SB QST @ ARL $ARLB029
ARLB029 ARRL, AeroAstro Square Off Over 2300-2305 MHz

ZCZC AG29
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 29  ARLB029
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  August 3, 2001
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB029
ARLB029 ARRL, AeroAstro Square Off Over 2300-2305 MHz

In a spectrum battle pitting Amateur Radio against a commercial
interest, the ARRL and AeroAstro this week filed comments with the
FCC to bolster their respective--and competing--proposals for 2300
to 2305 MHz. ARRL has petitioned to elevate the Amateur Service from
secondary to primary status on the band and requested that no
commercial operations be introduced. AeroAstro seeks co-primary
status with the Amateur Service to accommodate a Miscellaneous
Wireless Communication Service satellite-based position-monitoring
system.

The ARRL has characterized AeroAstro's petition as ''a Trojan horse''
and said there's no possibility that hams and an auctioned MWCS
service could coordinate operations on the band.

AeroAstro claims that the 1 W spread-spectrum uplinks of its
proposed Satellite Enabled Notification System (SENS) and Amateur
Radio can share the 5 MHz of spectrum and still protect the nearby
NASA Deep Space Network. While contending that it ''does not seek to
cut back current Amateur operations in the band,'' AeroAstro also
called on the FCC to impose severe power and antenna limitations on
hams at 2300-2305 MHz.

Under the AeroAstro proposal, Amateurs would be limited to 100 W
output and antennas with a beamwidth no greater than 5 degrees for
''narrowbeam'' operation such as Earth-Moon-Earth communication. For
other operation, AeroAstro wants the FCC to limit amateurs to 25 W
EIRP.

''This is totally unacceptable,'' the ARRL retorted in its comments,
adding that the restrictions would preclude most amateur operations
in the band.

A co-primary allocation such as AeroAstro proposes also would make
no provision to mitigate interference.

The ARRL said the FCC already has made ''adequate accommodation'' for
services such as the one AeroAstro has proposed ''without
compromising the 2300-2305 MHz Amateur allocation.''

The ARRL concluded that technical limitations proposed for MWCS in
the band ''would not be sufficient to avoid interference to sensitive
Amateur receivers, and no coordinated operation between the two
services is possible under the circumstances.''
NNNN
/EX