ARRL Aiding Effort to Mitigate Repeater Interference to Military Radars

The ARRL has been working with the US Department of Defense to develop a plan to mitigate alleged interference from 70 cm ham radio repeaters to military radar systems on both coasts. Amateur Radio is secondary to government users from 420 to 450 MHz and must not interfere with primary users. Citing an increasing number of interferencecomplaints, the US Air Force has asked the FCC to order dozens of repeater systems to either mitigate interference to the “PAVE PAWS” radars or shut down. The Commission has not yet responded. The situation affects 15 repeaters within less than 100 miles of Otis Air Force Base on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and more than 100 repeaters within some 140 miles of Beale Air Force Base near Sacramento, California. ARRL Regulatory Information Specialist Dan Henderson, N1ND, stresses that the Defense Department acknowledges Amateur Radio’s value in disasters and emergencies and is being extremely cooperative — and a wholesale shutdown of US 70 cm Amateur Radio activity is not in the offing.

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2007/04/17/100/?nc=1

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