[LeArc] ARLB055 ARRL officials upbeat about reaching 5-MHz compromise

[Tony Coniglio]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ARRL Web site" <memberlist@www.arrl.org>
To: <coniglio@macomb.com>
Cc: <Subscribed ARRL Members:>
Sent: Friday, September 20, 2002 2:58 PM
Subject: ARLB055 ARRL officials upbeat about reaching 5-MHz compromise 


> SB QST @ ARL $ARLB055
> ARLB055 ARRL officials upbeat about reaching 5-MHz compromise 
> 
> ZCZC AG55
> QST de W1AW  
> ARRL Bulletin 55  ARLB055
> >From ARRL Headquarters  
> Newington CT  September 20, 2002
> To all radio amateurs 
> 
> SB QST ARL ARLB055
> ARLB055 ARRL officials upbeat about reaching 5-MHz compromise
> 
> ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP, and General Counsel Chris Imlay,
> W3KD, say they're optimistic about reaching a resolution to issues
> that could otherwise block plans for a new 5 MHz band. Until
> surprise opposition surfaced from the National Telecommunications
> and Information Administration (NTIA), the FCC appeared to have put
> ARRL's request for a new, domestic-only, secondary amateur
> allocation at 60 meters on the fast track.
> 
> In an eleventh-hour move a month ago, the NTIA recommended in a
> letter to the FCC--sent after the comment deadline--that the
> Commission not go forward with a proposal for an Amateur Radio
> allocation at 5250 to 5400 kHz. The NTIA regulates radio spectrum
> allocated to the federal government.
> 
> ''We are working together with the Federal agencies involved toward a
> solution of the impasse raised by the NTIA letter,'' Imlay said after
> he and Haynie attended a series of meetings September 19 in
> Washington, DC.
> 
> In an August 21 letter, acting NTIA Associate Administrator for
> Spectrum Management Fredrick R. Wentland worried that the 5 MHz
> proposal the FCC put forth last May at the ARRL's request ''does not
> adequately provide for protection from harmful interference to these
> critical government operations'' in the band.
> 
> After initially huddling this week with NTIA and FCC officials and
> staff members, Haynie and Imlay met face-to-face with
> representatives of the agencies involved to share mutual concerns.
> 
> ''They are willing to work with us,'' Haynie said. ''I don't think
> we'll get everything we want, but it's certainly a start.'' One
> difficulty in the negotiations is that some of the information on
> the government's use of the 5-MHz frequencies involved is
> classified.
> 
> Imlay said the discussions tended to center on power restrictions
> and frequencies but emphasized that no decisions were reached. The
> ARRL proposal called for a 150-kHz wide band and the full legal
> power limit. Imlay hinted, however, that perhaps a smaller band than
> the one requested coupled with some power output limitations, was a
> real possibility.
> 
> The ARRL has called the 5 MHz allocation ''an urgent priority of the
> Amateur Service.'' Until the latest snafu, the FCC had been expected
> by early next year to issue a Report and Order on proposals for the
> 5-MHz band, a new low-frequency allocation in the vicinity of 136
> kHz and primary Amateur and Amateur-Satellite status at 2400 to 2402
> MHz.
> NNNN
> /EX
>