10/04/2023

A public period is open until October 30, 2023 for radio amateurs to comment on
proposed changes to the 60 Meter band. ARRL  The National Association for
Amateur Radio[1]¿ 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 Nov. 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[2] 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[3] 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.

[1] http://www.arrl.org/
[2] https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-23-26A1.pdf
[3] http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Petition20Rule20520FINAL2012,%202017.pdf

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