[South Florida DX Association] Fwd: FM AND REPEATERS: FLORIDA REPEATER COUNCIL RELEASES VHF AND UHF NARROWBA...

[Bill Marx]

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

> From: BALDYBAER at aol.com
> Date: July 30, 2010 3:28:22 PM EDT
> To: bmarx at bellsouth.net
> Subject: Fwd: FM AND REPEATERS: FLORIDA REPEATER COUNCIL RELEASES  
> VHF AND UHF NARROWBA...
>

>
>
> From: kd4knv at yahoo.com
> To: rick at ac4xq.net, elliotg at bellsouth.net, n5ict at aol.com, road4evr at yahoo.com 
> , Sucfish86 at aol.com
> Sent: 7/30/2010 3:00:15 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
> Subj: FM AND REPEATERS: FLORIDA REPEATER COUNCIL RELEASES VHF AND  
> UHF NARROWBANDING PROPOSAL
>
> FM AND REPEATERS: FLORIDA REPEATER COUNCIL RELEASES VHF AND UHF  
> NARROWBANDING PROPOSAL
>
>
> The Florida Repeater Council has officially posted it's proposed  
> narrow-banding recommendation for 2 meters and 70 centimeters on its  
> website. The concept adopted by the Florida Repeater Council  
> leadership basically follows the narrow-banding in the Part 90 VHF  
> and UHF commercial services. Its also based on the knowledge that  
> most if not all of the newer amateur radio FM equipment available on  
> the market today in the 144 to148 MHz and 430 to 450 MHz range is  
> capable of using 6.25 KHz channels if deviation is set at 2.5 KHz  
> deviation.
>
> Since the use of these new technology systems usually requires the  
> purchase of new radios which are compatible with the new technology  
> systems, by allocating narrow band channels for only newer  
> technology systems there should be a minimal impact on existing wide  
> band repeaters and their users.
>
> While 12.5 and 6.25 KHz channel spacing has been used on the UHF  
> commercial and amateur bands for some time, the VHF bands have used  
> 15 KHz spacing for decades. Since the legacy spacing of VHF  
> commercial and the 146 to 148 MHz amateur service bands do not  
> permit the use of 12.5 or 6.25 KHz spacing without a complete and  
> disruptive re-farming of the entire band, the Florida Repeater  
> Council is proposing to follow the FCC's VHF plan for Part 90. This  
> will allow use of 7.5 KHz spacing between the legacy 15 KHz channels  
> in the 146 to 148 MHz subband 2 meter and 10 kHz spacing between the  
> existing 144.5 to 145.5 MHz channels in the lower subband.
>
> The Florida repeater council says that most newer amateur radio  
> equipment evaluated can program to the 7.5 or 10 KHz spacing without  
> difficulty. However in some case the scanning or stepping functions  
> of some radios may require software or firmware updates to properly  
> scan these new channels in a given radios VFO mode.
>
> The proposed changes will create 71 new frequency pairs for narrow  
> band repeaters on 2 meters. It would also significantly expand the  
> number of UHF narrow band channel pairs available as well. This says  
> the council should provide the needed spectrum for experimentation  
> and development of the newer technology systems that utilize narrow  
> band emission such as D-Star and P-25 digital audio relay services.
>
> The Florida Repeater Council will be looking for public comment on  
> its proposal by e-mail to narrowbandcomments (at) florida-repeaters  
> (dot) org or at the Melborne Hamfest this coming October. More on  
> this proposed band change is on-line at www.florida-repeaters.org.  
> (KS4VT,      FRC)
>
> **
>