FCC Part 97 Ham Radio Changes. Post #1161.

FCC Part 97 Ham Radio Changes
(http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2017/june/fcc-part-97-ham-radio-changes.htm).
Accessed on 15 June 2017, 14:30 hrs, UTC.
Source:  http://www.southgatearc.org.
Please click link or insert title URL into your browser search box to read the full report.

Comment:

Amateur Radio operators in the United States have waited for almost five years to gain use of the 630 and 2200 meter bands, which were approved by the WRC-12 Conference in Geneva back in 2012.

That dream will become fact sometime this summer.  On 14 June 2017, the FCC WRC-12 Implementation Report and Order was published in the Federal Register, making the WRC-12 recommendations part of the rules and regulations governing the Amateur Radio Service in the United States.

Here are the main points of the Report and Order:

• Part 97 - Allocation of 472–479 kHz and 135.7–137.8 kHz bands to the Amateur Service on a secondary basis.

• Part 15 - § 15.113 Power line carrier systems 
An electric power utility entity shall not operate a new or modified power line carrier (PLC) system in the 135.7–137.8 kHz and/or 472–479 kHz bands if a previously coordinated amateur station pursuant to § 97.301(g)(2) of this chapter is located within one kilometer of the transmission lines conducting the PLC signal.

• Part 80 to authorize radio buoy operations in the 1900–2000 kHz band under a ship station license.

Regarding the implementation date the Report and Order says: 
Effective July 14, 2017, except for amendments to §§ 97.3, 97.15(c), 97.301(b) through (d), 97.303(g), 97.305(c), and 97.313(k) and (l), which contain new or modified information collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Public Law 104–13, that are not effective until approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Commission will publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date once OMB approves.

Read the document at 
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-06-14/pdf/2017-09887.pdf

This is certainly good news for radio amateurs in the United States.  A special thank you goes out to all of those delegates, experimenters, and government officials who made the new access possible.  Pending OMB approval,  radio amateurs in the United States will have official use of the 630/2200 meter bands on 14 July 2017.

For the latest Amateur Radio news and information, please visit these websites:

http://www.HawaiiARRL.info.
https://oahuarrlnews.wordpress.com.
https://bigislandarrlnews.wordpress.com.
http://www.kh6jrm.info (breaking news for radio amateurs).
http://www.arrl.org.
http://www.arrl.org/arrl-audio-news (podcast issued each Friday).

Other sites of interest:

http://hawaiisciencedigest.com (science and technology news for radio amateurs).
https://hawaiiintelligencedigest.com (trends in geopolitical intelligence and cybersecurity).
https://paper.li/f-1482109921 (a daily summary of key geopolitical events around the world).

Be sure to check the blog sidebars for more antenna and propagation articles.

Opinions expressed in this blog are mine unless otherwise stated.

Thanks for joining us today.

Aloha es 73 de Russ (KH6JRM)