U. S. Hams Get a New Ham Band (Sorta)

The FCC just handed American hams an early Christmas present.

American hams will have more frequency space on the 60 meter band, taking it from a limited channelized space into a frequency agile allocation.  See the FCC ruling here.  These changes will go into effect on January 8, 2026 (30 days after their December 9 publication in the Federal Register ). 

U.S. hams will 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 – 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.

Excerpts from the FCC's Report and Order 25-60:

"35. Allocation. For the reasons stated below, we modify footnote US23 and part 97 of the Commission’s rules to implement the new international allocation at 5351.5-5366.5 kHz, retain the existing four channels at 5332, 5348, 5373, and 5405 kHz that are outside of the new allocation, and do not restrict the existing secondary allocation for the existing four channels to disaster response operations."

"38. Channelization and Permitted Uses. Consistent with our proposal in the WRC-15 Notice, we do not require the use of channelization or sub-bands in the new internationally harmonized amateur allocation."

"40. Due to the limited contiguous allocation of 15 kilohertz, we recognize that amateur radio operators will need flexibility to utilize the new allocation. Thus, we do not require the use of channelization or sub-bands in the new allocation at 5351.5-5366.5 kHz. We also carry forward the requirement of section 97.303(h) of the Commission’s rules, currently applicable to the discrete channels at 5332, 5348, 5373, and 5405 kHz, which stipulates that amateur operators shall ensure that emission bandwidth not exceed 2.8 kilohertz, which we also agree will preserve access to the limited spectrum in this secondary allocation."

"41. Station Class. We limit use of the existing amateur allocations at 5332, 5348, 5373, and 5405 kHz and the new amateur allocation at 5351.5-5366.5 kHz to amateur radio operators holding a General Class license or higher."

"43. Power. For the reasons stated below, we do not allow the amateur community to utilize the new international allocation at 5351.5-5366.5 kHz at the requested 100 W ERP limit and adopt NTIA’s proposal to limit usage of this band to 15 W EIRP, or 9.15 W ERP. Operating on a secondary basis, the amateur community must protect Federal operations in this band, and we do not believe that the increased potential for harmful interference at this power limit has been fully considered at this time. Amateur access to the four discrete channels at 5332, 5348, 5373, and 5405 kHz will however, continue at the same 100 W ERP limit."