Before the
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20554

In the Matter of	)
	)
Amendment of Parts 2 and 97 of the	)	RM-10165
Commission's Rules Regarding the 2300-	)
2305 MHz Band.	)
	)
In the Matter of	)
	)
Co-Primary Allocation of 2300-2305 MHz	)	RM-10166
to the Amateur Radio Service and the	)
Miscellaneous Wireless Communications	)
Service	)

To: The Commission

REPLY COMMENTS OF ARRL,
THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR AMATEUR RADIO

ARRL, the National Association for Amateur Radio, also known as the American Radio Relay League, Incorporated (ARRL), by counsel and pursuant to Section 1.405(b) of the Commission's Rules [47 C.F.R. §1.405(b)] hereby respectfully submits its reply comments relative to the Petition for Rule Making filed on or about April 9, 2001 by AeroAstro, Inc. (AeroAstro). These reply comments are also in response to AeroAstro's Comments, and those of MicroTrax, relative to ARRL's above-captioned petition, RM-10165. ARRL filed comments in response to Aeroastro's petition August 1, 2001. These reply comments are timely filed. The AeroAstro Petition proposes that the Commission (1) reallocate the 2300-2305 MHz band on a co-primary basis to both the Amateur Radio Service (ARS) and the Miscellaneous Wireless Communications Service (MWCS); and (2) to impose technical and operational limitations on Amateur station operation in that band, in order to protect the MWCS. The ARRL Petition proposes the allocation of that band on a primary basis only to the Amateur Service. In the interests of the Amateur Radio Service in continued and improved access to this band, ARRL states as follows:

1. AeroAstro's comments add little of substance to what can be found in its initial Petition. It suggests at the outset that it opposes the upgrade of the present secondary amateur allocation at 2300-2305 MHz to primary status. As well, it requests that maximum power levels in the Amateur Service, which are applicable to almost all Amateur allocations, be reduced because 1500 watts PEP output power is "not typically encountered" at amateur stations operating in that band. As its justification for the proposed power reduction for Amateurs, AeroAstro repeats its mantra that the Amateur Service and "low-power commercial operations" can share the band on a co-primary basis without interference one to the other. The problem is that the mantra is bereft of technical support, either in AeroAstro's Petition or in its Comments. ARRL continues to assert that the proposed co-primary allocation is fundamentally incompatible and would result in restrictions that preclude much or all current Amateur operation in the band, as well as interference.

2. AeroAstro, at page 3 of its comments, acknowledges the many recent incursions of commercial services into Amateur spectrum allocations. The steady erosion of Amateur allocations in the 2300-2450 MHz band has continued, and continues presently. AeroAstro also acknowledges the compression of a variety of Amateur uses into the 2300-2305 MHz band as the result of reallocation decisions elsewhere, especially at 2305-2310 MHz. There is no dispute that the segment near 2304 MHz is uniquely suited to Amateur weak-signal communications, and the remainder of that segment is used and useful for other types of Amateur operations. Finally, AeroAstro acknowledges the clear Congressional policy favoring protection of Amateur operations in the NTIA-transferred bands, including 2300-2305 MHz. The area of dispute is the extent to which AeroAstro's proposed ubiquitous terrestrial SENS operation is compatible with incumbent and future Amateur operation.

3. AeroAstro suggests that its proposed interference avoidance criteria for its commercial operations (no space-to-Earth links; commercial applications limited to less than one watt of power; attenuation of commercial operations below 2300 MHz by -70 dB below the mean power of the unmodulated carrier; and no commercial operation at Ft. Irwin, CA) "closely track NTIA recommendations" for interference avoidance relative to the 2290-2300 MHz Deep Space Network receiver at Goldstone, CA. Each of those criteria is, however, intended to address interference to government operations below 2300 MHz, not interference on a co-channel basis to Amateurs. All that AeroAstro has to say about the latter is that it is "confident" that the proposed level of commercial activity will not cause harmful interference to either Amateur or Government operations." (AeroAstro comments, at 5-6). One is left to speculate on the source of that confidence level, which ARRL absolutely does not share. Attached hereto as Exhibit A is an interference study prepared by the ARRL laboratory, which estimates the interference suffered by an Amateur receiver from a single point-source radiator operating under the configuration proposed by AeroAstro. As noted, using simple free-space path loss calculations, the noise floor at one kilometer at a typical amateur receiver is on the order of 45.2 dB. This is an intolerable interference level, given the weak received signals that Amateurs utilize on a daily, ongoing basis in this band. Adding to the fundamental incompatibility is the admission of AeroAstro at page 4 of its Comments that "coordination rules used in some co-primary bands will not be feasible here, where both Amateur and commercial users are likely to deploy widely." This, perhaps more than any other factor, evidences the fundamental incompatibility between these two uses, and renders AeroAstro's proposal unworkable.

4. AeroAstro notes that ARRL has not, in its Petition for a primary allocation for the Amateur Service at 2300-2305 MHz, proposed "any special power limitation". It objects to the maximum authorized power level set forth in Part 97 of the Commission's rules (without acknowledging that the technical rules now in place are and have long been applicable to the 2300-2305 MHz band) and seeks to impose a Draconian reduction in Amateur operating parameters, so as to protect its proposed new use. At the same time, it suggests at page 7 of its Comments that it "does not seek to cut back current Amateur operations in the band." Of course it does; there is no other possible outcome, given the power limitations proposed (in the abstract, without technical justification) for the Amateur Service by AeroAstro. Nor has AeroAstro demonstrated any adverse effect to its proposed commercial use from the present rules by which Amateurs now operate at 2300-2305 MHz. It merely makes a blanket, unsupported statement that the present Amateur Part 97 rules are incompatible with commercial applications. If what AeroAstro proposes at 2300-2305 MHz is incompatible with incumbent uses, it obviously should look for a different band and withdraw its Petition.

