One of our board reports discussed the commercial services moving to narrowbanding, and what this meant for Amateur Radio. Just received the communication below, which may be of some interest.
A lot of obsolete gear will most likely be available for amateur radio use soon.
'73 de JIM N2ZZ
ARRL Vice Director
Roanoke Division
ARRL, the national association for Amateur Radio™
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEWS
MEDIA CONTACT
December 23, 2010
Robert Kenny: (202) 418-2668
Email: robert.kenny@fcc.gov
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION TO HOLD WORKSHOP ON JANUARY 26, 2011
ON VHF/UHF NARROWBANDING
Washington, D.C. - The Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety
and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) today announced it will hold a
workshop on VHF/UHF narrowbanding to assist licensees in completing the
transition to narrowband radio communications by January 1, 2013. The
event will be held on Wednesday, January 26, 2011, from 1:00 p.m.-4:30
p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room (TW-C305).
The Commission's rules have set January 1, 2013 as the deadline for all
VHF and UHF Public Safety and Industrial/Business land mobile radio
(LMR) systems in the 150-174 MHz and 421-512 MHz bands to migrate from
25 kHz channel bandwidth to 12.5 kHz or narrower technology. Timely
completion of narrowbanding will ensure more efficient use of spectrum,
relieve congestion, and result in increased channel availability for LMR
systems.
The workshop will provide Public Safety and Industrial/Business
licensees with information regarding the narrowbanding transition path,
and will include input from federal agencies, equipment manufacturers,
and public safety organizations to help ensure timely compliance with
the deadline across the nation. The Commission will release a complete
agenda closer to the event date.
The workshop will be open to the public; however, admittance will be
limited to the seating available. Individuals interested in attending
this event must pre-register on-line at
http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/event-registration.html, where they will be
asked to provide their name, title, organization affiliation, and
contact information. Individuals may also contact Deandrea Wilson at
Deandrea.Wilson@fcc.gov or via phone at 202-418-0703 regarding
pre-registration. The deadline for pre-registration is Monday, January
24, 2011.
Audio/video coverage of the meeting will be broadcast live with open
captioning over the Internet from the FCC's web page at
www.fcc.gov/live. The FCC's webcast is free to the public. Those who
watch the live video stream of the event may email event-related
questions to livequestions@fcc.gov
<mailto:livequestions@fcc.gov%20\%20mailto:livequestions@fcc.gov> .
Depending on the volume of questions and time constraints, the panel
moderators will work to respond to as many questions as possible during
the workshop.
Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities are available
upon request. Please include a description of the accommodation you
will need. Individuals making such requests must include their contact
information should FCC staff need to contact them for more information.
Requests should be made as early as possible. Please send an e-mail to
fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau:
202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418-0432 (TTY). For additional information
about the meeting, please contact Susan McLean at (202) 418-7868 or by
email: Susan.McLean@fcc.gov. For information on narrowbanding please
visit: www.fcc.gov/narrowbanding.
- FCC -
For more news and information about the Federal Communications
Commission
please visit: www.fcc.gov <http://www.fcc.gov/>