SB QST @ ARL $ARLB017
ARLB017 ARRL Executive Committee Reviews Preliminary 5 MHz 
Band Petition

ZCZC AG17
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 17  ARLB017
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  May 14, 2001
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB017
ARLB017 ARRL Executive Committee Reviews Preliminary 5 MHz 
Band Petition

Meeting May 5 in Dallas, Texas, the ARRL Executive Committee
reviewed a preliminary draft Petition for Rule Making seeking a new
US ham band in the vicinity of 5 MHz. Experimental operation in that
part of the spectrum under a license issued to the ARRL has been
going on since 1999.

The Executive Committee agreed that the petition should seek a
domestic secondary allocation around 5 MHz for the Amateur Service
with a bandwidth of 150 kHz. Executive Committee members will review
the completed draft petition before it's filed with the FCC,
possibly before the next ARRL Board meeting in July.

Participants in the ARRL WA2XSY experimental operation on 5 MHz have
established that an allocation at 5 MHz could improve emergency
communication capabilities by filling the gap between 80 and 40
meters. An amateur allocation in the vicinity of 5 MHz long has been
an objective of the International Amateur Radio Union.

Winning an allocation at 5 MHz--even on a domestic basis--could take
several years. Securing an international allocation will be more
difficult and take even longer. Consideration of an allocation at 5
MHz is not on the agenda for WRC-03 nor on the preliminary agenda
for WRC-05/06.

In other matters, the Executive Committee was told that an FCC
Notice of Proposed Rule Making still is expected soon in response to
the ARRL's petition, RM-9404, seeking Amateur Radio access to the
low-frequency spectrum. Filed in late 1998, the ARRL petition asks
the FCC to establish LF allocations in the vicinity of 136 kHz and
between 160 and 190 kHz.

ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, also told the Committee that
the ARRL's Application for Review that seeks to clarify the FCC's
PRB-1 limited preemption policy with respect to amateur antennas is
pending before the full Commission. The ARRL wants the full
Commission to review--and reverse--an FCC staff decision declining
to extend PRB-1 coverage to include CC&Rs--covenants, conditions and
restrictions. The EC agreed to request an en banc presentation to
the full FCC this fall, after new Commission appointees have been
seated.

The Committee also was told that favorable FCC action is anticipated
on a petition seeking to upgrade Amateur Radio's status from
secondary to primary at 2400 to 2402 MHz. The ARRL recently asked
the FCC to elevate Amateur Radio from secondary to primary at 2300
to 2305 MHz.

The minutes of the ARRL Executive Committee meeting in Dallas are
available on the ARRL Web site,
http://www.arrl.org/announce/ec_minutes_466.html.
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