After an unsuccessful attempt
to find common ground among proponents and opponents of more liberalized rules
for automatically controlled digital stations (ACDS) on the HF ham bands, the ARRL board of directors instructed its Washington Counsel to
request specific rule changes from the FCC. According to the ARRL Letter, these would include:
- Removing the
current 300-baud rate limitation, subject to certain conditions, but limit the
bandwidth of all digital mode signals below 29 MHz to 2.8 kHz, the approximate
bandwidth of an SSB voice signal;
- Permitting ACDS
operation only in designated subbands; and requiring all digital-mode signals
with bandwidths greater than 500 Hz to operate in these subbands as well; and
- Making clear
that the ARRL favors the continued prohibition against encrypting amateur
signals "for the purpose of obscuring their meaning."
In a related
action, ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, reactivated the board's dorman HF
Band Planning Committee in order "to more effectively address HF digital
technology issues." The six-member committee is chaired by ARRL First Vice
President Greg Widins, K0GW.
