The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has denied two petitions from James E. Whedbee, an amateur radio operator from Missouri. In a June 2016 letter, Scot Stone, Deputy Chief of the Mobility Division explained that the Commission concluded that Whedbee’s petitions did not present enough evidence to merit a rule change.
In November 2015, Whedbee requested that the FCC amend Part 97 of its rules to permit amateur radio operators to conduct low-power experiments on amateur frequencies without having to obtain an experimental license. The FCC asserts that experimental Radio Service rules contained in Part 5 already permit a broad range of experiments. Furthermore, Stone wrote, these rules were recently revised and streamlined “to provide additional flexibility to innovators.”
In a separate petition in January 2016, Whedbee suggested that the FCC should amend section 0.201 of its rules to delegate to the Chiefs of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) and the Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) authority to dispose of certain requests for exemptions, waivers, and rulemaking regarding new technologies or new application of existing technologies. The FCC’s response explains that the Commission has already delegated adequate authority to WTB and OET, and claims that Whedbee did not sufficiently demonstrate that his proposed changes were necessary or would be effective.
Although the FCC denied these particular requests, the Commission is currently seeking comments on a separate petition from Whedbee to designate Morse band segments as symbol communication subbands.
Learn about Whedbee’s latest request: http://incompliancemag.com/amateur-radio-operator-petitions-fcc-for-access-to-morse-code-band/.
Read the FCC’s letter denying the November 2015 and January 2016 petitions: http://incompliancemag.com/amateur-radio-operator-petitions-fcc-for-access-to-morse-code-band/.
