<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Just an FYI for those who don't get the ARRL Bulletins.<div><br></div><div>73's,</div><div>Clarence..<br><div><div><br><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>From: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">"ARRL Web site" <<a href="mailto:memberlist@www.arrl.org">memberlist@www.arrl.org</a>></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Date: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">October 22, 2008 2:37:55 PM GMT-04:00</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>To: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">W2PGS</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Cc: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">Subscribed ARRL Members: ;</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" color="#000000" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: #000000"><b>Subject: </b></font><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b>ARLB014 ARRL Files Petition with FCC against Experimental License Using 40 Meter Band</b></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> </div><div>SB QST @ ARL $ARLB014<br>ARLB014 ARRL Files Petition with FCC against Experimental License<br>Using 40 Meter Band<br><br>ZCZC AG14<br>QST de W1AW <br>ARRL Bulletin 14 ARLB014<br>From ARRL Headquarters <br>Newington CT October 22, 2008<br>To all radio amateurs <br><br>SB QST ARL ARLB014<br>ARLB014 ARRL Files Petition with FCC against Experimental License<br>Using 40 Meter Band<br><br>On Monday, October 20, the ARRL filed a Petition for Modification or<br>Cancellation of Experimental Authorization (Petition) with the FCC<br>with respect to WE2XRH. According to the FCC, this experimental<br>license -- issued to Digital Aurora Radio Technologies (DART) --<br>proposes to "test digital transmissions in 4.50-5.10 MHz, 7.10-7.60<br>MHz and 9.25-9.95 MHz for a terrestrial digital radio service to the<br>citizens of Alaska."<br><br>The League's Petition states that DART's hopes that this<br>experimentation "will lead to a terrestrial, high-frequency (HF)<br>digital aural (domestic broadcast) service in Alaska. Ostensibly to<br>study the operation of this 'shortwave' system at high latitudes,<br>and apparently in order to roll out this domestic broadcast service,<br>DART specifies exceptionally high power operation in various<br>segments of the HF spectrum. ARRL's interest in this matter is<br>limited to the fact that the experimental license includes the band<br>7.1 -7.3 MHz, allocated domestically exclusively to the Amateur<br>Radio Service."<br><br>"It is astonishing that the FCC would grant this experimental<br>license for operation at such a high power level in a band that is<br>allocated exclusively to a service with which such operation is<br>clearly incompatible," said ARRL Chief Executive Officer David<br>Sumner, K1ZZ. "The only possible explanation is that it was an<br>error; the only reasonable step for the FCC to take is to correct<br>its error immediately, either by cancelling the license or by<br>amending the frequency ranges to delete 7.1 -7.3 MHz."<br><br>It is the ARRL's view that "Simply stated, there is a 100% certainty<br>of severe, continuous, harmful interference from operation of the<br>DART facilities as authorized by the Commission to ongoing Amateur<br>Radio operation at 7.1 to 7.3 MHz. This authorization must be<br>modified immediately (if not cancelled completely), so as to delete<br>the band 7.1-7.3 MHz" from DART's experimental license application.<br><br>The ARRL ascertains that DART has been permitted operation in the<br>7.1-7.6 MHz band using a 20 kHz bandwidth digital emission at a<br>transmitter output power of 100 kW and an ERP of 660 kW within a<br>radius of 1500 kilometers of Delta Junction, Alaska. In the<br>Petition, ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, points out that<br>while DART says it will coordinate with the High Frequency<br>Coordination Conference (HFCC), "[i]t does not propose any<br>coordination with any individual or entity in the Amateur Service.<br>There is no showing whatsoever how DART proposes to avoid<br>interference to Amateur Radio operation at 7.1-7.3 MHz. In fact,<br>there is no indication that DART is even aware of the allocation."<br><br>Calling the 40 meter band "perhaps the most heavily-utilized Amateur<br>HF band in the United States," the ARRL states that it can see "no<br>compatible use that DART can make of this band in any state or<br>territory of the United States, at any time of the day or night" and<br>will cause "preclusive interference" to amateurs using that portion<br>of the band. "The entire 7.0 - 7.3 MHz band is used heavily within<br>Alaska, especially by radio amateurs located in its remotest areas,<br>at all times. It is particularly critical in times of emergency due<br>to its daytime and nighttime propagation characteristics. The band<br>is also used at all times of the day and night for worldwide<br>communications by radio amateurs."<br><br>The League's Petition points out that the FCC's Rules at Section<br>5.83(b) state that experimental license grants are subject to change<br>or cancellation by the Commission at any time without hearing if in<br>the Commission's discretion the need for such action arises: "ARRL<br>submits that this application should never have been granted as<br>applied for in the first place, and there is an urgent need to<br>prohibit operation of the DART high power transmitters in the<br>entirety of the 7.1-7.3 MHz band. It is likely that DART has been<br>under a misapprehension that the band is among the international<br>broadcast allocations, because, in ITU Regions 1 and 3, the band is<br>allocated to that Service. However, in Region 2, in Alaska, it is<br>not." After March 29, 2009, 7.1-7.2 MHz will not be available for<br>broadcasting anywhere.<br><br>The League goes on to say that Section 5.85 of the Commission's<br>Rules governs the selection and use of frequencies by holders of<br>experimental authorizations and adamantly states that "there is no<br>justification submitted by DART for the use of the frequency bands<br>requested, particularly with respect to 7.1-7.3 MHz. It is unclear<br>why such large segments of spectrum were specified by DART, given<br>its stated course of experimentation, and given its narrow occupied<br>bandwidth" and notes that DART "should have been required to conduct<br>its frequency coordination efforts in advance of the filing of its<br>application."<br><br>The ARRL contends that DART's proposed facility cannot meet the<br>FCC's requirements, as outlined in the Commission's Rules, Section<br>5.111(a)(2), "and there is no showing that the transmitter power is<br>the lowest practical value consistent with the program of<br>experimentation. Nor has it even taken Amateur Radio operation into<br>account." This portion of the Rules state that when transmitting,<br>the experimental licensee "must use every precaution to ensure that<br>the radio frequency energy emitted will not cause harmful<br>interference to the services carried on by stations operating in<br>accordance with the Table of Frequency Allocations of part 2 of this<br>chapter and, further, that the power radiated is reduced to the<br>lowest practical value consistent with the program of<br>experimentation for which the station authorization is granted. If<br>harmful interference to an established radio service develops, the<br>licensee shall cease transmissions and such transmissions shall not<br>be resumed until it is certain that harmful interference will not be<br>caused."<br><br>Calling for DART's WE2XRH experimental license to "be cancelled<br>entirely, or at least modified so as to delete the reference to any<br>Amateur HF allocation," the ARRL reminded the FCC that DART failed<br>to make any showing as to how it would avoid interference to Amateur<br>radio operation at 7.1-7.3 MHz: "ARRL submits that such a showing<br>could not be made in any case."<br>NNNN<br>/EX<br><br><br></div></div><br></div></div></body></html>