The FCC, and the US Department of Defense are cooperating in an effort to eliminate the possibility of amateur radio interference on 70 centimetres to critical systems at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico. The Defense Department’s Regional Spectrum Coordinator contacted the FCC in March, seeking information on whom to contact regarding detected amateur transmissions it believed could pose a threat to a critical WSMR system operating on 70 centimetres. The FCC, in turn, asked ARRL to be involved in the discussion and any necessary remedial efforts. It is to be noted that the Amateur Radio Service is a secondary service on the band.

Investigation revealed that the potential problem was not with individual operators or repeaters, but with RF control links at 420 – 430 MHz used to establish a linked repeater system within New Mexico.

A new version of the RSGB/Ofcom EMF Calculator v0.1.2-rsgb9c is available for free download on the RSGB EMF page

Ofcom has produced a guidance document explaining what radio amateurs need to know about the new EMF licence condition. It includes a handy compliance flowchart that shows you step by step what you need to do to carry out your Assessment.

The first step is to determine your station's EIRP, the RSGB's Calculator will help you work this out and give the required Average EIRP value. If this value is 10 watts or less then all you need to do for the Assessment is record the calculated value, nothing else.