ARRL (Apr 1, 2009) — The FCC announced April 1 that the scheduled mandatory changeover of SSB and AM HF voice communications in the Amateur Radio Service has been delayed for one year; originally scheduled to begin April 1, 2009, the new changes will now take effect April 1, 2010.
Under the plan, originally approved by Congress during the Clinton Administration, all Amateur Radio voice communication in the HF spectrum (3-30 MHz) will adopt digital voice technologies, reducing the bandwidth of typical QSOs from an average of 2.4 kHz to an average of 1.5 kHz. No particular protocol is specified — amateurs can use any method they desire as long as it is digital.
During the transition period, 20 meter nets have been assigned temporary frequencies in the 10 meter band for their analog (SSB or AM) operations; they have also temporarily been allowed to use up to 10 kW due to limited propagation on that band.
Note that 160 meters is not included in this changeover, as it — being below 3 MHz — is an MF, rather than an HF band. As previously announced by ARRL, QSLs for 10 meter contacts using the temporarily authorized higher power will not count toward DXCC.
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Please note the date of this news release by ARRL and click the more info link above. Until next year…. ’nuff said.
