At an FCC presentation at Hamvention 2005, Riley Hollingsworth who was then FCC general counsel, encouraged coordination bodies to find spectrum to promote newer digital modes (at that time DSTAR and P25). He called out that this was to support FCC rule Part 97.1(b), “Continuation and extension of the amateur’s proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art.” The ARRL Narrowband Study Committee published their recommendation in 2010. The ARRL committee recommended creating “a coordinated plan to accommodate narrowband channels and existing wideband frequency pair structure for better spectrum use”. The WWARA was able to identify a small piece of 2m and 70cm spectrum for narrowband and ultra narrowband. This was quickly occupied but allowed supporting the newer digital narrowband modes.

In early 2019 the WWARA started discussing how narrowbanding could be applied to the entire WWARA repeater sub-band in western Washington. The effort and proposal was captured in the Narrowband Proposal document. In the first iteration, the 2m and 70cm bands were mapped out and showed the conversion from 20 kHz (for 2m) and 25 kHz (for 70cm) to 12.5 kHz channels.

Starting in 2020 an outreach effort was initiated, sharing this plan and collecting feedback from as many groups in western Washington as possible. The COVID19 situation made that effort more challenging, but over a dozen talks have been given. In addition the neighboring coordinating bodies in Canada, Oregon and eastern Washington were engaged. The slide deck that KU7M has been using is provided for reference, although most of the ‘meat’ of the presentation is in the speaking notes. The updated band plans for 2m and 70cm that included the narrowband proposal, were officially adopted at the April 2023 WWARA meeting.

To provide a tracking of the effort, a history of the public presentations is also being captured. A big thank you to all the clubs who have been nice enough to host and listen to the presentation.

DateGroup / Club NamePresenter
June 1, 2019SEA-PAC Hamfest 2019, Seaside, ORKU7M
Feb 11, 2020WWDXC Club KU7M
May 7, 2020SnoVARC Club (virtual)KU7M
May 14, 2020Thurston County ARES (TCARES)KU7M
July 21, 2020MicroHAMsKU7M
Aug 14, 2020Radio Amateurs of Skagit CountyKU7M
Oct 1, 2020BEARS Executive CommitteeKU7M
Nov 14, 2020PSRG (Puget Sound Repeater Grp)KU7M
Dec 19, 2020Mike and KeyKU7M
Jan 21, 2021Snohomish ACS (PDF of Slides)KU7M
Feb 12, 2021Federal Way ARCKU7M
Apr 18, 2021ORRC Narrowband DiscussionKU7M
May 9, 2024Edmonds ARC KU7M
Sept 28, 2024WWARA Q3 Meeting
Video of Presentation		N7SS
Oct 17, 2024SnohDEM/StanwoodCamano ARCN7SS
Jan 11, 2025Radio Club of TacomaN7SS
Jan 18, 2025Mike & Key ARCKU7M
Who will be next?