Business Consortium Wants to Put Commercial Digital Radio Within the HF Bands

Submitted by K3EEZ on Thu, 07/13/2023 - 05:17
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I spoke about this on the Holly Net this week. This is the link to the article I was referring to which, in turn, contains a link to the FCC petition.

https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/market-makers-want-to-expand-th...

There is also now a brief mention on the ARRL website.

I was reminded of this issue by this fellow Amateur this morning. He raises some interesting points about origins of the this petition and the possible effects it may have on amateurs due to having close proximity transmitters of tens of kilowatts nearby, even if they are only adjacent to amateur frequencies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeG00x89ATI

Please like and comment on his video if you watch it to boost it's reach.

Like him, I lack the expertise to evaluate the petition on it's technical merits but perhaps this will reach others that can. My thoughts are that with the closing of SW broadcast stations around the world and AM commercial stations in the US, there should be adequate bandwidth available outside of the amateur HF frequencies.

Comments to the FCC close July 31, 2023.

K3ZAX - Thu, 07/13/2023 - 18:33

I agree but fail to see how any judge will ever see it. The issue needs activists to counter their application and any lobbyists on their behalf.

K3EEZ - Sat, 07/15/2023 - 08:08

The ARRL has a spectrum defense fund. I agree with the video creator that ARRL is the best one to fight this.

W3DWC - Fri, 07/14/2023 - 09:18

I downloaded and scanned through the petition.  It appears that the requested portion of spectrum doesn't overlap with that granted to amateurs (by comparing Appendix E at page 74 of the petition with my handy ARRL chart of Amateur Bands) although it does come close to the high edge of the 40m and 20m bands.   Do I think that this is a trojan horse?   Yes I do.