FCC adopts digital broadcasting standard
The FCC has adopted the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) standard for US HF Broadcasting Service (HFBC)
digital transmission and taken related actions that it anticipates will reinvigorate HFBC. DRM is capable of
providing near-FM quality sound within current AM emission bandwidths. Adoption of the DRM standard
was among several actions the FCC took in a wide-ranging Report and Order (R&O) in response to
World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03)--ET Docket 04-139. The FCC agreed with a
recommendation from the National Association of Shortwave Broadcasters (NASB) to set a 10-kW mean
minimum power level for digital transmissions in order to minimize interference and conform to
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) spectrum masks. The FCC authorized both digital audio
broadcasting and datacasting. The FCC said channels using digitally modulated emissions may share the
same spectrum or be interleaved with analog emissions in the same HFBC band, provided the protection
afforded to the analog emissions is at least as great as that currently in place for analog-to-analog
protection. The Commission authorized double-sideband (DSB), single-sideband (SSB), and digital
transmissions in HF bands between 5900 and 26,100 kHz, and it set minimum HFBC power levels of 50 kW
PEP for SSB. DRM was demonstrated at the National Association of Broadcasters convention this past
week in Las Vegas. In the same proceeding the FCC also reallocated the 7100-7200 kHz band to the
Amateur Service on a co-primary basis and reallocated the 7350-7400 kHz band to the HFBC Service on a
co-primary basis with the fixed service until March 29, 2009, after which it will be allocated exclusively for
broadcasting.
Experimental License on Executive Committee Agenda
NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 22, 2005--The ARRL has applied to the FCC for a Part 5 Experimental license on
behalf of a group of radio amateurs interested in operating in the vicinity of 500 kHz. ARRL General Counsel
Chris Imlay, W3KD, announced the filing during a meeting of the ARRL Executive Committee April 9 in
Denver. The experimental application was among several items the EC dealt with in addition to the
previously reported recommendations to the ARRL Board of Directors regarding a planned regulation-by-
bandwidth petition. If granted, the two-year Part 5 license would permit experimentation and research
between 495 and 510 kHz--just below the Standard AM Broadcast Band--at power levels of up to 20 W
effective radiated power. Modes would be CW and PSK31. ARRL Member Fred Raab, W1FR, of Burlington,
Vermont, would manage the project, which calls for 23 discrete fixed sites across the US. The license
application requests authorization for experimental stations at Raab's QTH in Vermont as well as at sites in
Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire,
New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
US House Resolution Calls on FCC to Evaluate BPL Interference, Review
Rules (Apr 28, 2005)
Rep Michael Ross, WD5DVR, of Arkansas, has
introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives calling on the
FCC to "conduct a full and complete analysis" of radio interference from
broadband over power line (BPL). The resolution, H. Res 230, says the
Commission should comprehensively evaluate BPL's interference potential
incorporating "extensive public review and comment," and--in light of that
analysis--to "reconsider and review" its new BPL rules. If approved by the
full House, the non-binding resolution, introduced April 21, would express
the requests as "the sense of the House of Representatives." The FCC
adopted rules to govern so-called Access BPL last October 14 in ET Docket
04-37.
HAMSAT is now VO-52
The latest Amateur Radio satellite now has an OSCAR designation. Acting at the request of AMSAT-India's
Nagesh Upadhayaya, VU2NUD, AMSAT-NA's Bill Tynan, W3XO, has announced that HAMSAT (or VUsat)
is VUsat-52 or VO-52 for short. "Congratulation on the successful launch of HAMSAT," Tynan told VU2NUD.
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