On May 7, the FCC denied two separate Petitions for Rule Making (PRM) dealing with digital issues.

Mark Miller, N5RFX, of Arlington, Texas, sought to delete the FCC's 2006 addition to how it defines data, amend the rules to prohibit automatically controlled stations from transmitting on frequency segments other than those specified in Section 97.221(b), and replace the symbol rate limits in Section 97.307(f) with bandwidth limitations.

The FCC denied all three parts of Miller's PRM, saying he "did not set forth sufficient reasons for the Commission" to approve his petition and that "should future experience substantiate Miller's concerns, he may file a new, factually supported petition for rulemaking." The complete copy of the FCC's reply to Miller is on the FCC Web site http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-1082A1.pdf.

Ken Chafin, W6CPA, of La Crescenta, California, and Leon Brown, KC6JAR, of Los Angeles, California, also filed a PRM concerning additional spectrum for more repeaters, including digital systems, requesting that the FCC "propose to expand the frequencies on which an amateur station operating as a repeater (repeater station) may operate."

Chafin and Brown argued that additional spectrum is needed for repeater stations because some amateur repeater stations have begun using digital communications protocols" and "digital voice operation is incompatible with existing analog operations [because d]igital voice users are unable to determine if the desired frequency is in use by analog users and can inadvertently cause harmful interference to those users." The men pointed out that coordinating groups have been unable to separate analog and digital voice repeater operations to avoid harmful interference because the available repeater spectrum in the 2 meter band is "fully occupied by existing analog users in most metropolitan areas."

The FCC, after considering Chafin and Brown's PRM, concluded that the PRM did not present grounds for the Commission to amend its rules: "Repeater stations are authorized to transmit on any frequency in the 2 meter band except the 144.0-144.5 MHz and 145.5-146.0 MHz frequency segments. These two segments were excluded to minimize the possibility of harmful interference to other amateur service stations and operating activities, including 'weak signal' operations. Allocating an additional three hundred kilohertz of the 2 meter band to repeater operation would not be consistent with that concern. Rather, it would likely result in increased interference to non-repeater stations." The complete copy of the FCC's reply to Chafin and Brown is on the FCC Web site http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-1083A1.pdf.