Technical

FCC Adopts Rules to Modernize Amateur Radio Service

WASHINGTON, November 13, 2023 – The Federal Communications Commission today adopted new rules to incentivize innovation and experimentation in the amateur radio bands by removing outdated restrictions and providing licensees with the flexibility to use modern digital emissions.

The Report and Order adopted today eliminates the baud rate limitation—the rate at which the carrier waveform amplitude, frequency, and/or phase is varied to transmit information—in certain amateur radio bands. Instead, the Commission establishes a 2.8 kHz bandwidth limitation in the applicable amateur radio bands. The changes will enable the amateur radio community to operate more efficiently, including in support of emergency situations when appropriate, and foster experimentation, which is a core principle of the amateur radio service.

The FCC also adopted a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking which proposes and seeks comment on the removal of the baud rate—sometimes called the symbol rate—limitation in the VHF and UHF bands and in the 2200 meter and 630 meter bands, which the Commission allocated for amateur radio use after it released the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in 2016. It also seeks comment on the appropriate bandwidth limitation for the 2200 meter band, the 630 meter band, and the VHF/UHF bands. 1

ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® reacted positively to this decision:

ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, hailed the FCC’s action to remove the symbol rate restrictions. Roderick stated that “this action will measurably facilitate the public service communications that amateurs step up to provide, especially at times of natural disasters and other emergencies such as during the hurricane season. Digital technology continues to evolve, and removing the outmoded data restrictions restores the incentive for radio amateurs to continue to experiment and develop more spectrum-efficient protocols and methods while the 2.8 kHz bandwidth limit will help protect the shared nature of our bands. We thank Congresswoman [Debbie] Lesko (AZ-08) for her efforts on behalf of all Amateurs to get these restrictions removed.” 2

  1. “FCC Adopts Rules Modernizing Amateur Radio Service & Foster Innovation”, Federal Communications Commission, Accessed November 14 2023, https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-398409A1.txt. ↩︎

  2. “ARRL Hails FCC Action to Remove Symbol Rate Restrictions”, ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio, Accessed November 14 2023, https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-hails-fcc-action-to-remove-symbol-rate-restrictions. ↩︎