5. At page 7 of its Comments, AeroAstro states that it disputes ARRL's claim that the Amateur Service is "uniquely capable" of protecting space research efforts below 2300 MHz, in view of the "high power levels permitted" in the Amateur Service. AeroAstro contrasts Amateur power levels with NTIA's recommendation that commercial facilities at 2300-2310 MHz should use no more than one watt of power. However, it is not necessary for AeroAstro to take ARRL's word for the compatibility between Federal and Amateur uses in the same or adjacent bands; NTIA has made essentially the same point:

The Amateur Service has indisputably shared spectrum successfully over long periods of time with Federal government uses, notwithstanding the Part 97 power and other technical operating parameters.

6. AeroAstro contends at page 8 of its comments that its proposed co-primary allocation is in the public interest because it will add 5 MHz of UHF spectrum to the Commission's "useful inventory". This can be said of any reallocation of UHF spectrum, and does not justify the allocation of 2300-2305 MHz. A more useful showing by AeroAstro would have been some claimed inadequacy of the present allocations for the Part 27 Miscellaneous Wireless Communications Service (MWCS) at 2305-2320 MHz and 2345-2360 MHz, since the MWCS is the service to which AeroAstro proposes that the reallocation be made. Furthermore, AeroAstro, in both its Comments and in its Petition, fails to note that there are two proposed allocations for services such as that proposed by AeroAstro, at 1670-1675 MHz and 2385-2390 MHz, in ET Docket 00-221. The Commission's proposed allocation of those bands renders AeroAstro's instant Petition to no more than a "wish list" of additional spectrum, which would be usurped to the great detriment of the Amateur Service.

7. AeroAstro, at page 9 of its comments, takes issue with ARRL's claim that an exclusive primary Amateur allocation at 2300-2305 MHz represents the highest and best use of the band. AeroAstro asserts that the ARRL's claim is "demonstrably wrong, considering that commercial users can share the band, under the rules proposed...with little or no adverse impact on Amateur activity." However, if it is "demonstrable" that commercial users can share the band under the proposed rules with little or no adverse impact on the Amateur Service, then it was incumbent on AeroAstro to make that demonstration, rather than to make unsupported conclusory statements. It cannot be seriously asserted that the power and antenna restrictions proposed by AeroAstro for the Amateur Service have "little or no adverse impact" on the Amateur Service. As stated in the ARRL comments, the AeroAstro proposal is a "Trojan Horse." It has no benefit to the Amateur Service over the present allocation status of the band; it would impose preclusive operating conditions on present and future Amateur operations; and it represents yet another in the continuing series of encroachments into the Amateur allocations between 2300 MHz and 2450 MHz. It is time for the Commission to stop those encroachments, because they have gone too far already. The Commission should recognize its obligations under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act and the Balanced Budget Act to protect Amateur operations, and draw the line here and now. It must preserve the important Amateur uses at 2300-2305 MHz, especially in view of the numerous available alternatives for AeroAstro's technology.

8. MicroTrax filed comments which are akin to, but not exactly supportive of, the AeroAstro Petition. Those comments reiterated MicroTrax' interest in a primary allocation for its Personal Location and Monitoring Service (PLMS) at 2300-2305 MHz under the Part 27 rules. It asserts that its technology requires "an exclusive 5 MHz band" and therefore suggests the creation of two such bands to provide "competitive" PLMS service. Therefore, somewhat vaguely, MicroTrax suggests that a PLMS allocation in this "band without a primary allocation" should be made. Like AeroAstro, MicroTrax conveniently omits any reference to the ET Docket 00-221 proceeding which in fact proposes the allocation of two bands which are suitable for MicroTrax' technology. MicroTrax incorporates by reference its petition, RM-9797, seeking several alternative allocations. However, that Petition was fully adjudicated and incorporated in the Notice of Proposed Rule Making, FCC 00-370, 15 FCC Rcd. 22657, which specifically did not propose to allocate 2300-2305 MHz to the PLMS, but instead proposed the 1670-1675 MHz and 2385-2390 MHz bands for Microtrax' or AeroAstro's purposes, among others. The MicroTrax and AeroAstro proposals for intrusive, or exclusive, commercial use of the 2300-2305 MHz band are, in view of the pendency of ET Docket 00-221, gluttonous, to say the least.

9. In summary, ARRL would reiterate that the AeroAstro petition is untimely, in that the Docket 00-221 proceeding has not been finalized. The bands 1670-1675 MHz and 2385-2390 MHz, and the existing allocations for MWCS are not shown to be, nor are they, in any way inadequate to accommodate the use proposed by AeroAstro herein. AeroAstro has failed to demonstrate that its proposed commercial use is compatible with incumbent Amateur operation. In fact, there is no such compatibility: the severe power and antenna limitations which AeroAstro seeks to unilaterally impose on the Amateur Service are completely insufficient to permit even current Amateur operations in the band, much less any future uses. The instant AeroAstro petition is defective in the foregoing respects and should therefore be dismissed, and the ARRL Petition granted.

Therefore, the foregoing considered, ARRL, The National Association For Amateur Radio, respectfully requests that the Commission dismiss the AeroAstro Petition, RM-10166. Instead, it should propose, by a Notice of Proposed Rule Making, to create a domestic primary allocation for the Amateur Service at 2300-2305 MHz, as proposed in RM-10165.

Respectfully submitted,

ARRL, THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
FOR AMATEUR RADIO

225 Main Street
Newington, CT 06111

By:____________________________
Christopher D. Imlay
Its General Counsel

BOOTH FRERET IMLAY & TEPPER, P.C.
5101 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Suite 307
Washington, DC 20016-4120
(202) 686-9600

August 16, 2001