Southgate reported recently that there’s been a proposal by France to make the Aeronautical Mobile Service the primary users of the 144-146 MHz band and demote the Amateur Radio Service to secondary users. The report say that this is “part of a broader consideration of the spectrum allocated to that service.”
At first, I really couldn’t believe what I was reading. The 2m band is not, after all, one of the little-used microwave bands. Not only that, for Europeans 144 – 146 MHz is their entire 2m band.
What was really weird about all this is why this is a French proposal and not a European-wide proposal. I forget where I read this, but apparently this is a move by the French company Thales Group to grab these frequencies for some kind of system they are proposing.
One troubling aspect of this is that, according to the ARRL, there’s been no strong opposition to this in Europe. The report notes:
“We hear only one admin[istration] (Germany) opposed the 144 MHz proposal — no one else,” the UK Microwave Group tweeted following the meeting. Otherwise, it has been carried forward to the higher-level CEPT Conference Preparatory Group (CPG) meeting in August.
I’m not sure that there’s much we can do here in the United States. Indeed the IARU has asked its member societies to publicize this news, but “refrain at this time from making speculative public comments about the situation until further progress has been made in regulatory discussions.”
If you’re not inclined to sit on your thumbs, have a look at this item that appeared on reddit yesterday:
Petitions to keep 2m for amateur radio
As you have probably already heard there is a proposal from France to reallocate the 2m band to the aeronautical mobile service.
I urge you to take action to prevent the loss of 2m whether this is by means of contacting your local regulatory body directly, signing a petition or other. Please make sure your voice is heard, every small bit counts.
The following two petitions were circulated around my local club, if you’re so inclined take a moment to sign them:
https://www.change.org/p/keep-the-144-146-mhz-band-for-ham-radio
https://www.change.org/p/rsgb-stop-the-2-meter-band-144-146mhz-being-taken-away-from-radio-amateurs
If you’re aware of any other petition or ways to voice opposition and help the cause in general , kindly share them with the rest of us. And of course get out there and make some calls! See you on 2m!
I don’t think I’m being alarmist here to suggest to you all that the only organization that’s really defending our frequencies is the ARRL. If nothing else, that should be a reason for you all to be members.
Rob w4zng says
This is an unexpected bolt of lightning squarely aimed at the heart of amateur radio. Not a lot to say at the moment, beyond that we should all keep a watch on this problem and be ready to write the FCC and Congress, and then write checks to the ARRL’s spectrum defense fund.
Chuck K4RGN says
What’s different these days is IoT, which is expanding so rapidly than it’s outgrowing the unlicensed UHF spectrum available to it now. In particular the IoT community craves VHF spectrum because it offers better in-building penetration than UHF spectrum (many IoT applications are indoors). So it wouldn’t surprise me to see people with big money go after 2 meters as well as what’s left of 220.
Hammer says
Do what other groups do. Sue in Federal court.
Steve~W8SFC says
2m is where amateur radio begins – Technician licenses are mostly exercised on this band and what portion of licenses are Technicians? Emergency and disaster response activities also use this band for both phone and digital communications. Denying amateur use of this part of the spectrum will be a disaster for the public in ways they don’t realize. This isn’t just a bunch of people rag chewing, this is essential service that every member of the population may at some time have to rely on if the public telephone network and the cell towers fail. Even the American Red Cross needs amateurs on 2 meters to coordinate service delivery in case of a catastrophe.
So does the IoT need outweigh the needs of humanity? I doubt that this case can be made. Does that mean it will not happen? I have seen more far-fetched schemes hatched by regulatory entities in my lifetime and once they are enacted they seldom are repealed. Amateur radio needs to be vocal on an individual level in order to convey to FCC, and others contemplating similar actions, that the public owns the air waves, not the regulators, and our needs come first.
I am personally involved in Skywarn, and without 2 meters that would cease to exist. Just about anyone can afford a 2 meter transceiver these days, and the range of these radios is such that without the repeaters it would not be possible to coordinate communications over the area that organizations like Skywarn cover in service of public safety. You name the amateur public service organization that uses radio in some form, whether that is phone mode or digital, and you will be naming vital functions that are served on 2 meters. We all must act to support public empowerment and let the FCC and our advocates at the ARRL know that this cannot be allowed – no, they cannot take 2 meters and use that for internet connectivity for refrigerators, air conditioners, personal digital assistants or what ever they want to give access to OUR 2 Meter band to. This cannot be permitted.
