ARLB015 FCC Invites Comments on Petition to Eliminate 15 dB Gain Limit on Amateur Amplifiers

[Matthew Stevens]

SB QST @ ARL $ARLB015
> ARLB015 FCC Invites Comments on Petition to Eliminate 15 dB Gain
> Limit on Amateur Amplifiers
> 
> ZCZC AG15
> QST de W1AW  
> ARRL Bulletin 15  ARLB015
> From ARRL Headquarters  
> Newington CT  April 28, 2016
> To all radio amateurs 
> 
> SB QST ARL ARLB015
> ARLB015 FCC Invites Comments on Petition to Eliminate 15 dB Gain
> Limit on Amateur Amplifiers
> 
> The FCC has put on public notice and invited comments on a Petition
> for Rule Making (RM-11767), filed on behalf of an amateur amplifier
> distributor, which seeks to revise the Amateur Service rules
> regarding maximum permissible amplifier gain. Expert Linears America
> LLC of Magnolia, Texas, which distributes linears manufactured by
> SPE in Italy, wants the FCC to eliminate the 15 dB gain limitation
> on amateur amplifiers, spelled out in Part 97.317(a)(2). Expert
> asserts that there should be no gain limitation at all on amplifiers
> sold or used in the Amateur Service.
> 
> RM-11767 can be found on the web at,
> http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment/view?id=60001536394 .
> 
> "There is no technical or regulatory reason [that] an amplifier
> capable of being driven to full legal output by even a fraction of a
> watt should not be available to Amateur Radio operators in the
> United States," Expert said in its Petition.
> 
> Expert maintains that the 15 dB gain limitation is an unneeded
> holdover from the days when amplifiers were less efficient and the
> FCC was attempting to rein in the use of Amateur Service amplifiers
> by Citizens Band operators. While the FCC proposed in its 2004
> Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Order in WT Docket 04-140 to
> delete the requirement that amplifiers be designed to use a minimum
> of 50 W of drive power and subsequently did so, it did not further
> discuss the 15 dB amplification limit in the subsequent Report and
> Order in the docket.
> 
> The R&O is in PDF format at,
> https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-06-149A1.pdf
> .
> 
> "Although no party advocated retention of the 15 dB limit, it
> remains in place today," Expert pointed out in its filing. "In the
> intervening years, advancements in Amateur Radio transmitter
> technology have led to the availability of highly compact,
> sophisticated low-power transmitters that require more than 15 dB of
> amplification to achieve maximum legal power output. Therefore,
> Expert seeks to remove the 15 dB limit from Part 97.317 so that
> Amateur Radio manufacturers and distributors will not be forced to
> needlessly cripple their amplifiers for sale in the United States."
> 
> Expert pointed to its Model 1.3K FA amplifier as an example of a
> linear "inherently capable of considerably more than 15 dB of
> amplification," which would make it a suitable match for low-power
> transceivers now on the market having output power on the order of
> 10 W.
> NNNN
> /EX