Progress was made regarding World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) agenda items of interest to Amateur Radio when European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) Conference Preparatory Group Project Team D (PTD) held its second meeting January 10-12 in Helsinki, Finland. According to International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 1 President Don Beattie, G3BJ, experts discussed WRC-19 Agenda Item 1.1, which proposes a 50-54 MHz allocation in Region 1 in order to create a global 6-meter band. Hans Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T, is the CEPT coordinator for this agenda item.

A preliminary CEPT position was agreed upon for Agenda Item 1.1, which would support a new 6-meter allocation in Region 1 (Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Northern Asia) only if the spectrum needs for the Amateur Services are justified and studies show that the incumbent land mobile, radiolocation, and broadcasting services — including their future deployment and services in adjacent spectrum — are protected. The 185-member PTD developed a working document summarizing the sharing studies currently available for this agenda item.

“IARU will continue to work on these studies with administrations and others to establish the optimum future sharing scenarios,” Beattie said.

Wireless Power Transmission/Transfer (WPT) was another item discussed, in preparation for WRC-19 Agenda Item 9.1.6. Studies would assess suitable harmonized frequency ranges to minimize the impact of WPT for electric vehicles on radiocommunication services. Various organizations are in the process of approving standards intended for global and regional harmonization of WPT technologies for electric vehicles. As the ITU explained in its August 2016 report, “Applications of wireless power transmission via radio frequency beam,” WPT technology is considered as one of [the] game-changing technologies. We will be able to become free from lacking electric power when electric power will be supplied wirelessly.” Spectrum employed in WPT depends in part on its application; vehicle applications typically use frequencies in the LF and MF range.

At PTD, an IARU Region 1 paper on high-power wireless transfer technologies that argued for greater clarity in terminology and scope of studies to be undertaken was broadly welcomed. That document is expected to result in a CEPT contribution to ITU Working Party 1B, the committee charged with developing WPT spectrum allocation and related issues. A WRC-15 resolution had called for “urgent studies” in preparation for this agenda item.

CEPT is one of the Region 1 telecommunications organizations with which IARU is actively participating, in advance of WRC-19. — Thanks to IARU Region 1, CEPT, ITU, and Jon Siverling, WB3ERA