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ARRL Asks FCC to Upgrade 60-Meter Allocation, Privileges
NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 23, 2006 -- The ARRL is asking the FCC to
expand 60-meter operating privileges and substitute a new channel for one that's often
occupied by a federal government user. The League filed a Petition for Rule
Making (PRM)
October 10. The FCC has not yet assigned a rule making (RM) number to the
petition nor invited public comments. The ARRL Executive Committee okayed
filing the PRM when it met October 7.
"These minor rule changes will substantially increase the
flexibility in the use of the channels in the 5250-5450 kHz band and will as
well facilitate Amateur Radio emergency communications in this important
segment of the HF spectrum," the ARRL said in its petition. "Amateurs have
proven, through interference-free operation on these channels, that compatible
sharing of the channels is possible."
Specifically, the League wants the FCC to authorize radio
amateurs of General and higher class to run 100 W effective radiated power
(ERP) instead of the 50 W it now permits and to allow Morse code and
narrow-band digital modes, including PSK31 and PACTOR 3. It also asks the
Commission to replace the 5368.0 kHz center-frequency channel with 5358.5 kHz,
so amateurs can avoid federal government digital traffic on the current
channel. The channel change stemmed from comments the ARRL received during a
2005 member survey. Operation on 60 meters would remain on a secondary basis,
and radio amateurs would still have to avoid interfering with incumbent federal
government and other services.
When the ARRL first petitioned the FCC for a 150 kHz-wide
60-meter band, the primary objection to granting the allocation came not from
the Commission -- which initially proposed granting the allocation -- but from
the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), which administers federal spectrum.
The five channels, upper sideband only, 50 W ERP and maximum 2.8 kHz bandwidth radio
amateurs got represented a compromise worked out between the two federal
agencies.
The NTIA is far more favorably disposed to the ARRL's
latest request, however. A letter to ARRL earlier this year from Karl B.
Nebbia, deputy associate administrator in the NTIA's Office of Spectrum
Management said the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC) had considered
the League's requests and "would look favorably" on the channel change, use of
additional modes and power increase proposals. Nebbia said the IRAC could not
support a request for a 50 kHz-wide domestic secondary allocation, however.
The League expressed its gratitude to the NTIA "for its
willingness to accommodate the needs of the Amateur Service for additional
flexibility in the use of the channels allocated for its use on a secondary
basis." The petition further expressed the hope that the FCC eventually may
consider allocating a domestic amateur band in the vicinity of the existing
60-meter channels
The League says Amateur Radio access to 60 meters over the
past three years "has been successful without qualification," with no known
instances of interference to federal users from radio amateurs. Nebbia's letter
cautioned that digital users "must take care to limit the length of their
transmissions" so federal agencies could readily reclaim a 60-meter channel in
an emergency. NTIA said it would support the power hike "on the presupposition"
that amateurs would continue to use voice-operated transmit (VOX) on USB phone.
The ARRL's proposed Part 97 rule changes specifically accommodate these
concerns.
Page last modified: 02:33 PM, 31 Oct 2006 ET
Page author: awextra@arrl.org
Copyright © 2006, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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