AG18
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 18  ARLB018
>From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  September 15, 2017
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB018
ARLB018 FCC Opens 630- and 2200-Meter Bands; Stations Must Notify
UTC Before Operating

The FCC has announced that the Office of Management and Budget has
approved, for 3 years, the information-collection requirement of the
Commission's March 29 Report and Order (R&O) that spelled out
Amateur Radio service rules for the two new bands - 630 meters and
2200 meters. The R&O in PDF format can be found at,
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-17-33A1.pdf .

Notice of the action appears in today's edition of the Federal
Register. Before using either band, stations must notify the
Utilities Technology Council (UTC), formerly the Utilities Telecom
Council, that they plan to do so, and if UTC does not respond within
30 days, they may commence operation.

The website to notify the UTC is,
https://utc.org/plc-database-amateur-notification-process/ .

Last March 27, the FCC adopted the 2012 World Radiocommunication
Conference (WRC-12) implementation Report and Order (ET Docket
15-99), amending its Amateur Radio rules to - in the FCC's words -
'provide for frequency-sharing requirements in the 135.7-137.8 kHz
(2200-meter) and 472-479 kHz (630-meter) bands.'

Section 97.313(g)(2) of those rules requires that, prior to starting
operation in either band, radio amateurs must notify UTC that they
intend operate by submitting their call signs, intended band(s) of
operation, and the coordinates of their antenna's fixed location.
The new rules do not permit any mobile operation.

'Amateur stations will be permitted to commence operations after a
30-day period, unless UTC notifies the station that its fixed
location is located within 1 kilometer of Power Line Carrier (PLC)
systems operating on the same or overlapping frequencies,' the FCC
said. PLC systems are unlicensed. 'This notification process will
ensure that amateur stations seeking to operate [on 630 or 2200
meters] are located beyond a minimum separation distance from PLC
transmission lines, which will help ensure the compatibility and
coexistence of amateur and PLC operations, and promote shared use of
the bands.'

The FCC announced that it is making effective immediately the Part
97 rule amendments, Part 97.3, 97.15(c), 97.301(b) through (d),
97.303(g), 97.305(c), and 97.313(k) and (l), which do not require
OMB approval.