Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Minor FCC Amateur Rule Changes Effective June 1

From: Alan Dixon <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 8 May 2004 19:35:58 -0400

Forwarded From: "ARRL Letter Mailing List"
Date: Fri, 7 May 2004 17:52:56 -0400
Subject: The ARRL Letter, Vol 23, No 19

***************
The ARRL Letter
Vol. 23, No. 19
May 7, 2004
***************

==>MINOR FCC AMATEUR RULE CHANGES BECOME EFFECTIVE JUNE 1

The FCC says minor amendments to various Amateur Radio (Part 97) rules
become effective June 1. The regulatory changes, which the FCC made on
its
own motion rather than in reaction to any petitions, appeared May 5 in
the
Federal Register.

The most extensive and substantive rule change involves §97.307, Emission
standards, where the FCC revised the wording of §97.307(d), which defines
spurious emissions. The updated language imposes a slightly higher
standard on newer transmitters or amplifiers of any power level. Starting
June 1, the rule will provide that:

   * the mean power of any spurious emission from HF transmitters or
external RF power amplifiers installed after January 1, 2003, must be at
least 43 dB below the mean power of the fundamental emission.

   * the mean power of any spurious emission from HF transmitters or
external RF power amplifiers installed on or before January 1, 2003, must
not exceed 50 mW and must be at least 40 dB below the mean power of the
fundamental emission. If the mean power output of such as transmitter is
less than 5 W, the attenuation must be at least 30 dB.

Still exempt from the provisions of §97.307(d) are transmitters built
before April 15, 1977, or those first marketed before January 1, 1978.

The FCC also has redefined what constitutes an Amateur Radio operator.
The
change reflects the advent in the late 1990s of the Universal Licensing
System <http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/> electronic licensee database. Under
the amended §97.3(a)(1) an amateur operator is "a person named in an
amateur operator/primary license station grant on the ULS consolidated
licensee database to be the control operator of an amateur station." The
current rule defines an amateur operator as "a person holding a written
authorization to be the control operator of an amateur station."

Anther change eliminates Technician or Technician with Element 1 credit
licensees from the classes of operators permitted to prepare Element 1 (5
WPM Morse) and Element 2 (Technician written) examinations.

The Commission ordered the rule changes and additional wording updates
within the context of a larger, wide-ranging Notice of Proposed Rule
Making (NPRM) in WT Docket 04-140. That NPRM addresses several Amateur
Radio-related petitions and proposes revisions to operating privileges
(see "FCC Proposes Wide-Ranging Changes to Amateur Service Rules--Not
Restructuring" <http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/04/15/102/>). It
also denied several petitions.

The FCC continues to seek comments on the various proposals put forth in
WT Docket 04-140. Comments are due by Tuesday, June 15, and reply
comments
by Wednesday, June 30. Among other changes, the FCC has recommended
adopting the ARRL's "Novice refarming" plan
<http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/retrieve.cgi?native_or_pdf=pdf&id_doc
ument=6513084388>.

===========================================================
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American Radio Relay League--225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111 
tel 860-594-0200; <http://www.arrl.org>. 
Jim Haynie, W5JBP, President.

Material from The ARRL Letter may be republished or reproduced in whole
or
in part in any form without additional permission. Credit must be given
to
The ARRL Letter and The American Radio Relay League.

==>Editorial questions or comments: Rick Lindquist, N1RL, [email-masked]

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