[Ham-News] Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1352 - July 11, 2003

Sat Jul 12 00:29:56 EDT 2003

Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1352 - July 11, 2003

The following is a QST.  Ham radio does well at WRC 2003 and a California teen is named as Amateur Radio Newsline's Young Ham of the Year.  Find out who on Amateur Radio Newsline report number 1352 coming your way right now.

(Billboard Cart Here)

**

WRC-03:  GOOD NEWS FOR HAM RADIO - BAD NEWS FOR SUPPORTERS OF CW

The 2003 World Radiocommunications Conference in Geneva is over and there is some generally good news for ham radio.  Q-News Graham Kemp, V- K-4-B-B, has been following this story and has a complete wrap up on the way that amateur radio fared:

--

The 2003 World Radiocommunication Conference concluded its discussions of the issues on its agenda on Thursday afternoon, 3 July, after marathon Plenary sessions that tested the patience and stamina of the conferees.  The big news for radio amateurs is that there will be a dramatic improvement for we here in region 3 in regard the 40-meter band!

7100-7200 kHz band reallocated to the amateur service in both region 3 and 1, Region 2 7000-7300 kHz remains exclusively amateur. The change will take effect on 29 March 2009, less than six years from now!

Now the "but".. A footnote containing the names of countries that are mainly in Region 3 and the Arab States makes the band also available to the fixed and mobile services in those countries on a primary basis.

It was not easy to achieve such a positive outcome on this issue.  A last-ditch effort to bridge differences was chaired by Alan Ashman of Australia.

Perhaps the magnitude of what has been accomplished for radio amateurs can best be explained this way: Never before in the history of radiocommunication has an HF broadcasting band been shifted to accommodate the needs of another service. This is not simply an accomplishment of the IARU. It would not have been possible without the cooperation of a number of broadcasters and many, many others. The people who worked with us who are not radio amateurs -- including some who were strongly opposed at the start but who acceded to the compromise --deserve much of the credit.  For example, Australia came to the conference with a strong "no change" position and had to shift its position dramatically in order to embrace the compromise.

Agenda item 1.7.1 (Article 25): A package of revisions to the international Radio Regulations that are specific to the amateur and amateur-satellite services, takes effect on Saturday, 5 July 2003. Michael Owen, VK3KI, has guided the work of IARU on this issue since 1996.

Agenda item 1.7.2 (Article 19): 432-438 MHz secondary allocation for satellite-borne synthetic aperture radars was  approved in Plenary.

Agenda item 1.1 (footnotes): "Footnote fever" seized some administrations in the closing hours of the conference.  Fortunately, the amateur service escaped serious damage from "footnote fever" although it may be a problem in the future if countries want to climb into the footnote for fixed and mobile at 7100-7200 kHz.

As Secretary David, K1ZZ said in wrapping up his report... "It's Over! Well, the work is over; the ceremonial closing of the Conference will occur on Friday afternoon, 4 July. Then we will all be heading home, except for those who are staying for a two- day meeting to plan the preparatory work for WRC-07.

Yes, it's all beginning again...."