ARRL Files Comments Against “Seriously Flawed” HF Rules Petition
A portion of the ARRL Filed Comments on the Proposed Rule Making is below…….
To see the complete Comments ARRL members may click on this Link
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08/02/2023 ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio®, as part of its mission to protect Amateur Radio, has filed comments against a proposal that would introduce high-power digital communications to the shortwave spectrum that in many instances is immediately adjacent to the Amateur HF bands.
The “Shortwave Modernization Coalition” (SMC), which represents certain high-frequency stock trading interests, filed the petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). (Previous coverage can be found on ARRL News.) ARRL responded on behalf of its members and the 760,000 licensees of the Amateur Radio Service in the US.
The ARRL Laboratory performed a detailed technical analysis over several months to determine if the proposed rules would affect operations on the bands allocated to Radio Amateurs that are inter-mixed with the Part 90 bands in the spectrum in question.
ARRL’s analysis determined that, if the proposed rules are adopted, the new operations inevitably will cause significant harmful interference to many users of adjacent and nearby spectrum, including Amateur Radio licensees. Ed Hare, W1RFI, a 37-year veteran of the ARRL Lab and internationally recognized expert on radio frequency interference, was the principal investigator on the study. Hare concluded the petition should not be granted. “This petition seeks to put 50 kHz wide, 20,000-watt signals immediately next to seven different amateur bands with weaker protections against interference than required in other services,” said Hare.
In its formal opposition, ARRL stated, “That destructive interference would result if operations commenced using anything close to the proposed maximum levels.”
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Steve KG5VK