We have a substantial hobby in exploration, restoration and use of vintage analog equipment and, IHMO, there isn't any reasonable excuse for arbitrarily terminating this interest.
I don't know what has been discussed on other reflectors, but giving the ARRL the benefit of the doubt, there are issues that may not have anything to do with AM per-se. For example, there is likely pressure building to provide relaxed amateur licensing to accommodate the communications needs for a Homeland Security program. Separately, the present split of voice/CW may not be optimum on 80 meters, and requests, for example, have been made by some AM'ers to provide for unfettered space. Or, a bandwidth regulation change might be related to addressing the international stipulation that skill in CW remain a license requirement. One can speculate that early experiments in digital transmission might initially use a wide bandwidth; with subsequent development directed toward a reduction in bandwidth requirement, but regulation shouldn't hamper this opportunity. Perhaps the ARRL is thinking of a bandplan with several bandwidth allocations. One could be very narrow to accommodate CW and narrowband digital modes, another could be set for SSB, and/or shared for wide open experimentation in digital transmission and AM. Though not at the state of the art, PWM is one of very few voice digital modes with any "in the field" development interest on the part of amateurs. 73 de Bill, AB6MT [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "WILHITE, JIM" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "AMRadio" <AMRadio@mailman.qth.net> Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 3:01 PM Subject: [AMRadio] A rumor about limiting bandwidth Recently on another reflector I read a rumor about the ARRL proposing a maximum bandwidth limitation on subbands of 3.5 Kcy. I sent the following message to the Executive Director of the ARRL and here is his answer. I post for you consumption. Is it time to get involved with the directors? 73 Jim de W5JPW -----Original Message----- From: WILHITE, JIM [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 1:34 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Rumors Hi Dave: Another rumor has surfaced about the ARRL being supportive of limiting the bandwidth of signals. The rumor is 3.5 kHz for wideband signals. If this is true, I want you to know how adamantly I am opposed to the proposal. In a time when frequency allocations are increasing and band usage is much more congenial, I find it hard to believe that anyone would support this kind of proposal. The rumor is that the ARRL is prepared to sumit a notice of proposed rulemaking concerning this issue. Can you please tell me if that is the case and is the notice being prepared? Tnx and 73 Jim Wilhite member # 0008432524 de W5JPW Well, Jim, all I can tell you is that the ARRL opposed a 3.5-kHz bandwidth limitation the last time it was proposed, by the FCC in 1976 (Docket 20777), and I don't know anything that's changed in the meantime to alter that position. Probably what set this off was Minute 64 of the July 2002 Board Meeting which reads in its entirety: 64. On motion of Mr. Frenaye, seconded by Mr. Stinson, it was VOTED that at the next practical opportunity the ARRL shall petition the FCC to revise Part 97 to regulate subbands by signal bandwidth instead of by mode. The Board has given us no instruction as to what the petition should propose with regard to bandwidth. Absent instructions to the contrary, what we draft (nothing's been done on this as of now) will not propose new restrictions. But it's certainly true that in going from a regulatory regime based on mode of emission to one based on bandwidth there are bound to be consequences, intended and otherwise, that will have to be considered very carefully. 73, David Sumner, K1ZZ --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts --- multipart/alternative text/plain (text body -- kept) text/html The reason this message is shown is because the post was in HTML or had an attachment. Attachments are not allowed. Please post in Plain-Text only.--- _______________________________________________ AMRadio mailing list AMRadio@mailman.qth.net http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio
