SB QST @ ARL $ARLB019   
   ARLB019 ARRL Takes Issue with NTIA's WRC-15 Proposal for 5 MHz   
      
   ZCZC AG19   
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   ARRL Bulletin 19  ARLB019   
   > From ARRL Headquarters   
   Newington CT  October 1, 2014   
   To all radio amateurs   
      
   SB QST ARL ARLB019   
   ARLB019 ARRL Takes Issue with NTIA's WRC-15 Proposal for 5 MHz   
      
   The ARRL is taking issue with the World Radiocommunication   
   Conference 2015 (WRC-15) stance of the National Telecommunications   
   and Information Administration (NTIA) with respect to an upgraded 60   
   meter Amateur Radio allocation. In response to WRC-15 agenda item   
   1.4, the NTIA has called for no change at 5250-5450 kHz. The League   
   said in comments filed September 24 in IB Docket 04-286 that while   
   it concurs with the NTIA's view regarding 5250 to 5275 kHz -   
   allocated to the radiolocation service for oceanographic   
   applications at WRC-12 - the rest of the agency's proposal is   
   "unsupportable in light of actual domestic and international   
   practice and contains assertions of incompatibility that are   
   demonstrably not correct." The US has authorized Amateur Radio   
   secondary operation on five discrete channels in the 5275-5450 kHz   
   range for more than a decade, the ARRL pointed out, with no   
   instances of unresolved interference to primary users.   
      
   "Against this backdrop, the stated reason for the no-change proposal   
   - that '[e]xperience has shown that sharing is not possible between   
   the Amateur Service and the fixed and mobile service' - fails the   
   straight-face test," the ARRL said in its comments.   
      
   The NTIA's position is at odds with the proposal for agenda item 1.4   
   previously adopted by the FCC's WRC-15 Advisory Committee (WAC). In   
   January, the WAC recommended a secondary allocation to the Amateur   
   Radio Service from 5275-5450 kHz, and the FCC indicated in a   
   subsequent Public Notice that it could generally support this   
   recommendation.   
      
   The League called the NTIA's position "particularly puzzling" given   
   the position of federal agencies, for which the NTIA manages   
   spectrum, to allow what the ARRL called, "a more disruptive service   
   (radiolocation) in the identical frequency range under consideration   
   here less than three years ago."   
      
   "Neither NTIA nor its constituent federal agencies have credibly or   
   persuasively articulated why fixed and mobile systems in the   
   5250-5450 kHz range can withstand the demonstrated potential for   
   interference from automated, wideband, HF oceanographic radars, but   
   cannot withstand operation by trained, licensed operators using   
   smaller bandwidths, actually monitoring the spectrum to be used   
   before and during a transmission, and with the capability to shift   
   frequency immediately to avoid incidents of interference with a   
   primary service," the ARRL commented.   
      
   The League asserted that the Amateur Service deserves "the same   
   treatment" that NTIA proposed for HF radiolocation less than 3 years   
   ago. "Proponents of a different treatment, particularly a   
   channelized treatment or a no-change approach, have still not   
   presented a compelling distinction between amateur operation and   
   radiolocation that would justify a departure from the general policy   
   followed by the United States at WRC-12," the ARRL concluded.   
   NNNN   
   /EX   
      
      
   )\/(ark   
      
   If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until   
   you hire an amateur.   
      
   --- FMail/Win32 1.60   
    * Origin:  (1:3634/12.71)