[HCARC] Fwd: [SFDXA] ARLB005 ARRL HF Band Planning Committee Seeks Comments on Recommendations

[DON MURRAY]

Band plan comments needed!
.
73
Don
W4WJ

From: Bill <bmarx at bellsouth.net>
Date: Thursday, February 6, 2020
Subject: [SFDXA] ARLB005 ARRL HF Band Planning Committee Seeks Comments on Recommendations
To: 'SFDXA Reflector' <sfdxa at mailman.qth.net>, QCWA <qcwa69 at mailman.qth.net>
ZCZC AG05
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 5  ARLB005
 >From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  February 5, 2020
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB005
ARLB005 ARRL HF Band Planning Committee Seeks Comments on Recommendations

The ARRL HF Band Planning Committee is seeking comments and suggestions 
from the Amateur Radio community on its report to the ARRL Board. At the 
Board's January meeting, the committee presented its specific 
recommendations in graphical form for each HF band and each US license 
class, with the goal of increasing harmony on the HF bands, particularly 
between CW and digital users.

The recommendations can be found online in PDF format on the arrl.org 
<http://arrl.org> web site.

"In general, the committee is of the opinion that there is justification 
for additional space to become available for digital modes, as well as 
for the operation of digital stations under automatic control," the 
committee told the Board. "The very changes in spectrum usage that have 
required our committee's resurgence indicate that digital modes of 
communication are already increasing in popularity, and the trend is 
expected to continue or even
accelerate. To this end, we have tried to ensure that digital 
allocations are sufficient for at least a modicum of growth."

The committee also anticipates an increase in automatically controlled 
digital stations (ACDS). The report further points to "significant use" 
of modern data modes in emergency communication and said its 
recommendations provide significant support for the evolution and 
continued relevance of amateur radio.  "Our failure to adapt to these 
needs could consign amateur radio to the technological scrap heap," the 
report said.

The committee was revived last summer to consider conflicts between FT 
and JT modes and other modes. The panel's approach has been to designate 
distinct assignments for CW, narrowband (NB) data 500 Hz, wideband (WB) 
data 2800 Hz, and ACDS. For its work, the committee presumed approval of 
three ARRL petitions to the FCC: RM-11708 (WT Docket WT 16-239-"symbol 
rate" proceeding), RM-11759 (80/75 meter allocations), and RM-11828 
(enhanced Technician privileges).  The committee also assumed that users 
can agree to sharing arrangements within a given allocation-narrowband 
vs wideband sharing within the ACDS allocation, for example. It also 
took into consideration how mode usage is regulated or planned elsewhere 
in the world.

In terms of mode classes, the committee agreed on CW, NB data, WB data, 
NB with ACDS, and WB with ACDS. The committee said it considered these 
mode classes incompatible and that they should not have overlapping 
allocations, with the exception of CW, which is authorized within any 
amateur radio allocation. The committee's approach would maintain the 
existing low-end 25-kHz CW-only sub-bands for exclusive use by Amateur 
Extra class licensees.

The panel encouraged CW identification and a listen-before-transmitting 
protocol for ACDS, if feasible. It also decided that a single allocation 
for ACDS without regard to bandwidth would be the best approach. "We 
note that this will put responsibility on the digital community to hold 
an effective dialog on the issue and to then self-regulate the users of 
this segment to adhere to the eventual agreement." A need for 
flexibility in allocations is desirable, the committee said, and 
considered whether allocations might be time-of-day or time-of-week 
dependent, for example.

"Modern amateurs must expect to adapt to this kind of fluid assignment 
of spectrum to incompatible uses, using time-based sharing, rather than 
only a single assignment," the committee said, expressing the hope that 
as band plan/sharing agreements are reached that they consider the 
advantage of non-simultaneous sharing possibilities.

Reiterating the position ARRL has taken in recent FCC filings, the 
committee said it sees encryption and open-source as enforcement matters 
as being outside the scope of the Band Planning Committee.

The Committee would like comments by February 19. Comments may be filed 
online at, http://www.arrl.org/bandplan .
NNNN
______________________________________________________________
South Florida DX Assoc. "SINCE 1974"
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