The FCC just handed American hams an early Christmas present.
U.S. hams now have access to a brand-new chunk of the 60-meter band: 5351.5-5366.5 kHz. That’s on top of the discrete 60m channels we’ve been using up to this point.
Here are the only caveats (and they’re pretty minor): you’ll need at least a General Class US license to use the new allocation. And if you’re working the new band, you’re limited to 9.15 watts ERP.
Phone, CW, RTTY, digital–seems like it’s all fair game. We just need to keep our bandwidth no wider than 2.8 kHz.
The ruling also notes power restrictions in the 70-centimeter band for operators in military coordination areas, but that’s outside the scope of the operations of most hams.
These changes will go into effect on January 8, 2026 (30 days after their December 9 publication in the Federal Register).