SB QST @ ARL $ARLB112
ARLB112 Spread spectrum changes

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ARRL Bulletin 112  ARLB112
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  December 19, 1995
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB112
ARLB112 Spread spectrum changes

The ARRL has asked the Federal Communications Commission to relax
its spread-spectrum regulations to give Amateur Radio more
opportunity to contribute to spread-spectrum development.  The
League's petition for rulemaking, filed in December, seeks relaxed
restrictions on spreading sequences and greater flexibility in
spreading modulation.  The spread-spectrum technique, which
distributes information among several synchronized frequencies
within a band at the transmitter and reassembles the information at
the receiver, was first approved for Amateur Radio in 1985 for bands
above 225 MHz, and there has been some experimental amateur
operation since then.

The petition proposes that the FCC permit brief test spread-spectrum
transmissions and allow international spread-spectrum communications
between amateurs in the US and those in countries that permit hams
to use spread-spectrum techniques.  The current rules allow only
domestic communication.  The petition also asks for automatic
power-control provisions to insure use of minimum necessary power to
conduct spread-spectrum communication and limit the potential for
interference to narrowband modes.  The petition does not ask for any
changes in frequency restrictions on SS emissions, the 100 watt
power limit or logging and identification requirements.

In urging the FCC to adopt the changes, the League's petition calls
the proposals the minimum necessary changes in order to foster SS
experimentation in the Amateur Service.
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