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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 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