Two items in today’s ARRL Letter caught my eye:
FCC News: FCC Expands Part 95 MedRadio Rules to Allow Devices in 2360-2400 MHz Band. In a First Report and Order and a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ET 08-59) released on May 24, the FCC decided to expand the Part 95 Personal Radio Service rules to allow medical devices to operate on a secondary basis in the 2360-2400 MHz band. These devices — called Medical Body Area Networks (MBAN) — provide a way for health care facilities to monitor their patients via wireless networks. Because use of these frequencies will be on a secondary basis, MBAN stations will not be allowed to cause interference to — and must accept interference from — primary services, including radio amateurs who operate on a primary basis in the 2390-2395 MHz and 2395-2400 MHz bands. Read more.
MARS: House Armed Services Committee “Urges” MARS Coordination. On May 18, the US House of Representatives approved HR 4310, The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013. This bill authorizes appropriations for military activities and prescribes military personnel strengths for Fiscal Year 2013. When the House Armed Services Committee sent the bill to the House, it included language in support of the Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) and called for the three MARS branches — Army, Air Force and Navy/Marine Corps — to be brought under one umbrella. Read more.
I don’t have much to say about the MARS item, except to say that I’m surprised that Congress would have much to say about it. I’m a little more concerned about the Part 95 decision, but what can I say? Amateurs are not really using that spectrum, for the most part, and until we do, encroachment is inevitable.
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