the data from the handset time to clear.