FCC Denies Petition Seeking to Designate Nationwide Emergency Calling Frequency
Read by:ED KE4JWS
Saying that it believes that the Amateur Service “allows flexibility to provide emergency communications in a way that takes into account channel availability and other local conditions,” the FCC denied a Petition for Rulemaking to create a nationwide emergency calling frequency. The Petition — filed by Bryan Boyle, WB0YLE, of Morrisville, Pennsylvania, and Jim Dixon, WB6NIL, of Alhambra, California — called upon the FCC to designate 146.550 MHz as a “non-exclusive nationwide Amateur Radio Service emergency communications channel using FM wideband modulation.”
Doyle and Dixon noted in their Petition that other services, such as the Citizens Band Radio Service, the Aviation Service and the Maritime Service have specific channels set aside for emergency communications. They claimed that use of these channels “to good effect by those in distress [and that this] is a testament to the need for individual services to have a readily accessible and publicized” emergency communications channel. In denying the Petition, the FCC said in part that Boyle and Dixon “had not shown an existing problem that would be addressed by a rule change designating a nationwide Amateur Service emergency calling frequency.”