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US ARRL Files Regulation-by-Bandwidth Petition with FCCThe Winlink Development Team enthusiastically supports the American Radio relay League (ARRL) proposal submitted to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) advocating regulation-by-bandwidth. If accepted it will be a milestone in regulation of amateur radio in the United States. It will significantly contribute to amateur being able to participate more actively in digital communications, the mode supported by Winlink. A related aspect is the continuing support for self-regulation by amateurs. The following is an extract of ARRL's announcement: QUOTE The US ARRL has formally asked the FCC to adopt the League's plan to segment the Amateur Radio bands solely by emission bandwidth rather than by mode. The Petition for Rule Making, filed November 14, recommends what the ARRL called "a shift in regulatory philosophy" that would encourage and facilitate the development and refinement of digital techniques and advanced technologies. At the same time, the League said, accommodating new technologies would not come at the expense of current operating modes, including double-sideband AM phone. "This petition seeks for the Amateur Radio Service the flexibility to experiment with new digital transmission methods and types to be developed in the future," the League's petition said, "while permitting present operating modes to continue to be used for as long as there are radio amateurs who wish to use them." The ARRL said the changes it suggests will also update the FCC's rules and eliminate the need for "cumbersome procedures" to determine whether a new digital mode is legal under Part 97. The petition filed this week has been in the works for some time now. The ARRL Board of Directors adopted the petition's guiding principle in 2002 and invited comments from the Amateur Radio community in the summer of 2004. It reflects expert input from the ARRL Ad Hoc HF Digital Committee as well as from ARRL staff. Comments from League members and an ARRL Executive Committee review led to further fine tuning. ARRL's concludes that its petition: "seeks to facilitate and encourage the development, refinement and use of new digital technologies without the regulatory remnants developed at a time when the principal emissions used in the Amateur Radio Service were Morse telegraphy and single- or double-sideband amplitude-modulated telephony." UNQUOTE The complete article can be found at: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2005/11/15/1/?nc=1 AussieWinlink |
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