Another Ham Radio Band Being Taken Away!? BREAKING 900Mhz NEWS!

[@WA1LBK]

As someone who just recently started on 902 / 903 MHz. weak-signal SSB / CW operation, I will ABSOLUTELY be filing a comment against this proposal! Thanks for posting this! 73, Tom WA1LBK

[@AndrewMurphy8383]

You need to get real stop your complaining bout it and fight were the arrl fighting to keep are bands

[@rutrowmedia]

Just like UPS back in the day taking portions of 220 for their portable scanners and then they never used it.

[@K0LWC]

And now the railroad industry wants the 220 band…

[@dai1313x]

At least the railroad industry actually makes use of radio

[@WA1LBK]

@@rutrowmedia From what I understand, the railroad industry is using the 220 ~ 222 MHz. portion that we ALREADY lost in the UPS debacle. UPS wanted to use ACSB (Amplitude Compandered Side Band - a form of SSB) for communication with their vehicles. The technology was immature & I guess UPS couldn’t get it to work to their satisfaction. The railroad industry is using 220 - 222 MHz. for PTC (Positive Train Control) technology. This was legislated by Congress quite a few years ago after several high - profile train wrecks involving fatalities. I know GPS location of trains & the ability to remotely stop a train that is exceeding mandated track speed or passing warning signals without slowing or stopping as required. Look at the cab roofs of locomotives used in high - speed main line freight service & you’ll see quite an antenna farm there; it’s particularly noticeable on BNSF locomotives with their relatively bright paint schemes. Check out a channel called “Virtual Railfan”: they have webcams at busy railroad locations all across the country, especially several where there are overhead views of BNSF trains. I have not heard of the railroad industry looking to expand beyond the 220 - 222 MHz. allocation. Interesting side tidbit; I’m also active on 222 MHz. SSB / CW & occasionally local 222 repeaters, using a vintage ICOM IC-375A multi mode radio. This radio originally sold new from ICOM for $1200, same price range as their other -75 series VHF / UHF multimode radios. When we lost the bottom 2 MHz. of the original 220 - 225 MHz. band ( supposedly for UPS), R & L Electronics in Ohio closed them out new for $750 (which is when I bought mine). They’re now considered a rare, collectible radio, going for $1500 ~ $2500 on eBay!

[@michaelstora70]

I play with Meshtastic Lora (which is 902-928MHz ISM "915 band") but there is a ton of expensive industrial equipment like inductive heaters and very expensive medical equipment like microwave thermotherapy, LoRa radio on the 915 band is also unlicensed

[@natewelch6490]

They claim they will only use a "sliver" of the 10MHz they are requesting and will contract the excess bandwidth out to mobile providers for broadband. How about no! Purchase your own chunk of bandwidth somewhere else outside of the ISM band. Further. There are literally millions (probably more like hundreds of millions) of IoT devices already on the 900MHz band. LoRaWAN alone has grown quite a bit in the United States. NextNav also wants the 902-907MHz portion of the band which is primarily where Amateur Radio weak signal work occurs. Oh and they want the 918MHz to 928MHz chunk too! So NextNav wants 15MHz of a 26MHz band! That will REALLY crowd what little bit of band would be left for the other users

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

Not to mention what about the countless power company meters that are already using this band? Would they be reimbursed or would our bills go up?

[@silasmarner7586]

They tried it in the Bay area and it wiped out a local 900 MHz Wiped OUT.

[@GordonHudson]

In the UK we had a CB band on 934 MHz. It was introduced in 1981 so it was really cutting edge, but was discontinued in the 90s when the frequencies were taken for digital cellular phones. We have never had an amateur allocation near there. Japan had a personal communication system on 900 MHz. A bit like CB but the equipment was high quality and made by companies like Panasonic and Sharp. 73, GM4SVM

[@theramblingsoflarry9290]

If we don’t use them we loose them Most people don’t realize what commercial companies pay for a sliver of frequencies

[@K0LWC]

Spectrum is *CRAZY* expensive.

[@K7LZZ]

Yes we do use 900Mhz, but do to the lack of non commercial equipment (The Amateur makers don't make 900Mhz gear) causes the use of this band to be used less, like 220 was years ago. And we know what happened to 220-222 in the 90s. UPS took it away from us, and ultimately didn't use the band because they went cellular for their mobile data services, and we never got 220-222 back.

[@K0LWC]

Now the railroad industry wants 220 mhz.

[@Eightbitswide]

Posted a shortened URL to this video on our Lora network across the state of Ohio.

[@K0LWC]

Thanks for sharing! The more awareness/comments we can get submitted the better.

[@silasmarner7586]

Thanks to one of the main guys who build repeaters for 900 MHz, I have a 900 Mhz simplex node and have been working with 900 Mhz repeaters since 2012. The group on the 900 Mhz network are the smartest, most active groups ever.

