SB QST @ ARL $ARLB054 ARLB054 2300 MHz news ZCZC AG19 QST de W1AW ARRL Bulletin 54 ARLB054 From ARRL Headquarters Newington CT June 23, 1994 To all radio amateurs SB QST ARL ARLB054 ARLB054 2300 MHz news 2300 MHz news A proposed reallocation of 35 MHz of spectrum in the 2300 MHz band goes against the will of Congress, the ARRL has told the FCC, and existing and future amateur uses of that spectrum must be protected, the League said in comments filed June 15, 1994. The comments were in response to an FCC Notice of Inquiry (NOI), released May 4, that asks for information from potential applicants for use of the spectrum -- at 2300 to 2310 MHz, 2390 to 2400 MHz, and 2402 to 2417 MHz. Amateurs currently share 2300 to 2310 MHz and 2390 to 2417 MHz with US government users. The NOI is the result of a plan from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to transfer 50 MHz to private users immediately, and another 150 MHz later, from spectrum now allocated for federal government use. The League first commented on the idea of frequency transfers in 1990, when the NTIA began a study of the entire domestic telecommunications ''infrastructure.'' In 1992, the League responded to an NTIA Notice of Inquiry, saying that continued or upgraded access to 2300 MHz was crucial to future amateur uses, both terrestrial and satellite. The transfer of spectrum from federal government to private sector use is required by the 1993 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act; but that Act also requires that the needs of amateurs be taken into account. The League told the FCC that ''there is no indication of any finding or study, as required by statute'' (the Act) ''that the proposed reallocation of the spectrum that amateurs currently share for commercial use will be benign with respect to continued amateur occupancy of the band.'' The League said that the FCC, in justifying other reductions in amateur allocations between 220 and 2390 MHz, had implied that other frequencies, including those now proposed to be affected, would continue to be available to amateurs. NNNN /EX