SB QST @ ARL $ARLB028<br />ARLB028 FCC proposes two new amateur bands!<br /><br />ZCZC AG28<br />QST de W1AW <br />ARRL Bulletin 28 ARLB028<br />>From ARRL Headquarters <br />Newington CT May 10, 2002<br />To all radio amateurs <br /><br />SB QST ARL ARLB028<br />ARLB028 FCC proposes two new amateur bands!<br /><br />Good news for ham radio this week! FCC has proposed going along with<br />ARRL's request for a new domestic (US-only), secondary HF allocation<br />at 5.25 to 5.4 MHz. The FCC also is ready to permit operation on a<br />136-kHz ''sliver band'' in the low-frequency (LF) region. And, in<br />response to a third ARRL request, the FCC has proposed elevating<br />Amateur Radio to primary status at 2400 to 2402 MHz.<br /><br />''I'm just as tickled as I can be,'' ARRL President Jim Haynie, W5JBP,<br />said upon hearing the news. ''This is a classic example of our ARRL<br />at work.''<br /><br />The FCC voted unanimously May 2 to adopt the Notice of Proposed<br />Rulemaking in ET Docket 02-98. The Commission released a Public<br />Notice May 9, and the NPRM is expected to be released soon. A<br />comment deadline will be announced as soon as it's available.<br /><br />The FCC said the new 5-MHz band would help amateurs ''better match<br />their choice of frequency to existing propagation conditions.'' The<br />band, if approved, would be the first new amateur HF allocation<br />since World Administrative Radio Conference 1979 gave amateurs 30,<br />17 and 12 meters--the so-called ''WARC Bands.'' Assuming the 5-MHz<br />band eventually is authorized, it could be a few years before it<br />actually becomes available.<br /><br />The League said its successful WA2XSY experiments demonstrated that<br />amateurs can coexist with current users and that the band is very<br />suitable for US-to-Caribbean paths. In comparisons with 80 and 40<br />meters, the WA2XSY operation also showed the 60-meter band to be the<br />most reliable of the three. The ARRL also argued that a new 150-kHz<br />allocation at 5 MHz could relieve periodic overcrowding on 80 and<br />40.<br /><br />If allocated to amateurs on a secondary basis, hams would have to<br />avoid interfering with--and accept interference from--current<br />occupants of the spectrum, as they already do on 30 meters. The band<br />5.250 to 5.450 MHz now is allocated to Fixed and Mobile services on<br />a co-primary basis in all three ITU regions.<br /><br />The ARRL asked the FCC for two LF allocations in October 1998--135.7<br />to 137.8 kHz and 160 to 190 kHz. The FCC said its action on one part<br />of that LF request proposes changes that would enhance the ability<br />of amateur radio operators to conduct technical experiments,<br />including propagation and antenna design experiments, in the 'low<br />frequency' (LF) range of the radio spectrum.''<br /><br />Several countries in Europe and elsewhere already have 136-kHz<br />amateur allocations. The first amateur transatlantic contact on the<br />band was recorded in February 2001.<br /><br />Hams would be secondary to the Fixed and Maritime Mobile services in<br />the 136-kHz allocation. The League said its engineering surveys<br />suggest that hams could operate without causing problems to power<br />line carrier (PLC) systems already active in that vicinity or to<br />government assignments. Unallocated Part 15 PLC systems are used by<br />electric utilities to send control signals, data and voice.<br /><br />The FCC said its proposal to upgrade the Amateur Service allocation<br />at 2400 to 2402 MHz to primary ''seeks to protect current amateur use<br />of this band.'' Hams have shared their other 2.4 GHz spectrum on a<br />secondary basis with government users.<br /><br />Amateurs already are primary at 2390 to 2400 and from 2402 to 2417<br />MHz. The ARRL has said primary status in the intervening spectrum<br />slice was needed ''to provide some assurances of future occupancy of<br />the band segments for the next generation of amateur satellites.''<br /><br />The ARRL has expressed its belief that hams can continue to<br />accommodate Part 15 and Part 18 devices at 2.4 GHz.<br />NNNN<br />/EX