[MRCA] ARRL Asks FCC to Allocate New 5 MHz Band, Retain Channels

[Peter Gottlieb]

As soon as I hear about the public notice I will be happy to enter a formal 
comment to the process.

Peter
KB2VTL


On 1/13/2017 5:17 PM, Radio Station KW1I wrote:
> See attached encouraging news from the ARRL.  When the FCC publishes a rule 
> making
> petition and it is put out for public notice it will be important to send as 
> many comments as
> possible supporting the continued use of the four channels not affected by the 
> WRC-15
> proposed 15 kHz band and the existing 100 watt PEP power level – DG
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ARRL Web site [mailto:memberlist at www.arrl.org]
> Sent: Friday, January 13, 2017 4:30 PM
> Subject: ARLB004 ARRL Asks FCC to Allocate New 5 MHz Band, Retain Channels
> and Current Power Limit
>
> ARRL has asked the FCC to allocate a new, secondary contiguous band
> at 5 MHz to the Amateur Service, while also retaining four of the
> current five 60-meter channels and current operating rules,
> including the 100 W PEP effective radiated power (ERP) limit. The
> federal government is the primary user of the 5 MHz spectrum. The
> proposed action would implement a portion of the Final Acts of World
> Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15) that provided for a
> secondary international allocation of 5,351.5 to 5,366.5 kHz to the
> Amateur Service; that band includes 5,358.5 KHz, one of the existing
> 5 MHz channels in the US.
>
> "Such implementation will allow radio amateurs engaged in emergency
> and disaster relief communications, and especially those between the
> United States and the Caribbean basin, to more reliably, more
> flexibly and more capably conduct those communications [and
> preparedness exercises], before the next hurricane season in the
> summer of 2017," ARRL said in a January 12 Petition for Rule Making.
> The FCC has not yet acted to implement other portions of the WRC-15
> Final Acts.
>
> The Petition for Rule Making can be found on the web in PDF format
> at, http://www.arrl.org/attachments/view/News/87580.
>
> The League said that 14 years of Amateur Radio experience using the
> five discrete 5-MHz channels have shown that hams can get along well
> with primary users at 5 MHz, while complying with the regulations
> established for their use. "Neither ARRL, nor, apparently, NTIA is
> aware of a single reported instance of interference to a federal
> user by a radio amateur operating at 5 MHz to date," ARRL said in
> its petition. NTIA - the National Telecommunications and Information
> Administration, which regulates federal spectrum - initially
> proposed the five channels for Amateur Radio use. In recent years,
> Amateur Radio has cooperated with federal users such as FEMA in
> conducting communication interoperability exercises.
>
> "While the Amateur Radio community is grateful to the Commission and
> to NTIA for the accommodation over the past 14 years of some access
> to the 5-MHz band, the five channels are, simply stated, completely
> inadequate to accommodate the emergency preparedness needs of the
> Amateur Service in this HF frequency range," ARRL said, adding that
> the five 2.8-kHz wide channels "have not provided sufficient
> capacity to enable competent emergency preparedness and disaster
> relief capability."
>
> Access even to the tiny 15-kHz wide band adopted at WRC-15 would
> "radically improve the current, very limited capacity of the Amateur
> Service in the United States to address emergencies and disaster
> relief," ARRL said. "This is most notably true in the Caribbean
> Basin, but the same effect will be realized elsewhere as well, at
> all times of the day and night, and at all times of the sunspot
> cycle."
>
> In its Petition, ARRL also called upon the FCC to retain the same
> service rules now governing the five channels for the new band. The
> WRC-15 Final Acts stipulated a power limit of 15 W effective
> isotropic radiated power (EIRP), which the League said "completely
> defeats the entire premise for the allocation in the first place."
>
> "For precisely the same reasons that the Commission consented to a
> power increase on the five channels as recently as 2011 [from 50 W
> PEP ERP to 100 W PEP ERP], the Commission should permit a power
> level of 100 W PEP ERP, assuming use of a 0 dBd gain antenna, in the
> contiguous 60-meter band," ARRL said. "To impose the power limit
> adopted at WRC-15 for the contiguous band would render the band
> unsuitable for emergency and public service communications."
>
> ARRL pointed out that the ITU Radio Regulations permit assignments
> that are at variance with the International Table of Allocations,
> provided a non-interference condition is attached, limiting the use
> of such an assignment relative to stations operating in accordance
> with the Table.
>
> The League asked that General class or higher licensees be permitted
> to use the band. The FCC will not invite comments on the League's
> Petition until it puts it on public notice and assigns a Rule Making
> (RM) number.
> NNNN
> /EX
>
>
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