Monday, October 13, 2014

FCC Nixes Petition for U.S. 4-Meter Band
Areas with 4-meter band allocations are in red.
Those with experimental privileges are in blue.
Radio amateurs in Europe have long had access to a VHF band at 70 MHz - also known as 4 meters - due to differences in VHF TV allocations there as opposed to the U.S. With the migration of most U.S. TV stations to digital platforms and new frequencies, amateur Glen Zook, K9STH, of Richardson, Texas, petitioned the FCC for a new amateur allocation at 70.0-70.5 MHz (old TV channel 4 occupied 66-72 MHz).
After some disagreements on when the petition was filed (Zook says he submitted it in 2010; the FCC says it didn't receive it until May, 2014, according to the ARRL Letter), the FCC denied the petition, pointing out that Channel 4 still has over 100 active TV stations or translators, and that it is possible - once parts of the VHF TV spectrum are "repurposed" for broadband and auctioned off - that remaining stations will be packed into less space, making the frequencies even more crowded than in the past.