ARLA/CLUSTER: FCC recusa petição para criar a banda dos 4 metros em os EUA

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

FCC turns down petition to create a 4 meter band in the US

It does not appear that US radio amateurs will gain a new band at 70
MHz anytime soon.

The FCC has denied a Petition for Rule Making filed earlier this year
byGlen E. Zook, K9STH, of Richardson, Texas, seeking to add a 4 meter
band to Amateur Radio's inventory of VHF allocations. Zook had floated
the proposal in 2010, and his petition was dated January 27, 2010, but
the FCC said it did not receive it until last May.

Zook asked the Commission to allocate 70.0 to 70.5 MHz to Amateur
Radio because, Zook's Petition asserted, "the recent migration of
broadcast television stations to primarily UHF frequencies basically
eliminates any probable interference to television channels 4 or 5."
VHF TV channel 4 occupies 66 to 72 MHz.

"Because the Zook Petition is based on a faulty premise - that
broadcasting use within the 70.0-70.5 MHz band will diminish or cease
- its argument that amateur band users could operate without causing
harmful interference to any existing service lacks sufficient support
to warrant our further consideration, The FCC said in a September 17
Order denying the Petition.

The Order may be found on the web in PDF format at,
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2014/
db0917/DA-14-1347A1.pdf

The FCC pointed out that three full-power TV stations, 110 low-power
TV stations and translators, and six Class A TV station now occupy
channel 4 in the US. In addition, the Commission, through an "ongoing
incentive auction proceeding," is attempting to "repurpose" a portion
of television broadcast spectrum for broadband operations and "repack
the remaining TV stations into a smaller frequency range." Under
certain scenarios, the FCC said, channel 4 could become even more
heavily populated by broadcast users in the future.

"Given the complexity of the incentive auction proceeding, we also
conclude that it would not serve the public interest to further
complicate that unique undertaking by proposing to introduce a new
service into the broadcasting frequencies at this time," the FCC said.
The Order noted that fixed and mobile services will continue to
operate in the frequencies between channels 4 and 5 (76 to 82 MHz).

As Zook noted in his petition, a 4 meter band has been authorized for
Amateur Radio use in the UK and in a number of other European and
African countries. The FCC said that since it wasn't planning to grant
Zook's petition, it declined to evaluate his claims "regarding the
benefits that amateurs would derive from use of the band."

Zook's original proposal asked to have the FCC open up the allocation
to all classes of Amateur Radio licensees.

Brian Justin, WA1ZMS, operated an Experimental Service beacon
transmitter from Virginia on 70.005 MHz under the call sign WE9XFT.

At the time his Experimental license was granted in 2010, Justin told
the ARRL that he was not seeking to have the FCC create a 4 meter
band. "This beacon is purely for radio science for use as an E-skip
detection device," he explained.

Fonte: The American Radio Relay League