Australian Radio Amateurs Denied Access to 60 Meters 12/09/2020
ACMA) has come down in favor of national government interests. Following a formal
consultation (a “proceeding” in FCC parlance), ACMA has decided not to permit ham operation on the 5351.5 – 5366.5 kHz band. The 15 kHz-wide band was allocated to the amateur service on a secondary basis in 2017, but as ACMA explained, “unresolved sharing issues” prevented ham radio use of the band, operated on by more than 500 other licensed services (mostly land mobile and aeronautical services), as well as by the Australian military.
Options ranged from Australia-wide access to the whole band or part of the band, to a segmented or channelized amateur allocation, to no amateur access. ACMA decided that national defense and security use of the allocation were “of high importance” in determining maximum public benefit and decided on the last option.