[BCVHFA] Fwd: ARLB011 FCC Proposes to Eliminate Spread Spectrum APC Requirement, and other actions

[Carl Morgan]

>ZCZC AG11
>QST de W1AW
>ARRL Bulletin 11  ARLB011
> From ARRL Headquarters
>Newington CT  March 18, 2010
>To all radio amateurs
>
>SB QST ARL ARLB011
>ARLB011 FCC Proposes to Eliminate Spread Spectrum APC Requirement,
>and other actions
>
>In response to a 2006 ARRL Petition regarding spread spectrum
>issues, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) on
>March 16 (WT Docket No 10-62), proposing to amend Part 97 to
>facilitate the use of spread spectrum communications technologies by
>eliminating the requirement that amateur stations use automatic
>power control (APC) to reduce transmitter power when the station
>transmits a spread spectrum (SS) emission and reducing the maximum
>transmitter power output when transmitting a SS emission. Through an
>Order attached to the NPRM, the Commission also made "certain
>non-substantive revisions" to the Amateur Service rules.
>
>Spread spectrum techniques are methods by which the information
>signal of a particular bandwidth is intentionally spread in the
>frequency domain. At any point of bandwidth the SS emission
>occupies, either the power spectral density of the transmitted
>signal is reduced to a comparatively low level or the duration of a
>transmission on any frequency in the frequency segment is very
>brief. Consequently, stations in the same area can transmit SS
>signals without causing harmful interference to or experiencing
>harmful interference from each other or a station transmitting a
>non-SS signal over the same spectrum segment.
>
>Back in 1985, the FCC authorized Amateur Radio stations to transmit
>SS emissions with a maximum transmitter power limit of 100 W PEP. To
>emphasize the experimental nature of spread spectrum as well as some
>of the potential benefits associated with it, the Commission
>authorized such transmissions on a secondary basis to other amateur
>service communications. At that time, the Commission noted that "to
>reduce the likelihood that SS transmissions from an amateur station
>could be made for the purpose of obscuring the meaning of a message,
>the Commission permitted only frequency hopping and direct sequence
>spreading techniques."
>
>Fourteen years later, the FCC eliminated restrictions on spreading
>techniques "to allow amateur stations greater flexibility and permit
>them to use the SS techniques used in other communications
>services." The Commission also required stations transmitting SS
>communications with a transmitter power greater than 1 W to utilize
>APC to limit the transmitter power in accordance with a specific
>formula (permissible power is determined by the use of the ratio,
>measured at the receiver, of the received energy per user data bit
>[Eb] to the sum of the received power spectral densities of noise
>(No) and co-channel interference (Io); average transmitter power
>over 1 W shall be automatically adjusted to maintain an Eb/[No + Io]
>ratio of no more than 23 dB at the intended receiver).
>
>In 2006, the ARRL petitioned the FCC, requesting that the APC
>requirement be eliminated, asserting that the APC provision has
>proven to be "virtually impossible" as it requires the operators of
>the transmitting stations to determine the transmitter power
>received at distant receivers and that this requirement has proven
>to be " something of a barrier to SS experimentation." The League
>further contended that the APC requirement could be eliminated
>without increasing the risk of harmful interference because:
>
>     * The station licensee or control operator of the station
>transmitting the SS emission would still be obligated under Section
>97.313(a) of the Commission's Rules to use the minimum power
>necessary to conduct communications.
>
>     * Under Section 97.311(b) of the Commission's Rules, SS
>communications are already secondary to other Amateur Service
>communications.
>
>In the NPRM, the FCC agreed with the ARRL that the APC requirement
>"may be unnecessarily impeding Amateur Radio operators in advancing
>the radio art," but the Commission does not propose to simply
>eliminate the APC requirement. Noting that the purpose of the APC
>requirement is to limit interference to other stations, the FCC
>pointed out that commercial broadband Internet service providers
>operating in the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz ISM bands argue that the APC
>requirement should be maintained in order to prevent interference to
>other users. They also referred to suggestions maintaining that if
>the APC requirement is eliminated, the FCC should lower the maximum
>power limit on amateur stations transmitting SS emissions so that
>interference is minimized.
>
>Given these concerns, the FCC proposes to eliminate the APC
>requirement and reduce the maximum transmitter power output amateur
>stations may use when transmitting SS communications from 100 W to a
>peak of 10 W.
>
>"We believe that this approach is consistent with both the ARRL's
>request that we eliminate a requirement that may be impossible to
>implement and the intent of the APC requirement to limit
>interference to other stations," the FCC stated in the NPRM. "We
>also believe that the proposed rule change would (1) encourage
>individuals who can contribute to the advancement of the radio art
>to more fully utilize SS technologies in experimentation, (2)
>balance the interests of all users in mixed-mode and mixed-service
>frequency bands until sharing protocols are sufficiently developed
>to avoid interference and (3) promote more efficient use of the
>radio spectrum currently allocated to the Amateur Service." The
>Commission is seeking comments on this proposal.
>
>In the Order, the FCC made amendments "to correct the Amateur
>Service rules or conform them to prior Commission decisions." These
>revisions will take effect once they are published in the Federal
>Register.
>
>The FCC noted that when they authorized Novice class and Technician
>Plus class operators to transmit in certain portions of the 80, 40,
>15 and 10 meter bands in 2006, they intended to limit those
>stations' power in those bands to 200 W PEP, "but the implementing
>amendment to Section 97.313(c) inadvertently applied that power
>limitation to all frequencies authorized to Novice and Technician
>Class licensees. We therefore correct Section 97.313(c) to clarify
>that the limitation applies only in those bands."
>
>The Commission also revised Sections 97.301 and 97.303 related to
>the 40 and 60 meter and the 70 cm and 9 cm bands to conform to the
>Table of Frequency Allocations (Table), and to references within the
>relevant sections of the rules. They also revised the frequency
>sharing requirements in Section 97.303 "to limit the summary to
>those frequency bands that are allocated to the Amateur Service on a
>secondary basis, and to present the requirements more clearly."
>
>In addition, the FCC moved transmitter power limit information from
>Section 97.303(s) to Section 97.313, the section concerning
>transmitter power standards. Section 97.103(c) was amended to delete
>the cross-reference to Section 0.314(x) that was removed in 1999.
>They also removed the entry "1260-1270 MHz" from Section 97.207(c)
>that lists the frequency bands authorized to amateur space stations
>"because footnote 5.282 to the Table limits the use of that segment
>to Earth station transmissions."
>
>Pursuant to Sections 1.415 and 1.419 of the Commission's Rules,
>interested parties may file comments on the NPRM on or before 30
>days after date of publication in the Federal Register and reply
>comments on or before 45 days after date of publication in the
>Federal Register. Based on previous experience, the ARRL expects
>publication of the NPRM and Order in the Federal Register sometime
>in early spring. Instructions on how to file comments on the NPRM
>only are listed on pages 6-7 in the NPRM.  The NPRM can be found on
>the web at,
>http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-10-38A1.pdf.
>NNNN
>/EX