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ARRL Member Bulletin

Published by the American Radio Relay League ********************************************

December 22, 2022

Rep. Lesko Introduces Bill to Replace Symbol Rate Limit with Bandwidth
Limit

Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (AZ-08) introduced a bill in the U.S. House
of Representatives (H.R. 9664) on December 21, 2022, to require that
the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) replace the current HF
digital symbol rate limit with a 2.8 kHz bandwidth limit.

After being petitioned by ARRL The National Association for Amateur
Radio® in 2013 (RM-11708) for the same relief, in 2016 the Commission
issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (WT Docket No. 16-239) in which
it agreed that the HF symbol rate limit was outmoded, served no
purpose, and hampered experimentation. But the Commission questioned
whether any bandwidth limit was needed in its place. Most amateurs,
including the ARRL, objected to there being no signal bandwidth limit
in the crowded HF bands given the possibility that unreasonably wide
bandwidth digital protocols could be developed, and since 2016 there
has been no further FCC action.

In conjunction with introducing the legislation, Congresswoman Lesko
stated that "With advances in our modern technology, increased amounts
of data can be put on the spectrum, so there is less of a need for a
regulatory limit on symbol rates. I am pleased to introduce this
important piece of legislation to update the FCC's rules to support the critical role amateur radio operators play and better reflect the
capabilities of our modern radio technology."

ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, hailed introduction of the bill.
Roderick stated that "the FCC's delay in removing this outdated
restriction has been incomprehensible, given that the biggest effect of
the delay is to require totally inefficient spectrum use on the
already-crowded amateur HF bands. I hope that the Commission will act
to remove this harmful limitation without waiting for the bill to be
passed."

ARRL Legislative Committee Chairman John Robert Stratton, N5AUS, added
that "the symbol rate limit hampers experimentation and development of
more efficient HF data protocols by U.S. amateurs. For all practical
purposes the field has been ceded to amateurs outside the U.S., where
there is no comparable limit. Removing the restriction not only will
allow U.S. amateurs to use the most efficient data protocol suitable
for their purpose, but it also will promote and incentivize U.S.
amateurs to experiment with and develop even more efficient protocols."

About ARRL

ARRL is the National Association for Amateur Radio®. Founded in 1914 as
The American Radio Relay League, ARRL is a noncommercial membership organization of radio amateurs. ARRL numbers within its ranks the vast
majority of active radio amateurs (or "hams") in the U.S., and has a
proud history of achievement as the standard-bearer in promoting and
protecting amateur radio. For more information about ARRL and amateur
radio, visit www.arrl.org <http://www.arrl.org/>.

Copyright (c) 2022 American Radio Relay League,
Incorporated. Use and distribution of this publication, or any portion
thereof, is permitted for non-commercial or educational purposes, with attribution. All other purposes require written permission.

<http://www.arrl.org/>

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