Executive Order 5855—Assignment of Frequencies to Government Radio Stations

Whereas section 6 of the Radio Act of 1927 (44 Stat. 1162, 1165) provides as follows:

"Radio stations belonging to and operated by the United States shall not be subject to the provisions of sections 1, 4, and 5 of this Act. All such Government stations shall use such frequencies or wave lengths as shall be assigned to each or to each class by the President. All such stations, except stations on board naval and other Government vessels while at sea or beyond the limits of the continental United States, when transmitting any radio communication or signal other than a communication or signal relating to Government business shall conform to such rules and regulations designed to prevent interference with other radio stations and the rights of others as the licensing authority may prescribe. Upon proclamation by the President that there exists war or a threat of war or a state of public peril or disaster or other national emergency, or in order to preserve the neutrality of the United States, the President may suspend or amend, for such time as he may see fit, the rules and regulations applicable to any or all stations within the jurisdiction of the United States as prescribed by the licensing authority, and may cause the closing of any station for radio communication and the removal therefrom of its apparatus and equipment, or he may authorize the use or control of any such station and/or its apparatus and equipment by any department of the Government under such regulations as he may prescribe, upon just compensation to the owners. Radio stations on board vessels of the United States Shipping Board or the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation or the Inland and Coastwise Waterways Service shall be subject to the provisions of this Act."

And Whereas the Government departments using radio find it necessary for efficient operation to make some changes in previous frequency assignments to individual stations and have requested that such changes be authorized;

Now, therefore, I, Herbert Hoover, President of the United States of America, pursuant to the authority vested in me by law, do hereby allocate frequencies to the Government stations as follows:

The following Government experimental radio stations are authorized to use miscellaneous frequencies from time to time provided no interference is caused with other authorized service:

Navy Department: Naval Research Laboratory (NKF); Annapolis (NZO); Quantico (NZY).

War Department: Fort Monmouth, N.J. (WLY); Wright Field, Ohio (WZAJ).

Department of Commerce: Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C. (WWV).

In the allocation of these frequencies the following principles have been followed and shall be followed in the consideration of future applications for use of frequencies by Government departments:

Utilization of Existing Communication Facilities

"No department shall erect a new station in the proximity of an existing government station, unless the same is incapable of rendering to such department the service that it requires, which shall be determined only after careful consideration by the departments concerned or by the permanent interdepartment organization. Whenever practicable, such a situation shall be met by the expansion of the existing stations, if necessary under joint contribution of the Departments interested. No department shall close a station no longer needed by it which is serving other Government departments without first making arrangements in respect to such service that are satisfactory to the departments being served."

"Experimental operation of any government radio station on a frequency not previously assigned to it but assigned to some government station by an Executive Order may be undertaken after approval by the other government agencies concerned through the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee, for a period to extend not beyond three months from the date of approval, with the proviso that it will cease operation on notice of interference."

Government Encouragement to Private Radio Enterprises

"The Government will encourage and foster the development of privately owned and operated radio facilities in such a manner that in time of war or similar national emergency there shall be available the most effective system for the national defense. In part, this encouragement shall consist of utilizing the services of commercial stations wherever Government interests warrant in the accomplishment of the service required."

The stations listed herein may use other frequencies for the purpose of selecting a frequency more suitable for a particular service prior to requesting authority to change the frequency, provided a notice is first submitted to the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee and also a notice to the Federal Radio Commission, if the frequency is not included in the Executive order, on the proviso that it will cease operation on notice of interference from the Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee or the Federal Radio Commission and such use shall not be for more than one month total.

The powers of the stations shown are those at the time of issuance of Executive order and are not limitations upon the stations.

The locations given are locations of the transmitting apparatus; and where control points are different, they are given in parentheses.

This Executive order supersedes Executive Order No. 5638, June 8, 1931.

HERBERT HOOVER

The White House,
June 6, 1932.