If they go ahead and do it, that will be the end of the people being in charge of this republic and the beginning of real socialism. It’s as basic as that.
Perhaps this will fly in France, where people have been socialists for decades, but in a nation that the government serves the people, and where people are not government property, this is unacceptable. FCC is empowered to regulate, but not dictate the use of the radio spectrum. Their power is not absolute, and it is essential that the understanding that they are public servants and not commandants needs to be continually reinforced. It is up to us, the individuals who are licensed operators of amateur radio to reinforce this concept. Just because some industry wants to control more of the EM spectrum does not mean they can or should be allowed to do it.
If they do get this, we can just kiss amateur radio goodbye. First it was 220MHz, then 144, next 50, and so on until there is nothing left. IoT is convenience but not essential to human life, but disaster comms could well be a matter of life or death. Should we allow this so someone can have an internet connected washing machine? For me, the answer is a clear and undeniable NO.
If you have ever witnessed a real natural disaster where all communications are disrupted and there are massive amounts of destruction, coupled with injuries and possible loss of life, you know that we must keep 2 meters in the hands of amateur radio. I grew up in Tornado Alley, I witnessed the Topeka Tornado of 1966, I worked medevac from helicopters of the Air Cavalry at Fort Knox, KY during the super outbreak of 1974 when Xenia, Ohio was nearly wiped out, (and Brandenburg, KY across the Ohio River was), so I have an appreciation for the necessity of emergency communications in disaster response.
Please sign these petitions, and write letters to ARRL and FCC in support of amateurs remaining in control of 2 meters. Things are bad enough in disasters like these, so adding loss of 2 meter comms to them will make coordinating the relief effort much more difficult, and for what? For a refrigerator that can order milk and eggs from the grocery store when you run low? For a thermostat that makes your house warmer in the dog days of summer to help the power company cope with the load that your air conditioning and comfort places on their network of power distribution?
I don’t think so. How about you?
Mike W8MRA says
I’ve been following this on other blogs since it first came out a month ago.
Me personally I feel it’s a nothing burger. Never going to happen.
The first committee to see this proposal did what they do with every proposal, forward it to another committee with more knowledge of the particular topic.
Once this starts getting hashed out with the group of people more familiar with radio, and they realize just about every ham satellite going around the world is on 2 meters, I think France’s proposal will be nothing more than a fond memory.
Ed says
Hi Dan,
To be correct, the proposal for discussion at WRC2023 is NOT to remove Amateur radio from 144-146 rather to change the status of our usage from Primary user (where we get to decide how we use the band) to secondary, where we will be pushed around by the ITU driven by French commercial interests so they can sell their surveillance systems (radio linked cameras and drones etc). There are alternative VHF frequencies that could be used. I suspect this company thought it would be easy to do a “grab” of frequencies away from a group who don’t pay dollars for them.
Nik Lutz says
It only takes one domino…
Nicholas says
I’m an amateur with only my technician license. When I put my call out onto local repeaters, I typically receive silence. While activity on 2M may vary from region to region, it might be worthwhile to actually use the bands.
W8SFC~Steve says
Nicholas;
It’s true that the 2 meter band is idle much of the time. The exception to that are the many nets organized on the band across the country. Organized amateur service activities such as Skywarn, ARES, and others all have nets locally for you to participate in as well as the many club nets that operate weekly and these give you the opportunity to practice operating, and making contacts.
If you get into those activities that are organized service opportunities then you will find the band a lot more active. Many of us who do participate in the nets also monitor the repeaters when mobile or even just at home. I think if you will seek the nets you can participate in locally you will find that even though the repeaters are not active 24x7x365, there are many times when they are in use.
Once you find the repeaters in your area and/or a club that has activities they support then you will see that there are things going on in the band. I am a Skywarn weather observer here in the county I live in and we have weekly nets to check in as well as monitoring the conditions during severe weather. We check in for these nets and stay on the air to monitor the traffic between net control and other operators, and we report our observations to the net control operator at the Emergency Operations Center, (located at our county Sheriff’s office), in an effort to keep people advised on the extent and travel of storm systems through the area. Our reporting is referred to the National Weather Service and they utilize our reports to compare to the radar images they get from their systems. This helps the NWS in decisions regarding thunderstorms, and tornadic activity in the area and in whether a watch is upgraded to a warning or if it is to be discontinued geographically. You can contact your local club for information in your area on Skywarn and other training required to be a participant in these efforts.
