The FCC has denied a request by Expert Linears America LLC to waive §97.317(a)(2) of the Amateur Service rules limiting amplifier gain. Expert, of Magnolia, Texas, distributes linears manufactured by SPE in Italy. Its waiver request, filed in June, would have allowed Expert to import an amplifier capable of exceeding the current 15 dB gain limitation as it awaits FCC action on its April petition (RM-11767) to revise the same Amateur Service rules. That petition remains pending. Expert has asserted that there should be no gain limitation on amplifiers sold or used in the Amateur Service. Most commenters supported Expert’s waiver request, but a couple of commenters — including FlexRadio — demurred.
“In light of the conflicting comments regarding the desirability of eliminating the 15 dB limitation, we conclude that waiving the limitation at this stage of the rulemaking proceeding would prejudice the rulemaking proceeding and prematurely dispose of commenters’ concerns,” the FCC said in denying the waiver. “Moreover, we agree with FlexRadio that granting Expert’s waiver request while the rulemaking petition remains pending would provide an unfair market advantage for one equipment model over other manufacturers’ RF power amplifiers that would still be limited by [the existing rules].”
The FCC said it would rather give full consideration to “the pending issues” and apply the result of the rulemaking proceeding to all Amateur Radio Service equipment. The Commission said rule waivers “generally” are not warranted “merely to accommodate technical parameters that are based solely on harmonization with the manufacturer’s products available abroad.”
The FCC said a minority of those commenting on the waiver request expressed concern that eliminating the 15 dB limitation would lead to an overall increase in power levels, “including transmissions that intentionally or unintentionally exceed the maximum power limit.”
In its April rulemaking petition, Expert maintained that the 15 dB gain limitation is an unneeded holdover from the days when amplifiers were less efficient and the FCC was attempting to rein in the use of Amateur Service amplifiers by Citizens Band operators
.
Although the FCC had proposed in 2004 to delete the requirement that amplifiers be designed to use a minimum of 50 W of drive power — and subsequently did so — it did not further discuss the 15 dB limit in the subsequent Report and Order in that proceeding.
Expert has pointed to its Model 1.3K FA amplifier as an example of a linear “inherently capable of considerably more than 15 dB of amplification,” which would make it a suitable match for low-power transceivers now on the market.
Source:ARRL
Equipment
ICOM IC-PW2 Take your contesting experience to the next level with the latest LDMOS power device with features supporting a SO2R operation in one amplifier. Planned Features: 1kW output at fully duty cycle, even for extended periods of time Six antenna connectors... Read more
- New Icom IC-7851
- LDG Z-100PLUS/IC-705
- Mercury Paddle- Bencher
- SMΩRF – RF Vector Power Meter
- Xiegu X108 QRP Transceiver Kit 9 Bands – AM – SSB – CW
- DB1NTO APRS Transceiver
- Elecraft K2
- The new Silphase R1 SDR receiver
- New! Wattmeter HF/50 MHz FX773 3/5 kWatt
- New release of 144/430 MHz dual bander TH-D74 Kenwood
- MFJ-939 Plug&Play IntelliTuner Automatic Antenna Tuner
- Choosing Lightning Arresters
VHF
RECENT RS-689 – Handheld Radio HI/MI/LO Power Selective (Max Power :10W) Tri-band Frequency, Dual Display and Standby Torch Light Function DTMF Encode and Decode Functions ANI Function 2Tone Encode and Decode Functions CTCSS/DCS Built-in 200 Memory Channels 25 Mem... Read more
- 2m 7 Element OWL-GT Super-Light Yagi
- Announcing the AMP-25 Series
- BTech 25×2 Dual Band Mini Mobile – Review
- Alinco Released a new radio Today – DJ-R200D
- The ARRL Repeater Directory (Pocket-size)
- Yaesu FT-2980R 80W 2M FM Mobile Transceiver
- IC-9700 new release!
- Student satellite hardware developments at Surrey Space Centre – Dr Chris Bridges (M0IEB)
- New Icom Amateur Products Including the IC-9700 to be Shown at Tokyo Hamfair 2018
- Introducing the IC-M423G VHF/DSC with Integrated GPS Receiver
- QYT KT8900 UHF VHF Mini Mobile Radio
- 10 GHz EME dish!
Digital Modes
A second beta version of WSJT-X version 1.9.0 has been released, the WSJT development group announced this week. The “release candidate,” as it’s called, is designated as version 1.9.0-rc2. An initial beta release has already been field-tested by a small group of users.... Read more
- Release: WSJT-X Version 1.8.0
- New Summer EURAO Party to Premier FT4
- Yaesu FT-891 Setup for Digital Modes – Ham Radio Q&A
- Packet Engine Pro HF Modem
- Goodbye FT8, Hello Olivia, The Magic HF Digital Mode
- JTDX – Videos and Guides – FT8- JT65 – JT9 – T10 – WSPR
- Work the World with WSJT-X – Dr. Joe Taylor
- JS8Call Overview and Settings 2021
- HamRadioNow : Digital Voice is EXPLODING
- Tips for FT8 DXers
- WSJT-X 2.0 – New 77-bit messages information update
- New version of FT8CALL released
News
CAMSAT says the CAS-7A launch has been postponed until next May, and CAS-5A until next June. “Because of COVID-19, many things have been delayed,” CAMSAT’s Alan Kung, BA1DU, told ARRL. He said an announcement would be made closer to the announced launches. CAMSAT said l... Read more
- Amateur radio fans celebrate ‘original social network’
- Report on Es’hail-2 / QO-100 geostationary satellite carrying amateur radio
- What is Digital Mobile Radio ?
- NIST FY 2019 Budget Would Eliminate WWV and WWVH
- Ham Fair 2015 – Tokyo – Japan [ Video ]
- SnowShoer rescue thanks to distress signal sent via Radio
- QSO Today – Dr. Ulrich Rohde, N1UL
- Radioamateur without Frontiers
- CQ DL January 2016
- SECRET RADIO STATIONS BY THE NUMBERS
- Local pastor knows first hand the role “Ham” radio plays during emergencies
- Thomas Pesquet, KG5FYG, and Oleg Novitskiy Return to Earth after 6 Months in Space