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 Previous: Surfin': Weather in Space and Your Radio |  Next: Tang--or Something Like it--Still a Space Drink |
NEWINGTON, CT, Jun 30, 2003--Compromise on a realigned 7 MHz Amateur Radio allocation so far has eluded delegates to World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03) who are dealing with that issue. The ITU-sponsored conference, now in its final week in Geneva, has reached no final conclusions on key Amateur Radio-related issues, and it might not be known until week's end how efforts to secure a worldwide 300-kHz 40-meter allocation will turn out.
"Things are very much up in the air at this time," Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ, said on behalf of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) observer delegation to WRC-03 headed by IARU President Larry Price, W4RA. Sumner notes that there is strong pressure for the conference to reach its decisions by consensus. "Votes are not taken except as an absolute last resort," he said.
Sumner reported that as the third week of WRC-03 drew to a close, Conference Chair Dr Veena Rawat of Canada brought together several delegates and regional coordinators in an attempt to reach agreement on several outstanding issues, including 7 MHz. The outcome regarding 40 meters was a proposed compromise, but Committee 4--the panel charged with handling the issue (Agenda item 1.2.3)--ran out of time to consider it, despite a meeting that ran late into last Friday evening.
That compromise proposal calls for a single-stage implementation of another 100 kHz for the Amateur Service--7100 to 7200 kHz--in Regions 1 and 3, made available by shifting broadcasting up to 7350 to 7450 kHz. "In Region 2 the only change would be an additional 50 kHz for broadcasting, 7350-7400 kHz, with no change below 7300 kHz," Sumner explained in his report. "Thus, amateurs in Region 2 would be relieved of the incompatibility with broadcasting in half of the band, but the incompatibility would continue in the other half."
The plan, if ultimately approved--and that's anything but certain at this stage--might not go into effect for another four to six years, but Regions 1 and 3 could be permitted to authorize amateurs to use 7100-7200 kHz on a secondary basis and with limited power as of the effective date of the Final Acts of the Conference--probably January 1, 2005. The next WRC may consider additional adjustment in the allocations above 7200 kHz, but not 7000 to 7200 kHz.
Still, Sumner said, talk in the hallways at Geneva suggested that several Region 3 administrations were not happy with the compromise and wanted to at least have country "footnotes" permitting them to allocate 7100 to 7200 kHz on a national basis to Fixed and Mobile services, shared with amateurs.
Formal and informal discussions on the topic are ongoing. "Of course, the arm twisting in the corridors is continuing unabated," Sumner observed.
Meanwhile, a resolution inviting the next WRC to consider additional spectrum requirements for broadcasting between 4 and 10 MHz awaits final action until the 7 MHz issue has been resolved.
Regarding other Amateur Radio-related items, Committee 4 delegates agreed to a complete text for changes to Article 25 of the Radio Regulations, which define the Amateur and Amateur-Satellite services. "Some of the wording is the result of delicate compromises," Sumner said. It will be brought to the Plenary this week. All items that become part of the Final Acts of WRC-03 must survive two readings in the Plenary.
A 432 to 438 MHz secondary allocation for satellite-borne synthetic aperture radars (SARs) already has cleared the Plenary on first reading. So have changes to Article 19 of the Radio Regulations to provide more flexibility for administrations to assign amateur call signs.
The second reading of all conference decisions in the Plenary is set to be wrapped up by July 3 at noon. The ceremonial signing of the Final Acts of the Conference is set for the afternoon of July 4.
A draft agenda for the next conference--being referred to as "WRC-07," although the year is not yet firm--is taking shape. Future conference agenda items will be among the last items of business, because the agenda remains contingent on still-pending WRC-03 decisions.
| Previous: Surfin': Weather in Space and Your Radio | Next: Tang--or Something Like it--Still a Space Drink |