Some repeaters are also more active than others, and those used for things like Skywarn tend to have more people monitoring them during periods of inactivity. If you can find the repeaters used for nets, you will find more activity in the times when no net is in progress, as a general rule.
There are many ways to find repeaters local to you, and RepeaterBook.com is one of the better and more comprehensive resources that is organized down to your local area. If you search there with your city as a location you will find repeaters on the air in your area from 2m through the 10m bands that you can access. When I was a technician I found this to be a valuable tool in locating repeaters and seeing vital information on each one listed such as frequency, location, offset, CTCSS tone which are needed to access the repeater in question. I urge you to seek that as well as find a local club that has nets on their repeaters. The more people hear your call sign on the air, the more of them will answer it when they hear you seeking contact.
It also helps to know how many operators use a given repeater. If it is used for nets on a schedule, there will be more people on that one than you will find individually owned repeaters whose target audience is a small circle of friends. Not all repeaters are created equal.
You can also call on the calling frequencies for the band you are wanting to use. These are listed in the ARRL band plan, here –
https://newhams.info/2017/03/08/national-simplex-calling-frequency/
I don’t know what your experience level is, but this website has many answers presented in a way that makes finding things easier than wading through the ARRL documentation, and FCC sources which tend to complicate the task of getting an answer to a question.
Hope this helps.
73,
W8SFC
David Naisuler says
Basically, google “why does Thales want spectrum” and some pretty informative reading will appear. Personally, I was stunned by what I found.
It seems to me there is immense inertia behind this spectrum appropriation. From what I can tell, the 2M and Ka grab is an integral part of the Starlink satellite system to be used as downlink frequencies for aeronautical and ground duplex comms from the planned 12,000 satellites that are being installed as a high redundancy laser-linked mesh network. The first 60 were installed a few weeks ago via Falcon Heavy, as many will be aware of. I found documentation around this direction dating back to 2004, with major defense industry ramifications, not to mention commercial internet and aeronautical use. It is immense infrastructure dwarfing the scale of PAVE/PAWS. I have no qualifications to make declarations, but I am not betting against the inevitability of the complete erosion to our rights to 2 meter.
Snoopy says
WIDEBAND SIGNAL SPOTTED ON 2M
Did we claim victory to soon? A fellow reader Gerhard DK5MY sent us this information over the weekend. Since a couple of weeks he has spotted a 24/7 active wideband signal ranging from 144.400 to 145.000MHz.
https://www.save2m.org
N3LPX says
I could hardly believe what I read. This seems utterly preposterous and yet, and yet! Remember the history of “200 metres and down.” … _ _ _ …
Hamilton says
The sad part is that because of Ham Radio politics and the attitudes of those with higher class licenses, these bands above 10 meters are gonna be gone. I know not all hams have heard the talk I have heard but I’ve heard some great disdain for the 2 meter band. Talk about any bands higher than that and guys are enraged and saying the words “Let the FCC take those bands, They are not needed and the signals cant travel farther than a few hundred feet.” or the famous one about 2 meters – “that’s the CB radio of the ham bands”. I love, and always have loved everything above 30 MHz Since way back before I ever knew what Ham Radio was I have loved these bands. I cant express that to any Hams because they put on this sad face and give me the ol’ sigh and then tell me how HF is where its at and why do I stick on the repeaters? You don’t know that in a disaster, those repeaters wont work and only guys on HF will be able to communicate.” I personally am sick of this crap. If Hams would stop recruiting new hams to join them on HF and abandoned the VHF/UHF bands we would have more activity up there. What Hams have done with everything above 30 MHz is a disaster. It is not sustainable. I could start right now and draw up a whole linked repeater system with redundancies in case of everything crashing and use everything from 50 MHz clear up into the GHz portion of what we have capabilities on and have communications for one whole state built before the end of the day. I have done it and do you know what I have received from Hams? A little chuckle, a “thats pretty good plans” and then the ol’ “So, when are you upgrading your license and workin HF with us?”. That turned me off and I since just abandoned Ham Radio.
