DA 08-1083

Ken D. Chafin

3624 Foothill Road #1

La Crescenta, CA 91214

Leon J. Brown

1627 Fair Park Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90014

Re: Petition for Rule Making filed October 10, 2007

Dear Mr. Chafin and Mr. Brown:

This is in response to the Petition for Rule Making that you filed on
October 10, 2007, requesting that the Commission propose to expand the
frequencies on which an amateur station operating as a repeater
(repeater station) may operate.[^1] Specifically, the Petition requests
that the Commission amend Section 97.205(b) of the Commission's
Rules[^2] to allow repeater stations to transmit in the 145.5-145.8 MHz
frequency segment of the 2 meter (m) amateur service band (144-148 MHz),
in addition to the 2 m band frequency segments currently authorized for
repeater station operation. For the reasons set forth below, we deny the
Petition.

The Petition argues that additional spectrum is needed for repeater
stations because some amateur repeater stations have begun using certain
digital communication protocols, and "digital voice operation is
incompatible with existing analog operations \[because d\]igital voice
users are unable to determine if the desired frequency is in use by
analog users and can inadvertently cause harmful interference to those
users."[^3] It also argues that coordinating groups have been unable to
separate analog and digital voice repeater operations to avoid harmful
interference because the available repeater spectrum in the 2 m band is
"fully occupied by existing analog users in most metropolitan
areas."[^4]

After consideration of your request, we conclude that the Petition does
not present grounds for the Commission to propose to amend its rules.
Repeater stations are authorized to transmit on any frequency in the 2 m
band except the 144.0-144.5 MHz and 145.5-146.0 MHz frequency
segments.[^5] These two segments were excluded to minimize the
possibility of harmful interference to other amateur service stations
and operating activities, including "weak signal"[^6] operations.[^7]
Allocating an additional three hundred kilohertz of the 2 m band to
repeater operation would not be consistent with that concern. Rather, it
would likely result in increased interference to non-repeater
stations.[^8]

Moreover, to the extent that the petition proposes a separate frequency
segment for use by digital but not analog repeater stations,[^9] we note
that when the Commission has previously addressed the issue of
interference between amateur stations engaging in different operating
activities, it has declined to revise the rules to limit a frequency
segment to one emission type in order to prevent interference to the
operating activities of other amateur radio service licensees.[^10]
Rather, the Commission noted that interference between amateur stations
is already addressed by Section 97.101(b) and (d) of the Commission's
Rules, which require amateur licensees to cooperate in selecting
transmitting channels and in making the most effective use of amateur
frequencies, provide that no amateur frequency will be assigned for the
exclusive use of any station allocated to the Amateur Radio Service, and
prohibit operators from willfully or maliciously interfering with or
causing interference to any radio communication or signal.[^11]

Based on the record before us, we conclude that the petition has not set
forth sufficient reasons for the Commission to propose to amend Section
97.205(b) to allow repeater stations to transmit in the 145.5-145.8 MHz
frequency segment. Consequently, we deny the Petition.

Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Section 4(i) of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. § 154(i), and Section
1.401(e) of the Commission's Rules, 47 C.F.R. § 1.401(e), the Petition
for Rule Making filed on October 10, 2007 by Ken D. Chafin and Leon J.
Brown IS DENIED.

This action is taken under delegated authority pursuant to Sections
0.131 and 0.331 of the Commission\'s Rules, 47 C.F.R. §§ 0.131 and
0.331.

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

Scot Stone

Deputy Chief, Mobility Division

Wireless Telecommunications Bureau

[^1]: *See* Petition for Rule Making (filed October 10, 2007)
    (Petition). An amateur repeater station is an amateur station that
    simultaneously retransmits the transmission of another amateur
    station on a different channel or channels. *See* 47 C.F.R. §
    97.3(a)(39).

[^2]: 47 C.F.R. § 97.205(b).

[^3]: Petition at 2-3.

[^4]: *Id.* at 3. We note that both petitioners reside in the same
    metropolitan area, and that the Petition offers no information
    regarding other areas in support of this assertion.

[^5]: *See* 47 C.F.R. § 97.205(b).

[^6]: Weak signal communications are primarily Morse code telegraphy and
    single sideband voice messages transmitted over very long distances.
    *See* Amendment of the Commission's Rules Governing Part 97 of the
    Commission's Rules Governing the Amateur Radio Services, *Report and
    Order*, WT Docket No. 04-140, 21 FCC Rcd 11643, 11655 n.94 (2006)
    (*Omnibus Report and Order*).

[^7]: *See* Deregulation of Part 97 of the Commission\'s Rules to
    Simplify the Licensing and Operation of Complex Systems of Stations
    and Modify Repeater Subbands in the Amateur Radio Service, *Report
    and Order*, Docket No. 21033, 66 F.C.C. 2d 207, 215 ¶ 6 (1977),
    *aff'd*, *Order*, 67 F.C.C. 2d 1107, 1113 ¶ 6 (1978).

[^8]: The Petition suggests that the Commission's subsequent decision to
    permit operation of auxiliary stations in the 145.5-145.8 MHz
    frequency segment because it would cause no more than "slight"
    interference to weak signal communications, *see Omnibus Report and
    Order*, 21 FCC Rcd at 11656 ¶ 23, demonstrates that repeater
    stations also should be permitted to operate in this frequency
    segment. *See* Petition at 5. We disagree. An auxiliary station is
    an amateur station, other than in a message forwarding system, that
    transmits communications point-to-point within a system of
    cooperating amateur stations. *See* 47 C.F.R. § 97.3(a)(7). These
    stations are typically used for a control link to remotely control
    another amateur station. *See* 47 C.F.R. § 97.213(a). These
    transmissions are usually brief and not frequent. Because auxiliary
    stations transmit point-to-point, they can be engineered to a
    specific path, thereby avoiding interference to stations that are
    not in the path. In contrast, repeater stations transmit
    point-to-multipoint over a large coverage area, and retransmit
    multiple stations' communications signals, which ordinarily are of
    much greater duration than an auxiliary station's control
    transmissions. Consequently, operation of repeater stations in the
    145.5-145.8 MHz frequency segment would create much greater
    potential for interference to weak signal communications than
    operation of auxiliary stations.

[^9]: *See* Petition at 3.

[^10]: *See* Amendment of the Amateur Service Rules to Provide For
    Greater Use of Spread Spectrum Communication Technologies, *Report
    and Order*, WT Docket No. 97-12, 15 FCC Rcd 1481, 1491 ¶ 25 (1999)
    (*Spread Spectrum Report and Order*); *see also* Amendment of Parts
    2 and 97 of the Commission\'s Rules Governing the Amateur Service to
    Authorize Operation on Additional Frequency Bands in American Samoa,
    *Order*, 14 FCC Rcd 20595, 20607 ¶ 23 (WTB PSPWD 1999).

[^11]: *See Spread Spectrum Report and Order*, 15 FCC Rcd at 1491 ¶ 25
    (citing 47 C.F.R. § 97.101(b), (d)).