FCC fixes typographical errors in Part 97

The FCC released a Memorandum Opinion and Order (MOO) on Wednesday, March 12, in an effort to correct typographical errors in Commission's Rules, including rules affecting Part 97, the Amateur Radio Service.

According to the FCC, these changes are "non-substantive editorial revisions" and do not introduce new rules or change old rules applicable to Amateur Radio operators. The MOO is available at, http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-530A1.pdf.

In this MOO, the FCC is updating the Allocation Table and service rules for the Amateur Radio Service with regard to the band 75.5-81 GHz. In 2003, the Commission released a Report and Order (R&O), commonly called the 70/80/90 GHz R&O, that adopted a transition plan for the amateur use of the segment 75.5-76 GHz. The Commission concluded that moving Amateur Radio operations out of the 75.5-76 GHz band would not pose a major inconvenience to the Amateur Radio Service, but would "substantially benefit future fixed services, because it would eliminate the possibility of harmful interference from amateurs."

Accordingly, the primary allocations to the Amateur and Amateur Satellite Services in the 75.5-76 GHz band were downgraded from primary to secondary status, with secondary use ceasing on January 1, 2006. After that date, the band 75.5-76 GHz was no longer available for use by the Amateur Service or the Amateur Satellite Service.

This transition plan was codified in footnote US387 and in Section

97.303(r)(3) of the Commission's Amateur Service rules. Because the transition period has concluded, the Commission "removed expired footnote US387 from the list of U.S. footnotes and we are amending Part 97 of the Commission's Rules to reflect this allocation change

by: (1) revising the entry "75.5-81.0" GHz in Section 97.301(a) to read "76-81" GHz; (2) removing paragraphs (r)(2) and (r)(3) from Section 97.303; and (3) renumbering paragraph (r)(1) as paragraph (r)."

In October 2006, the FCC released the Amateur Phone Band Expansion R&O, that expanded the phone bands. With the release of the MOO, the FCC is making two changes.

The first change to the October 2006 R&O is simply a correction of a typographical error in the Rules for the General phone allocation on 15 meters. In the Amateur Phone Band Expansion R&O, the Commission revised 21.30-21.45 MHz to read 21.275-21.45 MHz, but the current codification of the rule does not reflect this change. All the Commission did was to bring the Rules into alignment with the R&O.

The second change fixed an omission in the Novice / Technician allocation on 40 meters. The FCC found that when the Amateur Phone Band Expansion R&O was released, "the Commission expanded the frequency segment authorized for amateur voice communications within the 40 meter band by correspondingly reducing a band segment used for narrowband emission types by 25 kHz, from 7.100-7.150 MHz to 7.100-7.125 MHz."

The revised frequency table in Section 97.301(e) of the FCC's Rules that lists authorized frequency bands for Novice and Technician Class inadvertently omitted 7.100-7.125 MHz from Regions 1 and 3.

"Because the Amateur Phone Band Expansion R&O addressed the division of amateur frequencies among permissible emission types and not between geographic ITU Regions, we must further amend Section 97.301(e), as set forth in Appendix C, to implement the Commission's decision. Specifically, we are revising the 40 meter band by reinserting the segment '7.100-7.125' MHz in the Region 1 and Region 3 columns."

The FCC also took the opportunity to remove a double negative from Section 97.303(b). Before the release of the MOO, this Section read:

"No amateur station transmitting in the 1900-2000 kHz segment, the 70 cm band, the 33 cm band, the 23 cm band, the 13 cm band, the 9 cm band, the 5 cm band, the 3 cm band, the 24.05-24.25 GHz segment, the 76-77.5 GHz segment, the 78-81 GHz segment, the 136-141 GHz segment, and the 241-248 GHz segment SHALL NOT cause harmful interference to, nor is protected from interference due to the operation of, the Federal radiolocation service."

The FCC chose to take out the word "NOT" to bring the rule's words in line with the spirit of the rule.