The Newsline says that ARRL will give up its bandwidth restriction
idea. This is in the current news.

RESTRUCTURING: REACTING TO THE ARRL BANDWIDTH PROPOSAL


An ARRL proposal to restructure Amateur Radio along bandwidth lines
has caused a lot of discussion in the nations ham community. And it
may cause the League to rethink its position. Amateur Radio
Newsline's Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, is in Philadelphia, and has the
rest of the story:


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Shortly after the ARRL began circulating the proposal and posted it
on its website, the e-mails, phone calls, HF, VHF, and digital-mode
traffic took off.


And now, Amateur Radio Newsline has learned the bandwidth proposal
may be tabled for more study when the ARRL's executive committee
meets next month.


That confirmation comes from W6OBB in Nevada. If the call sign isn't
familiar, the name behind it might be. He's Art Bell, host of the
weekend edition of "Coast to Coast AM" heard on more than 500
commercial radio stations across the nation.


Bell, who joined the fight against Broadband Over Powerlines several
months ago, and featured the subject on his radio program, expressed
concern about what he called a Draconian proposal that would over-
regulate the ham bands. Bell tells me he relayed that concern in a
phone call to ARRL President Jim Haynie W5JBP.


Bell characterizes the discussion as cordial and at the end, he says
Haynie related he was re-evaluating the proposal based on many
comments he had received.


"He indicated to me and told me I could pass on to you that they're
looking into pulling this whole thing back and taking a harder look
at it," Bell says.


While Bell says he believes the ARRL had good intentions with the
proposal, it may have gone too far.


"What began as an examination by the League of how we could possibly
encourage the digital mode, it went a little too far and began to
over-regulate," Bell says. "I'd kind of like to see it go the other
way and I'd like to see our bands freed up."


Haynie says he's gotten a lot of feedback on the proposal. He says it
came from the League's desire to promote - not restrict - innovation
and experimentation. He says it was also a response the Federal
Communications Commission's desire to see more innovation from the
ham community.


"I think we rose to the challenge," Haynie says. "We have
demonstrated Software Defined Radio that just knocked their socks
off, in my view.


"We have come up with some other stuff - Joe Taylor and some of his
things for moon bounce. And I think the Amateur Radio community
needed a wake-up call is what they needed and I think that's what
we've gotten and were given."


Haynie says it's clear the digital modes like RTTY and PSK 31 need
attention.


"Where do we want to go to the future?" Haynie asks. "And, as I
mentioned a couple of years ago, I took my model 28ASR and took it
to the scrap man. But that's the standard that's used today is 850Hz
shift at 45 baud.


"Well, we don't do too much of that. I'm not saying there's not RTTY
enthusiasts out there, there are and I appreciate that and I know
that and I want to protect their rights to do those things."


Art Bell says he and others don't object to digital innovation. But
he doesn't think the proposal hits the mark.


"There are many with differing interests who are not too pleased with
the proposal and, on the face of it, it simply does not make sense,"
Bell says. "I agree that we should encourage the digital modes and
development, but we shouldn't try to push something into place that
is not techincally ready to happen yet."


Restricting bandwidth, Bell says, won't promote innovation.


"Why do we have to cut and slice and dice and regulate," Bell says.
Why not just let anybody virtually go anywhere and let all of us just
live together with some gentlemen's agreements which we have now and
which work very, very well on most bands?


"So with that in mind, look at the Canadians. The Canadians have a
6khz limit and they can go anywhere on the band they want from the
bottom to the top. And I don't see why that would not apply and work
well in America."


Haynie says he wants to hear more from hams and he's encouraging all
of us to get into the FCC's Part 97 rules and share input on the
proposal at the ARRL's website, that's ARRL-dot-org.


"Look at the rule book and see what's there now, "Haynie says. "And,
is there something that could be changed that would allow a new
technology to be developed, then that's what we want to know."


For the Amateur Radio Newsline, I'm Mark Abramowicz, NT3V, in
Philadelphia.


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More on the ARRL proposal and reaction to it in upcoming Amateur
Radio Newsline reports. (ARNewsline(tm))