WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Lesko (AZ-08) introduced the Amateur Radio Communications Improvement Act to eliminate the current Symbol Rate Limit set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and replace it with a 2.8 kilohertz (kHz) bandwidth limit. The bill brings regulations up to speed with modern technology advances in amateur radio.

“With advances in our modern technology, increased amounts of data can be put on the spectrum, so there is less of a need for a regulatory limit on symbol rates,” said Congresswoman Lesko. “I am pleased to introduce this important piece of legislation to update the FCC’s rules to support the critical role amateur radio operators play and better reflect the capabilities of our modern radio technology.”

This legislation eliminates the Symbol Rate Limit in 47 CFR part 97, and replace it with the 2.8kHz bandwidth limit. 2.8kHz is already used to set the maximum bandwidth of an amateur station in the 60-meter band.

###