[@pupdaddymail]

How many people is that though?

[@adcraziness1501]

@3:55 good to know the ARRL sat on its hands

[@adcraziness1501]

GPS works just fine. I don't need anyone else tracking me with any further precision. If they take my band for their greedy purposes it will be their mistake.

[@ai4px]

Remember when ups took part of 1.25m and never gave it back??

[@K0LWC]

I do indeed. Now the railroad industry wants to buy it up for Positive Train Control (PTC).

[@RobinAltoft]

Any Meshtastic or LORA users out there need to take notice!

[@K0LWC]

Absolutley - could be a big impact for them!

[@robertdec3713]

LORA works on 868MHz, so LORA this does not apply.

[@natewelch6490]

@@robertdec3713 LoRa uses the 915MHz ISM band in the United States

[@MrTime872]

​@@robertdec3713 it is 915MHz (902-928MHz)in north America

[@Eightbitswide]

@@robertdec3713 US Lora is on 900Mhz.

[@josephdurnal]

My son and I use 33cm for basic chat walkie talkie stuff, good for hamfests. I also use it for my DMR hot spot.

[@K0LWC]

I've heard of people using 900 MHz radios for malls where UHF can even struggle sometimes.

[@jplacido9999]

​@@K0LWC 900 MHz is UHF 😊😊😉

[@jplacido9999]

​@@K0LWC 900 MHz is UHF 😊😊😉

[@K0LWC]

@jplacido9999 Well, let’s say lower portions of UHF aka 70cm. 😉

[@jplacido9999]

@@K0LWC I know....😊😊...just messing with you...😉👍🙏 73's

[@ryanjacob8568]

I don't see how they are going to be able to do this because of the sheer number of devices on this band. If you look at an SDR, you will generally see signals everywhere because of wireless alarm systems, weather stations, Z-Wave, Zigbee, medical devices, not to mention amateur radio. You are talking about billions of devices that would have to be scrapped and thrown into a landfill. It would be an incredibly expensive endeavor. When people find out they have to change all their security alarm sensors at great expense I think there will be outrage.

[@K0LWC]

Yes, there is a bunch of stuff in the 900 band.

[@happity]

more than happy to do this as a Meshtastic user .. would help to see what you commented as an example to follow , thanks

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

The band should be left open for ISM and amateur radio use.

[@dai1313x]

I'm more worried about the effect this will have on the ISM band more than the ham band On paper they are higher priority in the chain, but functionally if there is interference from these geolocation services then there really isn't anything they can do

[@Ei2iP]

In Ireland, we have 8M and 5M, 40 & 60Mhz, additional, an excellent band for different propagations, North America had an allocation but has also lost it... Pity.

[@K0LWC]

Those are some very fun bands. Wish we had them over here.

[@mikemcdonald5147]

This could be the death of LORA Mesh

[@W4BIN]

Breath blasts from close talking noticeable. Back off or wind screen. What kind of power is to be be used for radio locating? Ron W4BIN

[@william_k4arx]

Part 15: must accept interference, must not cause interference . Probably why they "hop frequencies." No problem, right? Might be a problem for us on P25.

[@davegoddard]

Just went through this with fcc drone regulations. The only way you fix anything in this country is to pay politicians. We can skip the filing of comments and just set up a go fund me to pay the fee to whatever civil employee can make this stop. We collectively spent more than 2million trying to save the model flight hobby, I’m betting for like 10% of that we could have won. Don’t fight just pay.

[@dmark6699]

Thank the politicians a buck buys a lot,

[@carlossantini3605]

ISM 900mhz is secondary for amateur radio. We hams don’t own ISM band, we share it so anybody can use it with radios that tx 1watt or less.

[@N4EJM]

Was looking at the DTR series Motorola radios for camping etc. wonder how those will be affected.

[@K0LWC]

Something to consider for sure.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

A local grocery store just recently started using a newer 900 MHz Motorola radio that uses the same technology as the DTR. I don't think Motorola would be happy with a band being taken away from them that they just invested so much in.

[@ke8mattj]

How long until we find out they have been causing a boatload of interference just like that Shortwave Modernization people that we haven't heard from since forever?

[@K0LWC]

I will say the 900 MHz is the land of random signals + high noise. :)

[@cmritchie04]

why can't they go 800 Mhz plenty of room there

[@K0LWC]

I could see them reallocating amateur radio to 800 MHz.

[@_liquid_wolf_4280]

correct me if im wrong i just googled and see 900-909 mhz is license free in the U.S. is this correct and can anyone use it?

[@keysersmoze]

You could have mentioned the proposed frequency, bandwidth, modulation type, and powerlevels so we get some idea of what they are proposing. It is probably wide band spread spectrum.