I recently wrote a post about how ham radio is. It goes something like this –
Ham radio is like someone giving a bunch of guys a very large house for free (the ham radio spectrum). They run into it excitedly admiring all the rooms, some of them very large and some small (all the different ham bands). They find a small closet in the house (the HF bands) and they all pile into it. Now, more people come to the house and go inside (new hams getting their license) and they start utilizing the large rooms (Spectrum above 30 MHz) but find their really isn’t anyone there. Then a few of these guys come out of that closet to greet the new guys (getting off the HF bands and hopping on 2 meters). They tell these guys that they all need to come join them in the small closet because even though those rooms are large and there is a lot of potential, the small closet is where all the action is at. Most of the new guys join them in that closet but the rest, because they don’t care for that sort of thing leave the house. One day, the owner of the house comes by and sees that no one is utilizing the rest of the house. So they know of a way to make some money if they rent out the larger rooms. They bring some people down to the house to show the larger rooms. All of a sudden the guys in that closet come running out and complaining. They cant believe that the owner could go and give away the large rooms. These guys have the nerve to act like they use these rooms all the time and these rooms are needed.
Ham Radio is the same way. Most Hams sit on HF and don’t venture up into the bands above 30 MHz. When the FCC comes around and threatens to take away the bands they make very little use of, they all come out of the woodwork screaming about how dare the FCC take away their bands. The FCC only cares about money. If they have a way to make money or they see band space not being used, they are going to take it and make use of it. Hams take up roughly 1.145 GHz worth of space from the 6 meter band on up. That is a lot of wasted space. What do Hams mostly use? 50-54 MHz, 144-148 MHz, and sporadic portions of 220 and 440? Thats barely 40 MHz worth of space, out of 1.145 GHz worth of space. Imagine what the FCC is seeing when they have that much space hardly used, or even NOT being used at all and companies are coming to them with their billions of dollars. Remember – MONEY TALKS and you know what WALKS! Hams need to stop urging new hams to upgrade or join them on HF. I have watched countless Hams over the years leave the VHF/UHF bands and go straight to HF and never come back.
If I had to think of a good idea, it would be to take everything from 30 MHz on up and take it from the Hams and turn it into bands similar to Ham Radio but where people actually wanted to experiment with it and use it as it was intended because we all know, if Hams haven’t started making use of all those bands, they aren’t going to start any time soon.. Instead of taking a test, pay a small fee and have fun. Keep the same abilities (repeaters, APRS, and the like) and same rules. This way you could separate it from Ham radio where you get on 2 meters and then get sucked down the HF vacuum tube. Keep Ham radio all HF. It would keep the technically minded people in one service and the contesters and ragchewers in another. One or more of the new bands could incorporate the Emergency communications that Hams have now in those bands. It would be a win win all the way around. Hams can stay on HF and keep those bands, You would still be able to have repeaters on 10 meter FM, Hams could obtain a license for the upper bands if they chose so that would be another license to hang on their walls, and the FCC could take a bunch of that spectrum that probably would never get used (way up in the gigahertz) and sell it off in addition to making money on licenses from the new radio bands created from the old ham bands so they would benefit monetarily. I personally know quite a few Hams who would love to see this happen. So it ends up a win win for most everyone. I would rather it stay with the Hams but if the Hams don’t want to use it, and the FCC wants to take it away, at least give it to technically minded people who will instead of rich corporations.
