SB QST @ ARL $ARLB025
ARLB025 Amateur 47 GHz Allocation Avoids 5G Juggernaut in the US for
Now, Worldwide Defense Continues

ZCZC AG25
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 25  ARLB025
> From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  July 20, 2016
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB025
ARLB025 Amateur 47 GHz Allocation Avoids 5G Juggernaut in the US for
Now, Worldwide Defense Continues

There's good news regarding the future of Amateur Radio's primary allocation at
47 GHz in the US. Still a test bed for point-to-point propagation
experimentation by dedicated enthusiasts, the 47-47.2 GHz band is among those
under consideration at the next World Radiocommunication Conference in 2019
(WRC-19) to accommodate so-called 5G wireless broadband devices. Early this
year, some FCC commissioners indicated they would include bands on the WRC-19
agenda in the Commission's "Spectrum Frontiers" 5G initiative. As the
Commission put it this week as it made nearly 11 gigahertz of spectrum above
24.25 GHz available for licensed, unlicensed, and shared use: "High-band
millimeter wave spectrum is key to unlocking the potential for 5G." The FCC's
Spectrum Frontiers included several of the bands set for consideration at
WRC-19, but not the 47 GHz band - although it did target 47.2-50.2 GHz.

"Maintaining the status quo in the 47-47.2 GHz band is a win for continued
Amateur Radio use of the band in the United States, and amateurs continue to do
great things there," ARRL Chief Technology Officer Brennan Price, N4QX,
allowed. He pointed to the new US-Canada distance record of 215 kilometers set
recently by radio amateurs from both countries. But, he suggested, Amateur
Radio could be doing more there.

Spectrum in the millimeter range has come under increasing scrutiny, because
the demand for greater throughput has driven demand for bandwidth - hence, the
greater focus on spectrum above 24.25 GHz for next-generation 5G wireless
broadband applications. As Price explains, it's easier to find 200 megahertz of
spectrum in the millimeter range than at UHF.

Price noted that radio amateurs have set up broadband networks on several lower
microwave bands - nearly all of them allocated to hams on a secondary basis.
"The 47 GHz band is allocated to the Amateur Service and the Amateur-Satellite
Service on a worldwide primary and exclusive basis," Price pointed out. "We
don't have to work around others in this space."

He suggested that Amateur Radio broadband experimenters consider and develop
upon the work of Ted Rappaport, N9NB - the founding director of NYU Wireless at
New York University's Tandon School of
Engineering - whose investigations have demonstrated that the millimeter waves
may serve next-generation broadband systems. "For a long time, millimeter waves
were thought to be most suitable for the point-to-point work that radio
amateurs perfected and continue to advance," Price said. "Ted's work indicates
that point-to-multipoint systems are feasible at this range, and the world has
taken notice."

Price stressed the need going forward for the worldwide Amateur Radio community
to maintain a staunch defense of all spectrum allocated to the Service, as the
47 GHz band remains under consideration by other countries. The International
Amateur Radio Union (IARU) is organizing the protective effort on this and
other issues as it continues to get ready for WRC-19.

NNNN
/EX

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Always Mount a Scratch Monkey

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