| August, 2007 |  |
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North Carolina Governor Signs Antenna Bill
On Friday, June 29, North Carolina Governor Mike Easley signed HB1340, the “Amateur Radio Antenna” bill into law. North Carolina becomes the 25th state to pass a state model of the FCC’s 1985 PRB-1 regulation, and becomes the halfway point for all 50 states having some kind of state antenna legislation. The bill was introduced for the first time in February and passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate. The law takes effect October 1 and permits antennas up to 90 feet in height in areas regulated solely by municipal (county and city) ordinances.
It Seems to Us: ARRL v. FCC
On May 17, attorneys representing the ARRL filed the initial brief in support of our petition for judicial review of the FCC’s flawed rules governing Access Broadband over Power Line (BPL) systems. This is an important step on the road to what we hope will be a favorable decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
FCC Responds to ARRL’s BPL Brief
Earlier this week, the FCC filed its reply brief with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The FCC attempted to rebut the ARRL’s challenge to the FCC’s Broadband over Power Line (BPL) rules enacted in late 2004 and affirmed by the agency in 2006. According to ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, “The FCC’s brief does not accurately describe ARRL’s arguments concerning harmful interference.”
WIA applies for Medium Frequency band allocation
The WIA has applied to the ACMA for experimental access to a small band of frequencies near 500 kHz.
Amateur radio operators in the United States, Sweden and Germany have recently been granted experimental access to frequencies just above 500 kHz. Applications for access to this band have also been lodged by the NZART and the RSGB.
“We conducted a poll last year of Australian radio amateurs to ascertain if there was an interest in a similar allocation in Australia”. WIA Director, Glenn Dunstan VK4DU said. “We received numerous enthusiastic responses”.
The WIA submission requests a temporary/experimental MF amateur allocation be made for the frequency range 505-515 kHz.
“This proposed allocation places us above the guard band around the distress and safety channel at 500 kHz, and lines up with the current amateur MF allocations in Europe and the US”, Glenn said.
The WIA recognises that the former marine distress and calling frequency of 500 kHz remains so designated in the International Radio Regulations (guard band 495-505 kHz), and that this status will not be changed until WRC-11 at the earliest.
“The WIA requested a temporary amateur allocation, rather than an experimental (non-amateur) licence, as it is our view that this represents the most suitable access mechanism”, Glenn said.
“Many administrations forbid communications between amateur and non-amateur stations, and an Australian non-amateur experimental licence would thus preclude many weak signal propagation opportunities with overseas stations.”
The limited spectrum available precludes the use of wide band telephony type modes. The WIA submission proposes a maximum necessary bandwidth of 200 Hz, to limit operation to CW and slow speed robust data modes, such as PSK31. This is the practice adopted in the current experimental MF amateur band in Europe and the US.
The WIA also proposed that because of the technical challenges involved, the MF band be only made available to Advanced class amateur stations.
It is also proposed that normal amateur output power limits be used.
| August, 2007 | |
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