Last spring, the FCC issued an ORDER and NPRM covering a lot of stuff that originated with the 2015 World Radio Conference (WRC 2015). Um… checking our calendar, we see that it’s 2023 and ¾. But who’s counting?

For hams, we care mostly about the part concerning 60 meters. And apparently not all that many of us care about that, but we’re pressing on anyway.

Back at the WRC, they officially approved a band plan for worldwide Secondary status for ham radio on a 15 kHz wide band between 5351.5 – 5366.5 MHz. With an effective power level of 9 Watts. Ugh.

In this NPRM, the FCC is asking if that’s what they should do. Or if they should thumb their nose at the world (as many other countries have done… especially Canada) and keep the existing 5 ‘channels’ and 100 Watt (EIRP) power level. Or some combination of the above.

That NPRM was issued last April. We’ve been waiting for ‘publication in the Federal Register’ to make it official, and begin the 60-day comment period. And waiting. And waiting. That shoe finally dropped on September 30. But even though the NPRM promised 60 days, the FCC says you have until October 30 to file comments. We did the math. That’s 30 days. We can handle that, but it is curious.

Meanwhile, it’s our chance to review East Coast Host Gary K4AAQ’s Genius Plan for 60 Meters once again (because we’ ve done like two shows about that just this year). And this is the first time West Coast Host David W0DHG gets to weigh in. David thinks it’s too complicated. You decide… and file your comments by October 30.

LINKS:

— File your comments here, on the ECFS site

— Review everybody else’s comments here, also on the ECFS site

— HamRadioNow’s YouTube Playlist of our previous shows on 60 meters (way more than you think)

— FCC NPRM with Gary’s Notes (pdf)

Gary’s Genius Plan CHART (pdf)