[@K0LWC]

Everything is linked in the description so you can read the full proposal.

[@keysersmoze]

​@@K0LWC, OK I looked into this. These guys are just trying to grab spectrum for 5g wireless on the cheap, so they have something to horse trade with existing wireless networks. This plan should not be approved. Looks like there are objectors piling up. For instance the RFID industry. The FCC itself has many questions, each one a potential objection to the proposal.

[@skeets6060]

Follow the money !

[@zxeng6064]

23 CM is next, of the masive band we have 1 active D-star repeater that's sometime active..

[@richysradioroom]

Ham Radio has always been place holders for radio frequencies just for this reason.

[@kc0itf]

I have more questions than answers worthy of commenting to the FCC... sounds like a worthy service. How do their current operations impact amateur radio?

[@K0LWC]

The technology sounds really awesome - no doubt.

[@EricTechstuffs]

900 doesn't seem to be that active in my area, but could be I I just don't know it yet. I guess money talks in this case ?

[@K0LWC]

900 MHz amateur is usually active in mountainous areas or urban locations. But you can found pockets of it elsewhere.

[@cyberlight22]

THIS IS KD5SBY QSL

[@huntermoronie5825]

no thanks, we already have gnss accuracy down to 10mm from satellites or terrestrial base stations... :l

[@kenneth6731]

I was in the process of building a Meshtastic repeater/node for my community. Scratch that idea. Thank you!

[@K0LWC]

Sounds like a great idea for public comment. I hope the Mesh community picks up the torch and submits comments on this NPRM!

[@jamess1787]

It's ISM, good luck relocating it. Tons of smart meters, lorawan and devices operating in this band. They'd be stupid to try and use this band. Ever hear of the Helium Network? There's some 100,00 devices in the US using this band just from the Helium Network project.

[@K0LWC]

@@jamess1787 It would be a real challenge. Long-term possibility of interference seems inevitable given the shear amount of Part 15 devices on the band.

[@KH07734]

I do a lot of experiment on that band!, so NO you cannot have that. Fo use some upper commercial frequency bands in the microwave….

[@someguy782]

We'd use it more if the manufacturers would make equipment for it.

[@K0LWC]

Yep, have to acquire old commercial gear if you really want to get heavy into 900 MHz.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

Retevis has a new handheld that I'm aware of.

[@planker]

Oh no, my CC1101.

[@loueckert4970]

CQ 902.1 de KT1R FM09 73

[@miketel01]

Where is the petition to sign to deny their application ?

[@K0LWC]

I explain it in the video towards the end.

[@SkruxLabs-vq4ho]

This will fall on its face. Too much stuff on the band already.

[@K0LWC]

I hope so!

[@PowderMill]

The radical hams will just set up high powered 90.0mhz transmitters at moving locations…

[@Suzuki_Akira]

Crazy, commercial always wants more… Curious what your mic boom arm is? It looks very nice!

[@rohnkd4hct260]

Everything above 450 MHz is gone….. just haven’t lost it yet.

[@K0LWC]

I sure hope not.

[@foxfoxfoxfoxfoxfoxfoxfoxfoxfox]

900MHz is one of the nosiest bands out there. If there was a chance of using it for something else the cellular carriers would have already tried to petition the FCC to use it.

[@Atomshamradio]

I have nothing to worry about I don’t use it we need more hf spectrum 900 MHz is worthless

[@K0LWC]

900 MHz is certainly not worthless. Lots of fun experimentation to be had up there -- not to mention the LoRA/Mesh stuff ongoing there.

[@Eightbitswide]

We have a community network on 900Mhz that spans 20 miles in every direction. It is free use to the community with a $20 radio connected to a cell phone app. (via bluetooth) When the cell network goes down, we still have communication.

[@cchalfantusa]

@@Eightbitswidemeshtastic?

[@scottlittfin5832]

If you don't use it, what makes you think it's useless? W5LUA recently completed his Worked All States on 900 MHz. The first person to do it since we got access to the band.

[@K0LWC]

@scottlittfin5832 That’s incredible.

[@charleswoods2996]

Amateur Radio operators; we are "secondary users", therefore, we, with or without license don't have exclusive to right to ANY Amateur Radio band in the radio spectrum. KD8EFQ/73

[@K0LWC]

Absolutley, we're secondary. But having a 900 MHz allocation still means we have a voice in any rule changes. Not as prominent, but a voice nonetheless.

[@charleswoods2996]

@@K0LWC Yes. A "secondary voice", that they can easily marginalize and dismiss. I just choose to remain very realistic about these things.

[@RB01138]

Uh, we're only secondary at 70cm and above.

[@charleswoods2996]

@@RB01138 "Privileges" that can be taken away, at any time, for any reason. Of course, not even the ARRL (a for profit entity) won't tell you that.