[Wswss] 76 GHZ ALERT!

[Marty Woll]

On September 20, the FCC's decision on 2017-18463, which impacts our 76 GHz
band, was published in the Federal Register and will become effective thirty
days from that date unless a petition for reconsideration is filed.   The
most negative result comes from the following provision:

 

"As an added protection against potential interference from amateur
operations to vehicular radar operations in the 76-81 GHz band, the
Commission amended the part 97 Amateur Radio Service rules to specify a
maximum EIRP of 55 dBm (316 Watts) that Amateur Service and Amateur
Satellite Service stations in the 76-81 GHz band may transmit, the same as
the allowable vehicular radar peak EIRP limit."

 

When I alerted this group to the issue back in June, I received several
replies expressing concern over the new EIRP limit.  One pointed out that
the effective power limit using a1-meter dish was about 20 dB below the
current Amateur state of the art.  Another commented that this would
effectively shut down much of the existing Amateur operation on the band.  I
passed this information to ARRL Southwestern Division Director Dick Norton
N6AA, who promptly conveyed it to Chris Imlay, ARRL's legal counsel.  The
response he received from Imlay was effectively that we should be happy
about winning back 1 GHz of spectrum, gaining long-term security in that
band, avoiding the addition of fixed facilities outside airports and moving
automotive radars out of 24 GHz.

 

So, should we ask ARRL to file a petition for reconsideration on the EIRP
issue?  If so, would it make sense to recommend a fixed power limit  of
(pick your number) dBm instead, arguing that antenna gain reduces rather
than increases the chance for interference between services and, as such,
should not be limited?

 

There's not much time to come to a consensus and get the ball rolling, and I
will be unavailable due to travel for a chunk of that time (unless someone
else wants to take point on the matter, which is fine with me).  Please
feel free to re-post this to other relevant sites.  If it is agreed that we
should ask for reconsideration, that request would be most effective if it
comes from several ARRL Divisions through their respective Directors.  That
means getting microwave operators outside Southern California / Arizona
involved in contacting their respective ARRL Directors is important.

 

As many reflectors do not support attachments, try this link to read the
release for yourself:
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-09-20/pdf/2017-18463.pdf  If you have
trouble with that, e-mail me and I'll send the document as a PDF in
response.

 

73,

 

Marty Woll N6VI