AG29
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 29  ARLB029
>From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  August 11, 2016
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB029
ARLB029 FCC 'Symbol Rate' Rule Making Proposal Open for Comment at
Least Until October

In a July Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in WT Docket 16-239,
the FCC proposed to revise the Amateur Service Part 97 rules in
response to the ARRL's so-called 'Symbol Rate' Petition for Rule
Making (RM-11708), filed in late 2013. The proceeding will remain
open for public comment at least for another 60 days, since the NPRM
has not yet appeared in The Federal Register, thus starting the
60-day clock.

The NPRM can be found on the web in PDF format at,
transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2016/db0728/FCC-16-96A1.pdf
.

ARRL had asked the FCC to change the Part 97 rules to delete the
symbol rate limits in Part 97.307(f) and replace them with a maximum
bandwidth for data emissions of 2.8 kHz on amateur frequencies below
29.7 MHz.

In its NPRM, the FCC proposed to eliminate the current baud rate
limitations for data emissions, consistent with ARRL's Petition, but
it declined to propose a bandwidth limitation for data emissions in
the MF and HF bands to replace the baud rate limitations.

The official deadline to file comments will be announced when it
becomes available. The ARRL plans to comment in the proceeding.