A proposal that is on the agenda for the FCC's Dec. 12 meeting would remove
amateur radio from the 9 cm. band entirely. As mandated by Congress in the
MOBILE NOW Act, the FCC is proposing to entirely eliminate our allocation in
the 3.3-3.55 GHz band as part of a plan to make much more spectrum available
for 5G mobile phone systems.
The Notice of Proposed Rule Making is WT Docket 19-348.
If enacted as proposed, this would be catastrophic for the weak signal
community that is now on 3456 MHz. I alone have nearly $10,000 worth of
equipment for 3456 MHz--with receipts to prove it. That includes transverters,
amplifiers and antennas. Each transverter cost me between $500 and $800 (U.S.)
and I have seventeen (17) 3456 transverters manufactured by either DB6NT or
DEMI.
Where was ARRL when the "MOBILE NOW" Act was approved? Why haven't we heard a
lot more about this before now? I've searched ARRL.org and can't find any
reference to "MOBILE NOW" there. I just bought another 3456 transverter after
the MOBILE NOW Act was signed into law (after being amended into another bill).
I wish I'd known that we're about to lose this band before spending still more
money on equipment for 3456.
I know about this now only because of Brennan Price's message on the "My ARRL
Voice" section of Facebook. In a comment on Brennan's posting, ARRL Director
Ria Jairam confirmed that this docket does indeed propose to remove our 9 cm.
allocation entirely.
It sounds as if the sky is falling. Can someone tell me that the sky ISN'T
falling?
-Wayne Overbeck, N6NB
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