David Todd says
I have a heavy heart thinking about 2 meters being lost ,but Like many have stated,its become a ghost town. i hover on the 6 meter band and lower,since i have thrown out my call many many time s in my area and never received a return . But if you are someones friend ,just seconds later they jump on and say some stuff and disappear. When you try to contact any of them ,ohh yea your getting out gotta go.,that sorta crap. In my own opinion ,too much emcomm crap making people think they are wannabe cops,fed,etc. I mean really look at their vehicles all decked out with lights and such you would swear they were the police. Thats what some want you to think. WANNABES.Storm spotting can be done on many bands. 6 meters locally or 10 meters fm,etc. 2 meters is wide open most of the time and after FCC changed the licensing structures and dissolved the requirements for code,I saw a decline in conversations on the 2 meter repeaters big time. Someone here said technically inclined on vhf and above while the rag chewrs are on hf only? REALLY? JUST BECAUSE you can press a mike key on 2meters doesnt mean you are technically inclined. Yes you memorized the questions and passed in a record time,But ive seen many so called vhf /uhf stars who couldnt cut a dipole,could not figure out a voltage divider network ,or figure out a simple crystal oscillator.,even though they act and talk like they know everything. we are not FRANCE. we could pressure the FCC to keep us out of the issue and run rogue.After all if the radio companies had to crap can their vhf/uhf rigs ,alot of bankruptcies would happen.If the so called technically minded want to stay on uhf/vhf, fine with me,but funny how they migrate to hf and try CW,PSK,RTTY,FT8,SSTV and other modes. hmmmmm guess they get tired of calling CQ to a dead band. 6meters is long from dead. everyday i copy stations on the 6 meter band and with ft8 many ,many DXstations also.Now ,if you want to talk 2m ssb,CW,Digital, its busier than all get out. you just have to know how to configure your radio to operate those modes.Maybe some of you technically inclined vhf/uhf ops need to learn these modes to populate the band.Maybe we could go CB fm for storm spotting or gmrs service. I mean really ,the only time i hear any of you super star techies on, is when you think a little thunderboomer will get you on tv. Just my opinion. REMEMBER THIS IS A HOBBY SERVICE AND YES WE PROVIDE PUBLIC SERVICE BUT,WHEN ITS SPARCELY SPORATIC, WOULDNT HURT ME NONE TO GET RID OF 2METERS.PUSH EVERYONE TO 440,OR cb FM, OR GMRS, OR USE 6 METERS FM,OR 10 METERS FM. PLENTY OF AREAS of the country where there are 6 meter nets,. plenty of regions where there are nation wide gmrs nets.
Change is going to happen whether we like it or not. Just like some of us diehard code hams who had to take the code to even be able to sniff at a license.Most of you “superstar techies were the ones griping about having to take it and refused to license up until the code was gone. now its gone alot have jumped on the code bandwagon and found out its very very efficient,even during an emergency.but hey its a hobby and an experimenting one at that.Yes we have spent tons of money on amsat,etc,but Gov doesnt care,because everyone is supposed to be green, have special feelings for everyone,and get rid of our gasolene and oil. oil goes into every piece of plastic,mascara for women,lip gloss,hand lotions,etc,not even thinking about traveling from point a to point b. how about those battery operated airplanes, or maybe a nuclear powered airplane? see the stupidity in their agendas? yes they want to shut us down since we are close to a million loudmouths with radios and antennas. . What to do? push everyone off the uhf/vhf and confine them to hf. but we also have bands below the am dial too. And if crap hits the fan,do you really think we hams will stay off the air if our own government is trying to do us in?No. i see groups and individuals getting on the air . oops got off the topic. Many years ago we had kurchunkers like crazy,then repeater jammers who would set up a radio in the repeater area and leave the radio keyed with a “dead mic” this has happend alot,only because we allowed memorization of the license exams. and people dont have to work as hard for the license. after that 2 meter jamming became a weekly event on club meetings on the air when checkins were happening. some of the same repeater jammers migrated to the hf bands are the ones who constantly violate the rules by playing music deliberately ,or using a 1kw amp to break into a conversation to tell the hams that “its my frequency”,or just alot of filth. or lay on a CW keyer with keyer mode on and send endless dits on a net .Personally if we were to enforce the bands more,actual heavy fines for missuse seizures of radio stations and antennas,and liens put against homowners who are caught in the act, prison time for this,since anyone might be put in danger because of a jammed emergency message, then i think the FCC might,might think about keeping 2 meters if this bill progresses.Another example of underusage of 2 meters. .A friend of mine had a small accident in an area with no cell service. wanted to try 2meters to summon help, no response. tried all the repeaters in his repeater guidebook he keeps in his vehicle. Well he also had a cobra 19 CB radio. called for assistance on Channel 9, and about 5 minutes later received a response after repeated calls. A group called react contacted authorities and police were dispatched. needless to say ,my friend sold his 2 meter rig that weekend after.
Catl says
Just saw this looking for 2 m simplex freq in Europe. Just know 440 (70 cm) is more used than 2m on this side of the pond – 2 meters is a non-event. 70 cm repeaters far outnumber 2 meter repeaters. Not a lose on the European side – a lot of silence in general on vhf UHF save for Italy.
Louis Colburn says
Any time you give something away it is doomed to failure. No more cw requirement , test answers in the back of the study books, I knew this would happen. All this to sell more radios and increase membership in the large clubs. Greed has ruined many things in this country. I have a license, and have had it about 40 or so years now and was proud of it at one time, but no longer. I know some of you will not agree with me,but that is how I feel when I hear some of the CB like activity on the HAM bands. Louis