Amateur Operators Make Case for Continued Use of 60-Meter Band

Amateur radio operators have filed hundreds of short comments urging the FCC to retain the 60-meter band for amateur use. The band was the focus of a question teed up in an April order and NPRM on implementing decisions by the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2015 and 2019. Replies are due Nov. 28 in docket 23-120. “We propose to allocate the 5351.5-5366.5 kHz band to the Amateur Radio Service on a secondary basis and seek comment on whether the amateur service should keep the existing channels they use in the 60-meter band,” the NPRM said. Federal agencies use the larger 5275-5450 kHz band “for services that include military, law enforcement, disaster relief, emergency, and contingency operations” and there are also non-federal operations, the FCC said at the time. The NPRM notes that amateurs often refer to frequency bands by the wavelength of the signal rather than by the spectrum range. “Commenters that support expanded access to the 60 meter band should provide information regarding how heavily the five amateur frequencies in the 5275-5450 kHz band are used and why additional amateur spectrum in this frequency range is needed if we adopt the proposed allocation,” the notice said. The FCC also asked about the power levels that should be allowed. Most comments run only a sentence or two. “The 60 meter band is ideally located between the amateur 80- and 40-meter bands, which is critical to ensuring signal propagation to certain geographic areas during variations in time and the solar cycle while providing communications for disaster relief,” said a filing by amateur operator Douglas Wilkerson, posted Monday. “I have used the 60 meter band to establish communications when propagation on other amateur bands was not optimal,” said operator Deane Charlson: “The 60 meter band is a nice option to have during emergency communications.”