The New England Spectrum Management Council (NESMC) reaching out to 2 meter simplex operators in its four-state coverage area to get their opinions on changes to the 2 meter band plan. At its annual meeting August 24, NESMC, the Amateur Radio repeater coordinator for Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, announced a proposal to modify the 2 meter band plan to allow for some 1 MHz split repeaters.

The proposal includes new repeater channels with outputs from 146.41 MHz to 146.49 MHz and inputs from 147.41 MHz to 147.49 MHz. Also included is a test pair, with output at 147.505 MHz and input at 146.505 MHz.

The NESMC membership ultimately will vote on this band plan, which will affect some simplex users.

There is more information on the NESMC website. There’s also a Yahoo! discussion group.

NESMC is the NFCC-certified frequency coordination body for amateur operations at 29 MHz and up in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. NESMC is also the exclusive provider of data to the ARRL Repeater Directory for these four states. — Bob DeMattia, K1IW