Focus on Competition 2014/02

I receive quite a few telephone and e-mail questions every month about whether 72 MHz frequencies are still usable, good to use, will be usable in the future, and so on. I’m also asked if the use of the 72 MHz frequency is still allowed here at the International Aeromodeling Center (IAC) and during the Nats.
These are all good questions and with the occasional rumors on the forums, they regularly reappear. With that in mind, I’ll try to put many of the questions to rest—at least for the time being—and also hopefully provide a little piece of mind.
In 2010, the FCC asked AMA to comment on a proposed rewrite of the FCC part 95 rules. The 95 rules pertain to our (model) use of the current 72 MHz frequencies that were acquired in the late 1980s and early 90s during the great narrow-band transition.
These rewrites are a normal activity for the rules and regularly occur, so this is nothing new. There were no changes proposed as to our usage of the frequencies. The few changes proposed were updates to transmission tolerances and other technological stuff and to consolidate redundant areas of the rule. Our Washington D.C. attorney basically provided the FCC with our normal comments in legalese with a few additions provided by the AMA Executive Council.
There are no pending threats or use requests from outside sources being dealt with, so our use of the existing group of frequencies should not be impeded into the foreseeable distant future. At this time, there is limited production of new and spare 72 MHz equipment, but that situation is not being precipitated by any threat to our usage or availability of those frequencies for RC. That is strictly a manufacturing and distribution decision.
As far as the IAC is concerned, there are no general restrictions on the usage of 72 MHz systems or 2.4 GHz systems. There are certain areas of the site where only 2.4 systems are allowed because of the availability of the frequency board, but both systems are usable and encouraged at the IAC.
Because the Nats events are managed by the individual Special Interest Groups (SIGs), they have the option to choose which systems can be used by their individual events, but that is not an AMA mandate. If you have a question about which systems your Nats event is using, you can usually check with the SIG involved or look on the Nats entry form where it is normally stated if there is a limitation.
The link to the latest published frequency list is www.modelaircraft.org/events/frequencies.aspx.
I hope this clears up a few things.