Will you be ready to operate on the new 60-meter ham band? Here are some Web sites that may help you make your first contact on the new Amateur Radio band.

Ron Wray, WB5HZE, e-mailed a "little tidbit" my way that might come in handy for ham radio operators preparing to operate on 60 meters in a few weeks (on July 3 to be exact). In case you missed it, hams are the recipients of some frequency use near 60 meters. If you did miss it, you can read all about it in the ARRLWeb News pages.

Doug Smith, KF6DX, spells out the technical requirements for surfin' on 60.

Channelized operating on 60 meters will be quite different from working on our other ham bands. Ron noted that there is some good information on the Web site of Doug Smith, KF6DX. Doug's article, entitled "How to Transmit Legally on the New 60-m Band", which provides guidelines for legal 60-meter operations. With his typical technical flair, Doug explains audio bandwidth, getting on the proper frequency and antenna considerations. Know your antenna's gain above dBd--even simple loops have some gain, so throttle back the power accordingly!

In a nutshell, FCC Rule §97.303(s) states that General class and higher licensees may transmit only upper sideband phone on the channels, and the transmission can occupy no more than 2.8 kHz, centered on each of the frequencies. Maximum power allowed is 50 W PEP of effective radiated power, with a half-wave dipole antenna presumed to have no gain. As secondary users of the channels, hams can't cause harmful interference to primary users, such as the US Coast Guard or other government users.

ARRL has already updated its US Band Plan charts, which note the frequency and power restrictions on 60. The PDF charts, in both black-and-white and full color, are ready to download. Also, the League has made a Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, "It Seems to Us..." column on 60 meters available to the general ham community. A list of "frequently asked questions," (and their answers!) is being prepared by ARRL Lab and editorial staff members, and should appear on the League Web site later next week.

While amateurs operate under the rules of the FCC, Ron also notes that for those interested in the inner workings of federal spectrum usage, the NTIA Standards page and the NTIA Red Book page contain info on NTIA standards and regulations.

Hope to talk to you on 60! Until next time, keep on surfin'.

Editor's note: Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, resides in downtown Wolcott, Connecticut, and has been a QST writer for over 25 years. Since getting his ticket in 1969, Stan has sampled nearly every entrée in the Amateur Radio menu (including a stint as Connecticut Section Manager), but he keeps coming back to his favorite preoccupations: VHF and packet radio. As a result, he runs a 2-meter APRS digipeater and weather station (WA1LOU-15) from his mountaintop location in central Connecticut. Stan, a long time advocate of using computers with Amateur Radio, wrote programs to dupe contests and calculate antenna bearings way back in 1978. Today, he is on the board of directors of Tucson Amateur Packet Radio (TAPR) and uses his Mac to surf the Internet searching for that perfect ham radio Web page. To contact Stan, send e-mail to wa1lou@arrl.net.

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