FCC
Invites Comments on Four Amateur Radio Petitions
NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 10, 2002--The FCC is
seeking comments on four Amateur Radio rule making petitions filed recently and
put on public notice this week. Comments are due by February 7, 2002, in
petitions seeking to legally separate wideband and narrowband modes on 160
meters; allow hams to bequeath their call signs "in memoriam" to a specific
club; expand HF operating privileges for Novice and Tech Plus operators; and
permit retransmission on amateur frequencies of NASA manned spacecraft
communications.
A proposal from veteran Top Band operators
and contesters Bill Tippett, W4ZV, and Jeff Briggs, K1ZM, asks the FCC to
subdivide 160 meters into mode-specific subbands. The petition, submitted to
the FCC in September, has been designated as RM-10352. Tippett and Briggs
contend that the ARRL band plan for 160 meters--modified last year after
lengthy consideration by the ad hoc ARRL 160-Meter Band Plan Committee
on which both men sat--does not go far enough and is unenforceable. They want
the FCC to prohibit SSB, AM and other wideband modes below 1.843 MHz--something
the revised ARRL band
plan already recommends.
"It is our belief that only action by the
Commission as proposed can serve to effect what a voluntary bandplan can never
achieve, eg: results on a sustained basis," Tippett and Briggs said in a
cover letter accompanying their petition. A copy of Briggs' book, DXing on the
Edge--The Thrill of 160 Meters, accompanied their 18-page petition
to the FCC. The book is published by ARRL.
Tippett and Briggs made it clear that while the topic of their petition did
arise during the ARRL committee's deliberations, their petition is an
independent effort with no connection to the committee or the ARRL.
The Quarter Century Wireless Association
(QCWA) has asked the FCC to change its amateur vanity call sign system rules to
permit individual amateurs to, in effect, will a call sign to a designated club
as an "in memoriam" call sign. The FCC has designated the petition, submitted
in December, as RM-10353. The QCWA notes that the current vanity rule "excludes
current licensees from speaking for themselves" while they're still alive and
"requires their relatives to speak for them post mortem."
"It is awkward at best and painful at worst
for the club station license trustee to request such a document from the family
of the deceased during the time of bereavement," the QCWA petition asserts.
Novice licensee John S. Rippey, W3ULS, has
petitioned the FCC to expand HF phone and CW privileges for Novice operators.
The FCC has designated the petition, submitted in December, as RM-10354. Rippey
held a General ticket in the 1950s and 1960s and obtained his former call sign
in the vanity program after relicensing as a Novice in 1999. In his five-page
submittal he argues, among other things, that "the HF operating privileges
authorized today for a Novice or Technician Plus license fall far short of
providing adequate value" and are "inferior" to the privileges accorded
entry-level licensees in 1951. Rippey has asked the FCC to grant Novice and
Technician (with Element 1 credit) licensees new or expanded operating
privileges on 80, 40, 30, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters. His suggestions include SSB
privileges for Novices and Tech Plus licensees on 17 and 12 meters.
The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center
Amateur Radio Club is seeking a modification in wording to the Part 97 rule
that already permits amateur retransmission of NASA manned shuttle
communications. The petition has been designated as RM-10355. The club wants
the Amateur Service rule, §97.113(e), to include International Space Station
communications as well as any manned spacecraft in the future.
Interested parties may comment on any or all
of these petitions via the FCC's Electronic
Comment Filing System.
Page last modified: 02:24 PM, 10 Jan 2002 ET
Page author: awextra@arrl.org
Copyright © 2002, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Previous: New Amateur Radio Antenna to be Installed During Spacewalk
Next: FCC Acts on October 15, 2001, Vanity Applications
