Commenting in the same proceeding as noted in the
previous story, the ARRL also urged the FCC to
act on its 2013 petition to
eliminate the current restrictions on "symbol rate" for data
transmissions below 29.7 MHz. That petition also called for allowing HF data
signals to occupy up to 2.8 kHz of bandwidth, the same as a single sideband
signal. The League's main goal in this petition is to get the FCC to legalized
the use on HF of PACTOR-4, the mode that is at the heart of the WinLink data
transmission system. The FCC granted a temporary waiver to permit its use last
fall in connection with hurricane relief efforts in the Caribbean.
There is some controversy about the use of WinLink on the
amateur bands, as some critics claim it is used by boaters to send and receive
e-mail which may include business communications. In addition, the system
relies on automatically-controlled relay stations, which some claim will cause
interference because they are unable to listen before transmitting to be sure a
frequency is not already in use.
