ARLB023 Bill mentions amateurs
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 23  ARLB023
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  March 3, 1993
To all radio amateurs

On Tuesday, March 2, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted H.R.
707, the Emerging Telecommunications Technologies Act of 1993.  The
legislation had been reported out, without amendment, by the House
Committee on Energy and Commerce.  The bill requires the federal
government to release 200 MHz of frequency spectrum for commercial
use to foster new technologies in the private sector, with at least
180 MHz to be below 5 GHz.

It is virtually identical to legislation that was adopted by the
House in 1991, but that did not make its way through the Senate
during the 102nd Congress.

In recommending adoption, the Committee report said "An example of
the dilemma that spectrum managers must face due to spectrum
congestion was provided several years ago, when the Commission was
forced to reallocate two megaHertz of spectrum that had been
utilized, on a secondary basis, by the Amateur Radio Service. The
Amateur Service has established an impressive record of providing
life-saving emergency communications during natural disasters and
accidents, when more conventional methods of communications were
rendered inoperable."

"Yet because of the lack of alternative, the Commission was forced
to take away these two MHz in return for giving the Service
'primary' access to an adjacent three MHz band.  Passage of H.R. 707
will alleviate the pressure to take more spectrum from the Amateur
Service by providing frequencies for new technologies in other
bands."

The House bill differs somewhat from similar legislation introduced
in the Senate by Senator Inouye, S. 335, which includes authority
for the FCC to assign spectrum in certain services by auction and
also includes specific protections for the Amateur Service that were
sought by the League during the previous session of Congress.  As
yet, there has been no action in the Senate on S. 335.

If the Senate adopts the Inouye bill in something resembling its
present form, the ARRL will encourage the Conference Committee that
resolves the differences between the bills to include those
protections.

More information on S.335 will appear in April QST.
/EX