The FCC responded to the
ARRL's January petition to expand the 5-MHz (60-meter) band by requesting
public comment on the proposal. The comment period opened in mid-February and
closes on March 20. The League is asking the Commission to authorize a new, non-channelized, amateur allocation between 5351.5 kHz and 5366.5 kHz, to match the international allocation approved at the 2015 World Radiocom- munication Conference (WRC-15), as well as keeping four of the five current channels on the band (the fifth is within the band segment noted above).
The petition also
asks the FCC to retain the current 100-watt PEP power limit for the entire
band, as opposed to the 15-watts EIRP limit set by WRC-15. The next step in the
process would be for the FCC to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to
implement the request.
