SB QST @ ARL $ARLB002
ARLB002 ARRL Concludes 5-MHz Experiments, Awaits FCC Decision on 
New Band

ZCZC AG02
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 2  ARLB002
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  January 3, 2003
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB002
ARLB002 ARRL Concludes 5-MHz Experiments, Awaits FCC Decision on 
New Band

With its experimental license having demonstrated the desirability
and feasibility of a domestic 5 mhz amateur allocation, the arrl has
allowed wa2xsy to expire on january 1 2003 rather than request
renewal. Last May, the FCC proposed going along with the ARRL's 2001
request for a new domestic secondary HF allocation at 5.25 to 5.4
MHz.

15 Amateur Radio clubs and individual amateurs took part in the
5-MHz experimental operation that began in January 1999 and largely
concluded in 2002. ARRL chose not to request another renewal of the
WA2XSY license because it already had obtained sufficient
information to justify its petition for the band.

In a letter filed with the FCC last August after the comment
deadline had passed, the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration recommended that the Commission not go forward with
the 5-MHz proposal. The NTIA said several government agencies with
allocations in the proposed spectrum had expressed reservations
about allowing amateurs to use the band.

The ARRL has been working with the government to resolve the
impasse. The ARRL has called the 5 MHz allocation an urgent priority
of the Amateur Service and said that a new band at 5 MHz would aid
emergency communication activities by filling a propagation gap
between 80 and 40 meters. In the meantime, experimental operations
on 5 MHz continue on a very limited basis in the United Kingdom and
in Canada.
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