Since I've been travelling in Asia, I just now had a chance to read the recent FCC omnibus ruling. It seems that many hams, including ARRL (and myself) were confused by the initial reports and synopsis of the R&O and the ruling. That is not surprising, since the FCC actions were poorly written, self-contradictory, and unclear. But, the new FCC definition of "Data" does not have the effect that some of us thought from the first news.
Here is a list I just put together, to better understand which common ham digital modes are affected or not affected by the new FCC rules. I don't see any common digital data modes being used by hams that are J2D. It seems that ARRL and everyone else were worried about a 500Hz J2D limit over nothing. 73---Bonnie VR2/KQ6XA Emission Designators for Common Amateur Radio Digital Data / Text / Fax Frequency Modulated RTTY (FSK) = F1D / F1B / F1C MFSK (FSK) = F1D / F1B / F1C ALE (FSK) = F1D / F1B / F1C PACTOR (FSK) = F1D / F1B / F1C PACKET (FSK) = F1D / F1B / F1C FSK31 (FSK) = F1D / F1B / F1C 8FSK DTM ARQ (FSK) = F1D / F1B / F1C 8FSK DBM ARQ (FSK) = F1D / F1B / F1C FMHELL (FSK) = F1B / F1C Phase Modulated BPSK31 (PSK) = G1D / G1B / G1C QPSK31 (QPSK) = G1D / G1B / G1C PSK63 (PSK) = G1D / G1B / G1C Q15X25 (QPSK) = G1D / G1B / G1C MT63 (DBPSK) = G1D / G1B / G1C PACTORII (DPSK) = G1D / G1B / G1C PACTORIII (DBPSK or DQPSK) = G1D / G1B / G1C MIL-STD 188-110 (PSK) = G1D / G1B / G1C Amplitude and Angle Modulated Simultaneously Olivia (AMFSK) = D1D / D1B / D1C OFDM (AMPSK) = D1D / D1B / D1C Duration or Position Modulated FELDHELL (PWM) = L1B / L1C FELDHELL (PPM) = M1B / M1C New FCC Data Definition effective 15 December 2006: (2) Data. Telemetry, telecommand and computer communications emissions having designators with A, C, D, F, G, H, J or R as the first symbol; 1 as the second symbol; D as the third symbol, and emissions A1C, F1C, F2C, J2C, J3C, and J2D having an occupied bandwidth of 500 Hz or less when transmitted on an amateur service frequency below 30 MHz. Only adigital code of a type specifically authorized in this part may be transmitted. .
