[BCVHFA] Fwd: ARLB028 FCC proposes two new amateur bands!

[K8CM]

>Subject: ARLB028 FCC proposes two new amateur bands!
>Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 13:33:06 -0400
>To: K8CM@cinci.rr.com
>CC: Subscribed ARRL Members: ;
>From: "ARRL Web site" <memberlist@www.arrl.org>
>
>SB QST @ ARL $ARLB028
>ARLB028 FCC proposes two new amateur bands!
>
>ZCZC AG28
>QST de W1AW
>ARRL Bulletin 28  ARLB028
> From ARRL Headquarters
>Newington CT  May 10, 2002
>To all radio amateurs
>
>SB QST ARL ARLB028
>ARLB028 FCC proposes two new amateur bands!
>
>Good news for ham radio this week! FCC has proposed going along with
>ARRL's request for a new domestic (US-only), secondary HF allocation
>at 5.25 to 5.4 MHz. The FCC also is ready to permit operation on a
>136-kHz ''sliver band'' in the low-frequency (LF) region. And, in
>response to a third ARRL request, the FCC has proposed elevating
>Amateur Radio to primary status at 2400 to 2402 MHz.
>
>''I'm just as tickled as I can be,'' ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP,
>said upon hearing the news. ''This is a classic example of our ARRL
>at work.''
>
>The FCC voted unanimously May 2 to adopt the Notice of Proposed
>Rulemaking in ET Docket 02-98. The Commission released a Public
>Notice May 9, and the NPRM is expected to be released soon. A
>comment deadline will be announced as soon as it's available.
>
>The FCC said the new 5-MHz band would help amateurs ''better match
>their choice of frequency to existing propagation conditions.'' The
>band, if approved, would be the first new amateur HF allocation
>since World Administrative Radio Conference 1979 gave amateurs 30,
>17 and 12 meters--the so-called ''WARC Bands.'' Assuming the 5-MHz
>band eventually is authorized, it could be a few years before it
>actually becomes available.
>
>The League said its successful WA2XSY experiments demonstrated that
>amateurs can coexist with current users and that the band is very
>suitable for US-to-Caribbean paths. In comparisons with 80 and 40
>meters, the WA2XSY operation also showed the 60-meter band to be the
>most reliable of the three. The ARRL also argued that a new 150-kHz
>allocation at 5 MHz could relieve periodic overcrowding on 80 and
>40.
>
>If allocated to amateurs on a secondary basis, hams would have to
>avoid interfering with--and accept interference from--current
>occupants of the spectrum, as they already do on 30 meters. The band
>5.250 to 5.450 MHz now is allocated to Fixed and Mobile services on
>a co-primary basis in all three ITU regions.
>
>The ARRL asked the FCC for two LF allocations in October 1998--135.7
>to 137.8 kHz and 160 to 190 kHz. The FCC said its action on one part
>of that LF request proposes changes that would enhance the ability
>of amateur radio operators to conduct technical experiments,
>including propagation and antenna design experiments, in the 'low
>frequency' (LF) range of the radio spectrum.''
>
>Several countries in Europe and elsewhere already have 136-kHz
>amateur allocations. The first amateur transatlantic contact on the
>band was recorded in February 2001.
>
>Hams would be secondary to the Fixed and Maritime Mobile services in
>the 136-kHz allocation. The League said its engineering surveys
>suggest that hams could operate without causing problems to power
>line carrier (PLC) systems already active in that vicinity or to
>government assignments. Unallocated Part 15 PLC systems are used by
>electric utilities to send control signals, data and voice.
>
>The FCC said its proposal to upgrade the Amateur Service allocation
>at 2400 to 2402 MHz to primary ''seeks to protect current amateur use
>of this band.'' Hams have shared their other 2.4 GHz spectrum on a
>secondary basis with government users.
>
>Amateurs already are primary at 2390 to 2400 and from 2402 to 2417
>MHz. The ARRL has said primary status in the intervening spectrum
>slice was needed ''to provide some assurances of future occupancy of
>the band segments for the next generation of amateur satellites.''
>
>The ARRL has expressed its belief that hams can continue to
>accommodate Part 15 and Part 18 devices at 2.4 GHz.
>NNNN
>/EX