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May 7 2008
Ken D. Chafin
3624 Foothill Road #1
La Crescenta, CA 91214
Leon J. Brown
1627 Fair Park Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90014
Re: Petition for Rule Making filed October 10, 2007
Dear Mr. Chafin and Mr. Brown:
This is in response to the Petition for Rule Making that you filed on October
10, 2007, requesting that the Commission propose to expand the frequencies on
which an amateur station operating as a repeater (repeater station) may
operate. Specifically, the Petition requests that the Commission amend Section
97.205(b) of the Commissions Rules to allow repeater stations to transmit in
the 145.5-145.8 MHz frequency segment of the 2 meter (m) amateur service band
(144-148 MHz), in addition to the 2 m band frequency segments currently
authorized for repeater station operation. For the reasons set forth below, we
deny the Petition.
The Petition argues that additional spectrum is needed for repeater stations
because some amateur repeater stations have begun using certain digital
communication protocols, and digital voice operation is incompatible with
existing analog operations [because d]igital voice users are unable to
determine if the desired frequency is in use by analog users and can
inadvertently cause harmful interference to those users. It also argues that
coordinating groups have been unable to separate analog and digital voice
repeater operations to avoid harmful interference because the available
repeater spectrum in the 2 m band is fully occupied by existing analog users in
most metropolitan areas.
After consideration of your request, we conclude that the Petition does not
present grounds for the Commission to propose to amend its rules. Repeater
stations are authorized to transmit on any frequency in the 2 m band except the
144.0-144.5 MHz and 145.5-146.0 MHz frequency segments. These two segments
were excluded to minimize the possibility of harmful interference to other
amateur service stations and operating activities, including weak
signaloperations. Allocating an additional three hundred kilohertz of the 2 m
band to repeater operation would not be consistent with that concern. Rather,
it would likely result in increased interference to non-repeater stations.
Moreover, to the extent that the petition proposes a separate frequency segment
for use by digital but not analog repeater stations, we note that when the
Commission has previously addressed the issue of interference between amateur
stations engaging in different operating activities, it has declined to revise
the rules to limit a frequency segment to one emission type in order to prevent
interference to the operating activities of other amateur radio service
licensees. Rather, the Commission noted that interference between amateur
stations is already addressed by Section 97.101(b) and (d) of the Commissions
Rules, which require amateur licensees to cooperate in selecting transmitting
channels and in making the most effective use of amateur frequencies, provide
that no amateur frequency will be assigned for the exclusive use of any station
allocated to the Amateur Radio Service, and prohibit operators from willfully
or maliciously interfering with or
causing interference to any radio communication or signal.
Based on the record before us, we conclude that the petition has not set forth
sufficient reasons for the Commission to propose to amend Section 97.205(b) to
allow repeater stations to transmit in the 145.5-145.8 MHz frequency segment.
Consequently, we deny the Petition.
Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Section 4(i) of the Communications
Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. § 154(i), and Section 1.401(e) of the
Commissions Rules, 47 C.F.R. § 1.401(e), the Petition for Rule Making filed on
October 10, 2007 by Ken D. Chafin and Leon J. Brown IS DENIED.
This action is taken under delegated authority pursuant to Sections
0.131 and 0.331 of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.131 and 0.331.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
COMMISSION
Scot Stone
Deputy Chief, Mobility Division
Wireless Telecommunications
Bureau
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