Friday, December 11, 2020

Lots of Action on the 9-Centimeter Band


There's been a flurry of activity recently regarding the 9-centimeter band, from 3.3-3.5 GHz in the United States, ever since the FCC announced it was going to remove amateur radio's secondary allocation on the band to provide more spectrum for 5G wireless services. 

The ARRL has filed two petitions – one a petition for reconsideration of the original decision, and the other a request to at least allow hams to continue using the band until companies that purchase spectrum begin operating there. The League's major point, according to the ARRL Letter, is that as secondary users on the band for many years, amateurs have operated successfully without causing interference to primary users and should be allowed to continue doing the same with the switchover to 5G services.

Meanwhile, Newsline reports that regulators in the United Kingdom and Peru have already started auctioning off segments of the 9-centimeter band to commercial users in those countries. In addition, the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance in the UK is calling for administrations in Europe and Africa to move quickly to open new spectrum for Wi-Fi at 5925-6425 MHz. This is immediately above the top end of the 5-cenmtimeter amateur band, which in the Americas extends from 5650-5925 MHz.