On Sat, 1 Dec 2012 21:45:01 EST, Bill Horne wrote:

I'm going to ask the readers to re-educate an old FM tech a little bit.
As I understand it, the "new" bandwidths require +/- 2.5 KHz deviation,
which I /thought/ was called "sliver" band, but I haven't seen that term
used lately.

Are you thinking of "splinter frequencies" which were half the
bandwidth of "regular" frequencies? They existed at the boundaries of
services that had different channel plans and were used primarily for
data.

Here's another question: I think the majority of "current" commercial FM
transceivers are computer programmable, but I wonder if they are able to
change their transmit deviation and/or receiver bandwidth to the new
requirements under software control:

Yes.

Since the "new" spacing is 12.5 KHz, I assume that the "old" +/- 5 KHz
units will have to be replaced, especially if their software doesn't
allow the transmitters to be cut back to the more narrow deviation. If
that's the case, I wonder if any of the manufacturers will be willing to
cooperate in a program like the one we used to have for Teletype
machines, where hams could buy units that were being replaced, as long
as they agreed to keep them from being used in commercial service.

Dream on. Equipment certified and manufactured for the last decade or
so has been required to be "narrow-band-able". One of the deals that
most manufacturers have is a discount for turning in old equipment
which are sent to the crusher. The days of giving or selling them to
the hams are history.

Come to think of it, are police/fire/municipal licensees subject to the
changes that other Part 90 users are going through? If they are, then
there might be an opportunity to transfer /their/ old gear into ARES or
RACES use.

See above. The only delays in the mandatory narrow-banding date
(1/1/2013) have been granted when the licensee has ordered the new
equipment in a timely manner and the production, installation, and
cutover date has been delayed. They are granted on a case-by-case
basis (my consutrling engineering firm has handled the paperwork for
several of our clients in these circumstances).

73 de K2ASP - Phil Kane

From a Clearing in the Silicon Forest
Beaverton (Washington County) Oregon