PUBLIC NOTICE Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20554 News Media Information 202 / 418-0500 Fax-On-Demand 202 / 418-2830 TTY 202 / 418-2555 Internet: http://www.fcc.gov ftp.fcc.gov DA 10-684 April 22, 2010 PUBLIC SAFETY AND HOMELAND SECURITY BUREAU ANNOUNCES COMMENT AND REPLY COMMENT DATES FOR THE NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING IN THE AMENDMENT OF PART 97 OF THE COMMISSION’S RULES REGARDING AMATEUR RADIO SERVICE COMMMUNICATIONS DURING GOVERNMENT DISASTER DRILLS WP Docket No. 10-72 Comments Date: May 24, 2010 Reply Comments Date: June 7, 2010 On March 18, 2010, the Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to amend our Part 97 rules governing the Amateur Radio Service to provide that, under certain limited conditions, amateur radio operators may transmit messages during emergency and disaster preparedness drills, regardless of whether the operators are employees of entities participating in the drill.1 The NPRM seeks comment on the Commission’s tentative conclusions and proposed rule amendments.2 The NPRM sets deadlines for filing comments and reply comments at 30 and 45 days after publication of the NPRM in the Federal Register. On April 22, 2010, a summary of the NPRM was published in the Federal Register.3 Accordingly, comments must be filed on or before May 24, 2010; and reply comments must be filed on or before June 7, 2010. Comment filing instructions are set forth in the NPRM.4 The NPRM is available at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-10-45A1.doc. For further information regarding this proceeding, contact Jeffrey Cohen, Senior Legal Counsel, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB), (202) 418-0799 or Zenji Nakazawa, Deputy Chief, PSHSB Policy Division (202) 418-7949. -- FCC -- 1Amendment of Part 97 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding Amateur Radio Service Communications During Government Disaster Drills, WP Docket No. 10-72, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, FCC 10-45, __ FCC Rcd __ ¶ 1 (rel. Mar. 18, 2010)(NPRM). 2 Id. at ¶¶ 5-8. 3See 75 Fed. Reg. 77 (April 22, 2010). 4 See NPRM, at ¶ 12.