karn@mouton.UUCP (08/06/84)
Thanks to Mike, K6ICS for this information.
There are actually TWO RM's (Rulemaking petitions) involved. The first
is RM 4829, "Reassignment of 220-225 MHz to Land Mobile", and the second
is RM 4831, "Reassignment of 216-222 Mhz for Sideband Technology
Development". I do not have copies yet of the two RMs, but will get
them ASAP. However, from what I've seen in the trade press, I believe
the LMCC (the Land Mobile industry trade group) is behind these. Their
demands don't stop at 220 mhz; they also want the 900 mhz "reserve" bands
which are already being requested by land mobile satellite developers,
along with more UHF TV channels.
My personal feeling is that the best place to get spectrum for land mobile
*IS* UHF TV -- at least we agree there. Even in large metropolitan areas,
most of the spectrum is idle. With the enormous success of cable TV,
MDS and video recorders, the demand for commercial TV broadcast spectrum
is (or should be) much reduced.
I suspect that if we all sing the same tune ("Get it from the broadcasters!")
then we might get the message across. Even if they got the whole 220 mhz
band, that's still less than ONE television channel, and there are a lot
of 'em above 470 mhz...
73, Phil