Breaker! Breaker! FCC on deck to approve 11-meter FM CB
Fri, 07/16/2021 - 02:00

Michelle Bradley, CBT, KU3N.
July 15, 2021

Normally, three weeks prior to the monthly open meeting of the Federal Communications Commission, the agency releases drafts of the items
they will be voting on in the meeting. These "circulation drafts" are
not the exact wording of the final decisions, but they are a good
sneak preview of what is to come.

The FCC is planning to vote on granting three Petitions for
Reconsideration in the Part 95 Personal Radio Services in WT Docket
10-119. According to the circulation draft, the Commission intends to
grant reconsideration to Motorola, who had proposed that GMRS and FRS
units be permitted to send automatic data transmission of location
information as well as the ability to send short text messages as well
as a request by medical device maker Medtronic to fix some rules
language as it applies to MedRadio service, an ultra-low power radio
service for the transmission of non-voice data for the purpose of
facilitating diagnostic and/or therapeutic functions involving
implanted and body-worn medical devices.

But the most interesting of these petitions was the one by Cobra that originally asked the FCC to permit FM emmissions in the 27 MHz
Citizens Band. Frequency modulation has been used for decades on 11
meters in many parts of Europe. The FCC originally rejected the idea
of FM CB because it would "change the fundamental nature" of the radio
service, but now, they have taken a new postion that FM CB would not
change the nature of the service.and would "improve the customer
experience".

Under the proposed revised rules, FM mode, like AM, will be limited to
4 watts. Radios will be limited to a +/- 2 kHz deviation, which
matches the European Telecommunications Standard. There will be no
expansion to the 40 channels in the service and there will be no
restrictions on which of the 40 channels FM operation can take place.
In order to assure maintain service compatibility, the FCC will
require that any CB radio marketed in the United States with FM mode
must also have AM.

This news comes at a time when conditions on the 10 meter Amateur
Radio Service band have been improving. This will also improve the
ability to "shoot skip" in the 11 meter Citizens Band. FM operations
in the 10 meter Amateur Radio Service band are mainly conducted on the
spectrum between 29.5~29.7 MHz. Unlike CB, Amateur Radio is permitted
to operate repeaters on 10 meter FM.

Also, in order to be "legal", all FM CB radios must be FCC certified
and have an FCC ID number. This does not mean that radios that have
been previously (illegally) imported into the United States are legal.
In addition, uncertified transceivers for the Amateur Radio Service
are not legal on the Part 95 CB frequencies.

The FCC's Open Meeting will be on Tuesday, August 5, 2021 and will be
streamed live on the FCC's YouTube Channel and at FCC.gov/live.

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