[LeArc] ARLB028 FCC proposes two new amateur bands!

[Joseph L. Rossmiller]

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