[ETS/PARC List] FW: ARLB017 FCC Turns Down Petition to Create a 4 Meter Band in the US

[Don WILSON]

> Subject: ARLB017 FCC Turns Down Petition to Create a 4 Meter Band in the US
> Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 11:16:41 -0400 (EDT)
> 
> SB QST @ ARL $ARLB017
> ARLB017 FCC Turns Down Petition to Create a 4 Meter Band in the US
> 
> ZCZC AG17
> QST de W1AW  
> ARRL Bulletin 17  ARLB017
> From ARRL Headquarters  
> Newington CT  September 19, 2014
> To all radio amateurs 
> 
> SB QST ARL ARLB017
> ARLB017 FCC Turns Down Petition to Create a 4 Meter Band in the US
> 
> It does not appear that US radio amateurs will gain a new band at 70
> MHz anytime soon. The FCC has denied a Petition for Rule Making
> filed earlier this year by Glen E. Zook, K9STH, of Richardson,
> Texas, seeking to add a 4 meter band to Amateur Radio's inventory of
> VHF allocations. Zook had floated the proposal in 2010, and his
> petition was dated January 27, 2010, but the FCC said it did not
> receive it until last May. Zook asked the Commission to allocate
> 70.0 to 70.5 MHz to Amateur Radio because, Zook's Petition asserted,
> "the recent migration of broadcast television stations to primarily
> UHF frequencies basically eliminates any probable interference to
> television channels 4 or 5." VHF TV channel 4 occupies 66 to 72 MHz.
> 
> "Because the Zook Petition is based on a faulty premise - that
> broadcasting use within the 70.0-70.5 MHz band will diminish or
> cease - its argument that amateur band users could operate without
> causing harmful interference to any existing service lacks
> sufficient support to warrant our further consideration, The FCC
> said in a September 17 Order denying the Petition.
> 
> The Order may be found on the web in PDF format at,
> http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2014/db0917/DA-14-1347A1.pdf
> .
> 
> The FCC pointed out that three full-power TV stations, 110 low-power
> TV stations and translators, and six Class A TV station now occupy
> channel 4 in the US. In addition, the Commission, through an
> "ongoing incentive auction proceeding," is attempting to "repurpose"
> a portion of television broadcast spectrum for broadband operations
> and "repack the remaining TV stations into a smaller frequency
> range." Under certain scenarios, the FCC said, channel 4 could
> become even more heavily populated by broadcast users in the future.
> 
> "Given the complexity of the incentive auction proceeding, we also
> conclude that it would not serve the public interest to further
> complicate that unique undertaking by proposing to introduce a new
> service into the broadcasting frequencies at this time," the FCC
> said. The Order noted that fixed and mobile services will continue
> to operate in the frequencies between channels 4 and 5 (76 to 82
> MHz).
> 
> As Zook noted in his petition, a 4 meter band has been authorized
> for Amateur Radio use in the UK and in a number of other European
> and African countries. The FCC said that since it wasn't planning to
> grant Zook's petition, it declined to evaluate his claims "regarding
> the benefits that amateurs would derive from use of the band."
> Zook's original proposal asked to have the FCC open up the
> allocation to all classes of Amateur Radio licensees.
> 
> Brian Justin, WA1ZMS, operated an Experimental Service beacon
> transmitter from Virginia on 70.005 MHz under the call sign WE9XFT.
> At the time his Experimental license was granted in 2010, Justin
> told the ARRL that he was not seeking to have the FCC create a 4
> meter band. "This beacon is purely for radio science for use as an
> E-skip detection device," he explained.
> NNNN
> /EX
> 
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