[OMIK] from OMIK member Ria's Ham Shack

Thu Dec 11 08:29:23 EST 2025

                                          Ria’s Ham Shack
<https://n2rj.substack.com/>
                                We have a new US ham band?!
<https://n2rj.substack.com/p/we-have-a-new-us-ham-band>
                                Yes, and no. Here's the breakdown.
<https://substack.com/@n2rj>
                                       Ria <https://substack.com/@n2rj>
                             Dec 10, 2025

The FCC has been busy lately, enacting numerous proposals, in particular
related to its “in re: Delete, Delete, Delete
<https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-delete-nearly-400-outdated-wireless-rules-and-requirements>”
proposal to remove obsolete FCC rules.
<https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6K0E!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb4daa0d4-242a-4318-9998-af6b7f7f31b0_250x250.png>

But you may have not learned about the FCC’s latest report and order
<https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-25-60A1.pdf> which dropped
yesterday, December 9. It is an omnibus rulemaking which covered a lot of
radio services, and incorporated a lot of the changes made by the ITU to
international radio regulations. The FCC still has discretion to enact
rules agreed to by the ITU, but for the most part they align with them.
They may be slow with it - such as when they finally removed the morse code
requirement - but they do get on with it. Eventually.
The details

What is this new band? It’s a worldwide 60 meter band allocation, from *5351.5
to 5366.5 kHz. *It is granted to the amateur service on a secondary basis,
with the US Federal Government as the primary user. This is a contiguous
allocation, with no channels, no weird rules about center frequencies, and
the same emissions previously allowed, which are phone, RTTY, data and
telegraphy (most commonly, Morse Code).

There is a limitation of *2.8kHz bandwidth maximum*, of which the stated
purpose is to allow sharing of the band by as many radio amateurs as
possible. And the biggest limitation of all is that this band will only
allow *15 watts EIRP, or 9.14 watts ERP*. So on this band, everybody is QRP.
[image: Billy Mays holding a ham radio and saying "wait, there's more!"]
<https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BbpB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2ee1d18f-a61d-42f3-9c24-8a041326dad7_1536x1024.png>
We keep the channels

When we originally got the allocation, we got access to five channels.
These channels were originally allowed at 50 watts ERP, and later changed
to 100 watts ERP. The NTIA originally recommended that when we get the new
ITU recommended allocation, we lose access to those channels, and we get
only the contiguous new allocation.
[image: undefined]
<https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!MhtR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F70ce5e49-c671-42f0-bccb-497afa3b159f_860x220.png>

Thankfully, the FCC decided to give us a break. Not only did we get access
to the new contiguous allocation, but we also kept four of the five
channels *at 100 watts ERP*. The only one we “lost” was channel 3, at
5357kHz, which is within the range of the new allocation, anyway. So we
didn’t really lose it, *we just have to now drop down to 15 watts EIRP* when
using it.

The 60 meter band is the *only *US amateur band to be strictly channelized.
Power levels are also regulated by Effective Radiated Power (ERP), not
Transmitter Power Output (TPO) as it has been for a long time. This means
that you must take into account the gain (or loss) of your antenna in
addition to the transmitter power output. This isn’t unique to this band,
by the way. Both of the amateur LF allocations, 630 meters and 2200 meters
are limited by ERP, with a whopping 1 watt of ERP being allowed under FCC
rules. So the new 60m band now joins the party, and it is interesting to
note that these relatively new allocations are limited in this way.
A long time coming

This proposal is about 10 years old, and it came out of WRC-15
<https://www.arrl.org/news/potential-15-khz-wide-60-meter-band-advances-at-wrc-15-but-far-from-a-done-deal>
-
yes, in 2015, which is 10 years ago at the time of this writing. I told you
that the FCC moves slowly! But at least we* finally* got it!
<https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hIFB!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F52e81374-0bea-4561-98d1-65a498dd74b4_2436x3456.jpeg>ITU
HQ in Geneva, (Yann, Wikimedia Commons - CC-BY-SA 2.0)

Several other countries have enacted rules giving access to this contiguous
allocation, and now the United States joins the party.
When? And is your radio ready?

This rule isn’t active, yet. It has to first be published in the Federal
Register, and then the rules will take effect 30 days after publication. In
my estimation this will give us a total timeline of about 2-3 months before
this new allocation is active.

Your radio will need to be updated or modified to use the new allocation.
Current radios only have the existing channels from the factory. You may
have to “open up” your radio with a so-called “MARS mod” which opens up
transmit outside of the existing amateur radio bands. Some radios
theoretically can be updated with just a software or firmware update. Since
many radios today are software defined, and have the 60 meter channels
already, and other countries already have the allocation, widening the
capability shouldn’t be too hard.

As far as antennas go, your existing 60m antenna will work, and even some
antennas like an inverted L for 160m will also work on 60 meters.
In conclusion

This is the kind of news I like to report on. It’s nice to gain some
spectrum rather than lose it. And I will be using this band, perhaps with
Morse Code or maybe some digital modes.

Will you use this band? How will you use it? Comment below!
*(Lloyd adds: Subscribe to Ria's YouTube below to comment)*

*And of course, just down the band, listen to our show at 5050kHz on Sunday
nights 11PM ET on WRMI Legends Shortwave.*

*Want great ham radio video content?* Subscribe to Ria’s Hamshack
<http://youtube.com/@n2rj> on YouTube.

73, N2RJ

--
Lloyd M. Mitchell (KO4L)
lmitchell at gmail.com