Canada Approves FM Transmissions for CB Frequencies
Canada approves FM on CB frequencies. A post has appeared on the Industry Canada website updating the “Radio Standards Specification RSS-236” with various changes but one item stands out above all the others. Our Canadian friends are now legally allowed to use FM on the CB frequencies! You can view the article here Industry Canada RSS-236. This long-awaited change now brings Canada in line with the USA who legalised FM transmissions in July of 2021. The FCC approval can be found here FCC Approval FM. The important bit of the changes to the RSS-236 specification is in Section 4 which is titled “Transmitter Requirements” but can also be seen mentioned in the Preface:
modified section 4.8 to include the new FM audio emission F3E
The next amendment in Section 4 worth highlighting is “4.6 Transmitter output power limits” which incidentally are the same as the UK regulations of 4W and 12W SSB:
The transmitter output power shall not exceed 4.0 watts for DSB mode of operation or FM signals. For SSB, the RF peak envelope power output shall not exceed 12 watts.
Finally, the last amendment to mention is “4.8 Permissible emissions”
Permissible emissions include the following types: A3E, F3E, H3E, J3E and R3E.
If you’re not up to speed on emissions codes, then here are some tables so you can understand what they mean. I have been selective they do not contain all items:
Character One of the Emissions Type:
| A | Amplitude modulation, double sideband with identical information on each sideband |
| F | Frequency modulation |
| H | Single sideband with full carrier |
| J | Single sideband with suppressed carrier |
| R | Single sideband with reduced or variable carrier |
Character Two of the Emissions Type:
| 0 | No modulation |
| 1 | Digital modulation, no subcarrier |
| 2 | Digital modulation, modulated subcarrier |
| 3 | Analog modulation |
Character Three of the Emissions Type:
| A | Telegraphy for aural reception |
| B | Telegraphy for machine reception |
| C | Facsimile |
| D | Data, telemetry, and telecommand |
| E | Voice |
| N | No transmitted information |
| W | Combination of the above |
So, the codes referenced are as follows:
- A3E = AM – Analog Modulation – Voice
- F3E = FM – Analog Modulation – Voice
- H3E = SSB Full Carrier – Analog Modulation – Voice
- J3E = SSB Suppressed Carrier – Analog Modulation – Voice
- R3E = SSB Reduced or Variable Carrier – Analog Modulation – Voice
This now opens the door for the legal sale of AM/FM CB radios in Canada and we should start to see new units appearing which are closer in specification to the European models.
