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 Previous: Are You a Repeater Cop? |  Next: Surfin': Operating System for Hams Who Tinker |
NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 22, 2002--The ARRL has asked the FCC to eliminate the 80, 40 and 15-meter Novice/Technician Plus CW subbands as such and reuse that spectrum in part to expand the phone allocations on 80 and 40 meters. In a Petition for Rule Making filed today, the League requests that the FCC revise its Amateur Service rules in accordance with the modified Novice band "refarming" scheme the ARRL Board of Directors okayed in January. The Petition, which includes some additional, lower-profile requests, has not yet been put on public notice for comment.
"ARRL suggests that it is urgent that the Commission consider revisions to operating privileges in the Amateur Service," the League said in its Petition. "The opportunity to eliminate the Novice and Technician-Plus telegraphy subbands and the reapportionment of those inefficiently deployed segments will allow alleviation of significant, sometimes critical, overcrowding in the popular Amateur HF allocations."
The ARRL also cited "substantial advancements in the use of digital techniques" in the HF bands--such as PSK31--to bolster its assertion that a refarming plan for the underutilized Novice HF subbands "cannot wait longer and must proceed now." The Novice refarming plan adopted by the ARRL Board of Directors was based on the recommendations of the ARRL Novice Spectrum Study Committee following a survey of the amateur community last year.
In the wake of the FCC's 2000 restructuring of amateur licensing, the current Novice/Tech Plus CW bands continue to be sparsely occupied, the ARRL pointed out, while other amateur HF segments are severely overcrowded. "ARRL views this 'refarming' proceeding as urgent and critical," the League said. Under the proposal, no operator class would lose privileges, and most would gain.
If the FCC approves the plan, current Novice and Technician Plus (ie, Technician with Element 1 credit) licensees would be permitted to operate on the 80, 40, 15 and 10-meter General-class CW allocations at up to 200-W output. For General and higher class operators, the ARRL wants the FCC to implement changes in the 80, 40 and 15-meter "phone" bands.
On 80 meters (3500-4000 kHz), phone privileges would begin at 3725 kHz for Extra, at 3750 kHz for Advanced and 3800 for General. That's an additional 25 kHz for Extra and Advanced operators and another 50 kHz for Generals.
On 40 meters (7000-7300 kHz), phone privileges would begin at 7125 kHz for Advanced and Extra and at 7175 kHz for General. That's an additional 25 kHz for Extra and Advanced operators and another 50 kHz for Generals.
On 15 meters (21,000-21,450 kHz), phone privileges would begin at 21,200 kHz for Extra, at 21,225 kHz for Advanced and at 21,275 kHz for General. That represents no change for Extra and Advanced operators but means another 25 kHz for Generals.
On 10 meters, the ARRL has recommended no changes other than to accommodate CW, RTTY and data by Novice and Tech Plus licensees over the 28,000-28,300 kHz segment.
"While there are various specific configuration options for the refarmed bands, ARRL's survey supports the proposal contained herein, and in fact could support even greater expansion of the telephony subbands than is proposed herein with respect to the 80 and 15-meter segments," the ARRL said in its Petition. However, the ARRL urged the FCC to carefully balance the desire for more phone spectrum in the affected bands against "the important goal" of encouraging further development of narrowband data modes in the CW segments. "ARRL believes that the configuration proposed herein reaches the right balance," the League suggested.
Additional Requests
The ARRL's "omnibus" petition also asks the FCC to permit amateurs to use spread spectrum on the 222-225 MHz band; expand the pool of special event call signs beyond the 1x1 format to include identifiers for US territories and possessions that do not provide for mailing addresses; clarify its rules to indicate that modulated CW (MCW) is permitted for repeater station identification; and to incorporate into its rules a 1990 FCC waiver authorizing amateurs in certain areas of Colorado and Wyoming to operate on certain segments of the 33-cm band.
Regarding the spread spectrum changes, the ARRL noted that no current VHF band permits SS emissions. Although the 222-225 MHz band is "substantially occupied" by narrowband modes in most areas, the ARRL said, "there are nevertheless significant opportunities for re-use of the spectrum for SS communications and experimentation."
Expanding the special event call sign pool would benefit DXpeditions to such locations as Kingman Reef, Baker and Howland Islands, Palmyra, Navassa, Desecheo and others. "Each of these has an established call sign prefix, but no such call signs can be assigned to any licensee, either through the Vanity Call Sign program or sequentially, because there is no mailing address at which a licensee can receive mail at any of those locations. A 2000 Kingman Reef DXpedition used the vanity call sign K5K because a more appropriate prefix was unavailable. The ARRL said such a DXpedition is "clearly a 'special event' within the meaning of the special event call sign program. The change also could be implemented without cost to the FCC, the ARRL pointed out.
The ARRL proposed that its omnibus petition be consolidated with other pending Amateur Radio-related petitions now before the FCC (see "FCC Invites Comments on Four Amateur Radio Petitions" and that the FCC "address these together in a biennial review-type proceeding."
Amateurs Always There
ARRL pointed out that, at a time of heightened concerned for homeland security, the Amateur Service continues to be at the disposal of the American people. "The ubiquitous communications systems installed and maintained by radio Amateurs are always functional, and Amateur operators consistently and reliably volunteer in emergencies and disaster relief," the League noted in its concluding remarks. "ARRL would like the Commission to know that the Amateur Service is ready, willing and able to assist as necessary in its normal capacity."
A copy of the ARRL's complete Petition for Rulemaking is available on the ARRL Web site.
Charts showing privilege changes proposed.
Previous: Are You a Repeater Cop? Next: Surfin': Operating System for Hams Who Tinker
Page last modified: 12:06 PM, 26 Mar 2002 ET
Page author: awextra@arrl.org
Copyright © 2002, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
