FCC petition to re-establish narrowband RTTY/Data sub-bands

The debate on mode vs bandwidth band planning continues in the States with the Petition for Rule Making RM-11392 which is now open for comment.

In most of the world Radio Amateurs use a voluntary bandplan based on bandwidth but in the United States the bandplan is mandatory, dictated to Amateurs by their regulator the FCC. Any changes to it can entail a long drawn out process that can take many years to complete.

The FCC first tried to change from a mode based bandplan to one based on bandwidth back in 1977, at the time the ARRL opposed it and was successfull in defeating it. In recent years the ARRL has been trying to get the FCC to
re-introduce band planning by bandwidth a move which has generated controversy in the Amateur community.

The latest petition provides a useful insight into some of the issues that are fuelling the debate.

Petition for Rule Making RM-11392 was filed by Mark Miller N5RFX and "asks the FCC to re-establish the narrowband nature of the RTTY/Data subbands in the 80 through
10-meter bands".

The 30 day comment period started 18th December and the petition can be seen at

RM-11392 Part 1
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?
native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6519008574

RM-11392 Part 2
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?
native_or_pdf=pdf&id_document=6519008575

To search for filed comments enter RM-11392 in the
"1. Proceeding" field at
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/comsrch_v2.cgi