I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9664 
To direct the Federal Communications Commission to amend part 97.307(f) 
of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, to allow greater flexibility 
in data communications in the amateur radio service, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 21, 2022 
Mrs. LESKO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To direct the Federal Communications Commission to amend 
part 97.307(f) of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, 
to allow greater flexibility in data communications in 
the amateur radio service, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Amateur Radio Com-
munications Improvement Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) More than 778,000 amateur operators in 
the United States are licensed by the Federal Com-
munications Commission in the amateur radio serv-
ices, and, by treaty, additional amateur operators li-
censed by other sovereign entities and jurisdictions 
are authorized to operate within the United States. 
(2) Amateur radio, in addition to providing life- 
saving emergency communications at no cost to tax-
payers, provides a fertile ground for technical self- 
training in modern telecommunications, electronics 
technology, and emergency communications tech-
niques and protocols. 
(3) In 2016, the Commission issued a Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking agreeing with the petition of 
the American Radio Relay League to remove an out-
moded limit on digital data rate transmissions (con-
tained in part 97.307(f) of title 47, Code of Federal 
Regulations) that constrains the use of the amateur 
spectrum, particularly during emergencies and de-
clared disasters. 
(4) Adopted in 1980, the present data rate 
limit is a relic of an era long since relegated to obso-
lescence by the remarkable advancements in digital 
data communications. 
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(5) The present data rate limit has no place in 
the modern digital communications world. Slower 
speeds needlessly occupy busy amateur frequencies 
for longer than necessary to transmit messages, 
leading to unnecessary crowding without benefit to 
anyone, and a delay in the transmission of mission 
critical information during emergencies and declared 
disasters. 
(6) United States amateurs developed the first 
amateur digital protocols, but now are consigned to 
watching as amateurs in other countries take the 
lead in squeezing more data within each bandwidth. 
Amateurs in other countries universally are per-
mitted to use modern digital data speeds denied 
amateurs in the United States. United States ama-
teurs can hear and decode higher speed signals every 
day, but are not permitted to respond with the same 
protocol. 
(7) This situation is not because of any affirm-
ative decision, but simply because there has been an 
8-year unexplained lack of action to update the 
rules. 
(8) It is embarrassing that in recent years, in-
cluding this year, radio amateurs have had to apply 
to the Commission for temporary waivers, which are 
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always granted, of the limit on data communications 
to efficiently manage emergency, health, and welfare 
messages from hurricane-prone Caribbean islands, 
and even from within the United States. Amateurs 
in the Caribbean, as in other areas of the world, 
generally are using equipment and software devel-
oped by the amateur community and promoted by 
the International Telecommunication Union specifi-
cally to ensure communications capabilities during 
times of severe weather. 
(9) Amateur radio has led many young people 
into scientific and engineering professions, including 
many related to the digital services and technologies 
that are at the heart of the wireless communications 
marketplace of today. The incentive to work on im-
proving data communications technologies is the 
ability to experiment on the airwaves and to employ 
improved capabilities both casually and in times of 
need. 
(10) This capability should be restored to radio 
amateurs in the United States. 
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SEC. 3. REPEAL OF SYMBOL RATE LIMITS FOR TRANS-
MISSIONS 
ON 
CERTAIN 
AMATEUR 
FRE-
QUENCIES AND ADOPTION OF 2.8 KHZ BAND-
WIDTH LIMIT. 
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Federal Communications Commis-
sion, pursuant to section 303 of the Communications Act 
of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 303) and as proposed in FCC Docket 
16–239, shall— 
(1) repeal the symbol (or baud) rate limits in 
part 97.307(f) of title 47, Code of Federal Regula-
tions; and 
(2) adopt, in place of such symbol (or baud) 
rate limits, a 2.8 kHz bandwidth limit for any single 
digital signal on the frequencies referred to in such 
part. 
SEC. 4. COMMISSION DEFINED. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Fed-
eral Communications Commission. 
Æ 
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