Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-10
AMATEURS GIVEN
EXPLORATION FIELD
Experiments to Be Made by
Licensed Operators With
RadiOteIephony.

The "hams," that hardy lot Of radio
amateurs who transformed what was
regarded radios graveyard" into an
immensely valuable medium of world
wide communication, have gained entry
into the new field for eXploration-the
international radiotelephone frequencies.
Upon recommendation Of the Depart
ment Of Commerce and of its own en-
cheering division, the Federal Radio
Commission has opened the band 14,l00
to $4,000 kilocycles for amateur expert
mentation with voice Upon these chan
nels 1t Is possible during daylight to
communicate the world over by tele-
phone without wires. But the danger
of disturbing other modes of high-fre-
Quency communication by code is great,
and the commission has restricted the
operations of the amateurs to the Sc
lect few who hold expert licenses
OF the army of 1900 amateurs In
the United States, some 50-odd hold
extra flrst-class amateur operators
licenses" To this group the interna-
tional radiotelephoniC communications
viii be restricted, except to those who
can show special technical qualifica-
tions and ability to operate within chan
mel limitations"
Secretary's Request.
Commission action follows the request
of K. B. Warner, secretary of the Amer
lean Radio Relay League, that the band
of $4,000 to 144O0 kilocycles, which is
located in the amateur radiotelegraph
preserve be opened up to telephony.
This request was filed with w. d. Ter
rell, chief of the Radio Division of the
Commerce Department, who referred it
to the commission with recommended
tons. The commissions engineering
division delayed final action until con-
clusion of the international discussions
of the Radio Technical Consultative
Committee held at The Hague last
month, since the subject of amateurs
was to be discussed there.
In its recommendations to the COM
mission the radio division suggested
that the licenses for international tele-
phone communication be not entirely
restricted to extra firSt-claSS amateur
operators for the reason that there also
are many amateurs who have the nee
ate phone set, but who cannot qualify
as expert code operators. as is required
for the expert amateur license.
"The probability of interference re-
sulting from telephone transmission Is
greater than from continuous-wave code
transmission, and unless the transmit
tiers are equipped with modern FIRE.
unquestionably be some interference to
commercial service" the commissions
engineering division stated in its re-
port to the commission. Actually, this
amateur band has space for only 1872
per cent channels. The freQuencies in
this part Of the spectrum are useful
only for long distance communication
and will, therefore, be heard throughout
the world. The importance of keeping
in hands
cannot be overemphasized.
Band Is Restricted.
"The engineering division therefore
recommends as compromise the
granting of amateur telephony only in
the band i4,lOO to 1890. The effect
of this recommendation is to provide a
100-kilocycle guard band on each side
OF the telephone band in which only
amateur code transmission will be per-
n1itted. Mr.. Warner has agreed to- sup
port this compromise, admitting that
the limitation is sound from an engi-
neering point Of view. -:
The commission adopted the recon-
mendation and thus granted the anna
teurs the authority to invade the high
frequency band for telephone communi-
cations. Commercial companies, like
the American Telephone d. Telegraph
Co, maintain rariiotelephone commune
cations virtually around the world now.
but the objective of the amateur is to
open up new freduencies for such
service. M
Up to the present, the amateurs have
been restricted to three hands for their
radiotelephone communicate None
of them, however, are adapted for inter-
national work. and the select group. of
amateurs experimenting with voice
communication long have sought au-
thority to get into the international
field. &
(copyright. 1919, by the Consolidated Press.l