[SMCARA] FW: ARLB021 FCC Speedily Dismisses Petitions to Alter Amateur Service Rules

[Tom Shelton]

Tom Shelton, ND3N

-----Original Message-----
From: ARRL Web site [mailto:memberlist at www.arrl.org] 
Sent: Thursday, July 2, 2015 2:24 PM
To: gl1800winger at verizon.net
Subject: ARLB021 FCC Speedily Dismisses Petitions to Alter Amateur Service
Rules

SB QST @ ARL $ARLB021
ARLB021 FCC Speedily Dismisses Petitions to Alter Amateur Service Rules

ZCZC AG21
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 21  ARLB021
>From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  July 2, 2015
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB021
ARLB021 FCC Speedily Dismisses Petitions to Alter Amateur Service Rules

Acting with near lightning speed, the FCC has dismissed two petitions for
rule making calling for separate amendments to the Part 97 Amateur Service
rules. Willison H. Gormly, WD0BCS, of Des Moines, New Mexico, filed both
petitions on June 16, and the FCC turned them away on July 1. Gormly had
requested that the FCC amend Part 97.301(e) of the rules by dividing it into
separate sub-paragraphs for technician and Novice class privileges. He had
also asked the FCC to amend Part 97.305(c) to authorize spread spectrum
emissions in the 2 meter band.

"The rule changes you propose were previously rejected by the Commission,"
Scot Stone, deputy chief of the Mobility Division in the Wireless
Telecommunications Bureau, told Gormly in the FCC's dismissal letter. "Your
petitions do not demonstrate or even suggest that any relevant circumstances
have changed such as to merit reconsideration of these decisions."

The FCC noted that while Part 97.301(e) had been divided into two paragraphs
in the past, these were consolidated when the Commission streamlined the
rules in 1999. Gormly argued that the present configuration was confusing,
but the FCC pointed out that Part
97.301 "has been in this arrangement for a number of years without any
reported difficulty."

Regarding Gormly's second petition, the Commission noted that it had sought
comment in 2004 as to whether it should expand the bands authorized for
spread spectrum to permit such emissions on the 50 MHz, 144 MHz, and 222 MHz
bands. Agreeing with the majority of comments, the FCC subsequently
determined that authorizing spread spectrum was not warranted on 6 meters
and 2 meters, "because of concerns over the compatibility of spread spectrum
emission types and other Amateur radio operations in those bands," the FCC
explained in its denial letter.

The FCC had said it was concerned about raising the noise floor on the band,
with potential adverse effects on so-called "weak signal"
communications or "otherwise affecting experimentation." The Commission also
had noted that both bands are heavily used for other types of communication.
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