ARLB025 Comment Deadlines
Set on Proposed 60 Meter Band Changes
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ARRL Bulletin 25 ARLB025
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT October 5, 2023
To all radio amateurs
SB QST ARL ARLB025
ARLB025 Comment Deadlines Set
on Proposed 60 Meter Band Changes
A public period is open until
October 30, 2023 for radio amateurs to comment on proposed changes to the
60 Meter band. The ARRL is asking all radio amateurs to join it in
urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to continue the
existing use of the band. ARRL is encouraging expressions of support
to the FCC for the current 100 watt ERP power limit (instead of
reducing the power limit to 15 watts EIRP) and continuing
secondary access to the current channels. An opportunity to reply to comments
ends on November 28.
Currently, radio amateurs in
the US have use of five discreet channels on a secondary basis on
which they are permitted an effective radiated power (ERP) of
100 watts ERP. In the NPRM the Commission solicits comment on
reducing the secondary allocation to 15 kHz of contiguous spectrum
between 5351.5 - 5366.5 kHz with a power limit of 15 watts EIRP
(equivalent to 9.1 watts ERP). The lesser spectrum and reduced power
limit was adopted by the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference
(WRC-15).
The federal government is the
primary user of the 5 MHz spectrum. The National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA), the federal government's
spectrum regulator, has argued that the WRC-15 proposals should be
implemented as written. Doing so would result in amateurs losing
four of the discreet channels they have been using on a secondary
basis and having the maximum permissible power reduced by more
than 10 dB, from 100 watts ERP to 9.1 watts ERP.
In 2017, ARRL petitioned the
FCC to keep four of the current five 60-meter channels - one would be
within the new band - as well as the current limit of 100 watts ERP.
"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,"
ARRL said in its petition.
ARRL said that years of amateur
radio experience using the five discrete 5-MHz channels
demonstrated that amateurs coexist well with the primary users at 5 MHz.
"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 2017 petition.
ARRL will continue to advocate
to maintain the 100-watt limit for 60 meters, continued authorization for
the four channels outside the WRC allocation that are being used
today, and adoption of the new 15 kHz allocation with the same
100-watt power limit.
In the NPRM, the FCC recognizes
that Canada adopted rules equivalent to those proposed by the ARRL.
"Finally, we note that Canada has essentially implemented the same
rules as ARRL has requested," the Commission wrote.
The FCC seeks comment on the
proposed 15 kHz of contiguous spectrum, but also on whether the existing
channels should remain allocated to amateur radio on a secondary basis,
and whether the maximum power limitations should be reduced from
100 to 9.1 watts ERP. The FCC also requested comments on whether
the power limitation should be expressed as EIRP as the WRC-15
recommends or as ERP as in the current rules.
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