ARRL Urges Comments to FCC on 60-Meter Band

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ARRL Urges Comments to FCC on 60-Meter Band

The National Association for Amateur Radio (ARRL) is asking that all radio amateurs urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to continue the existing use of the 60-meter band. A public comment period is open until 30th October 2023. ARRL encourages expressions of support to the FCC for the current 100 W ERP power limit (instead of reducing the power limit to 15 W EIRP) and continuing secondary access to the current channels.

ARRL has assembled a web page with instructions on how to submit your comments, as well as background information on the issue - http://www.arrl.org/60-meter-band.

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Belgium to get 40 MHz allocation

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The UBA proposes to grant the radio amateur service access to the frequency range 40.660 – 40.690 MHz under the following conditions:

On a secondary basis

  • For holders of a class A operating certificate (HAREC licence)

  • A power limit of 5 W ERP

  • A bandwidth limit of 3 kHz

  • On individual basis, after prior approval from BIPT

  • It is mandatory to keep a logbook in which all transmissions are noted

This is an important development as Belgium now joins Ireland (EI), Slovenia (S5) and South Africa (ZS) with official amateur radio allocations on the 40 MHz band.

ARRL Support FCC Proposes Changes to 60-Metre Band

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ARRL Support FCC Proposes Changes to 60-Metre Band

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is seeking comments about changing the secondary allocation available to radio amateurs on 60 meters. The FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on 21st April 2023, that deals with the band. In a prior petition, ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® urged protecting the existing use of the band by amateurs when adding a new allocation adopted internationally.

Currently, radio amateurs in the US have access to five discrete channels on a secondary basis: 5332 kHz, 5348 kHz, 5358.5 kHz, 5373 kHz, and 5405 kHz. Users of these channels are limited to an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100 W PEP.

The FCC proposes to allocate 15 kHz of contiguous bandwidth between 5351.5 - 5366.5 kHz on a secondary basis with a maximum power of 15 W EIRP (equivalent to 9.15 W ERP). This allocation was adopted at the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15).

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