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NEWS RELEASE For immediate release IARU Report: Week One of WRC-03Here is a recap of where things stand with regard to the major Amateur Radio issues at the start of the second week of the four-week-long 2003 World Radiocommunication Conference. This report is prepared on behalf of the IARU team in Geneva. It is our intention to report at the start of the third and fourth weeks (around 23 and 30 June) as well as toward the end of the conference, around 4 July. The last report will be made after all of the text regarding our major issues has made its way through the second reading in the Plenary. That is the only point where a conference decision can be regarded as "final." The IARU news release distributed on 11 June is a necessary starting point for understanding this and future reports. It is available on the Web at www.iaru.org/rel030611.html.
Agenda item 1.23 (7 MHz realignment): The proposals relating to AI 1.23 were introduced in Working Group 4C and referred to Sub-Working Group 4C1 for discussion and possible decision. As of the end of the week, 4C1 was still working on AI 1.2 and had not taken up 1.23.
Agenda item 1.7.1 (Article 25): The proposals relating to 1.7.1 were introduced in Working Group 4C and referred to Sub-Working Group 4C3 for discussion and possible decision. On Friday afternoon the proposals were introduced in 4C3, along with the information paper containing the views of the IARU. The USA withdrew its proposals on 1.7.1 in favor of the Inter-American Proposals, which is favorable for us because the IAPs include incorporation by reference of Recommendation ITU-R M.1544 whereas the USA proposals did not. The other differences between the various proposals under 1.7.1 were identified, but no effort as yet has been made to resolve them.
Agenda item 1.7.2 (Article 19): Revisions to Article 19 to provide greater flexibility for administrations to assign call signs to amateur stations were among the first decisions to make their way through Working Group 4C and Committee 4. The output has now gone to the Editorial Committee and should be offered to the next Plenary, now scheduled for Thursday afternoon, for consideration. The revisions would allow administrations to assign amateur stations call signs with suffixes containing up to four characters, the last of which shall be a letter, following the national identifier and the single numeral (the "call area" in some countries) specified in the Radio Regulations. There is also a provision for even more than four characters on special occasions, for temporary use.
Agenda item 1.7.3 (Article 1): Because any changes here would be as a consequence of decisions taken under AI 1.7.1, no decisions can be made until action on 1.7.1 is completed. However, an "NOC" (no change) document has already been prepared by the WG 4C secretariat for introduction at the appropriate time.
Agenda item 1.38 (70 cm SARs): The proposals under AI 1.38 were introduced in WG 5E. They range from NOC to a primary allocation, although there seems to be a general preference for a secondary rather than a primary allocation. India has proposed the band 435-441 MHz instead of 432-438 MHz. Another issue is how to ensure that SARSs are subject to the limits contained in Recommendation ITU-R SA.1260. Discussions are underway to accommodate the concerns of those opposed to an allocation.
Agenda item 1.1 (footnotes): Friday afternoon's Plenary became somewhat contentious when the subject of new "country" footnotes came up. At this point in recent conferences, a procedure has been agreed whereby countries can add their country names to existing footnotes or to propose new footnotes for their countries, by an agreed deadline and subject to there being no objection from potentially affected countries. The chairman of Committee 4 proposed such a procedure, but the Plenary would not agree to the introduction of new footnotes. This was good news for us inasmuch as there were several such footnotes proposed by Uzbekistan for amateur HF bands. There are a couple of other proposals from countries to add themselves to existing footnotes affecting the 40 and 20 meter bands, and we are requesting friendly administrations to raise objections at the appropriate time.
IAP for 135 kHz footnote: Exceptionally, WG 4C was given the task of considering a CITEL IAP proposed by Canada, for a footnote for an amateur secondary allocation at 135.7-137.8 kHz even though it did not fit under any specific item of the conference agenda. Several administrations objected on the grounds that there were no ITU-R studies of the interference potential. Instead, at Canada's request, Committee 4 is sending a note to Committee 7 offering it as a draft item for possible inclusion in the WRC-07 agenda.
Future agenda items: Committee 7 has begun its work but has not begun substantive discussions of future agenda items.
National amateur radio delegates: On Friday
evening the IARU hosted a reception for national amateur radio delegates, i.e.,
those who are on their national delegations specifically to represent the amateur
and amateur-satellite services, at the IARU office. We are pleased to
acknowledge the involvement and assistance of the following national delegates:
Oyekunle B. Ajayi, 5N0OBA, Nigeria There many other amateurs on national delegations, of course, including John Breen, EI7BV, who is head of delegation for Ireland. Comings and Goings: We were sorry to bid adieu to IARU Region 1 Vice Chairman Tafa Diop, 6W1KI, who attended the first week of the conference as an observer for the African Telecommunications Union. Tafa helped greatly in providing liaison with French-speaking African delegates. He also translated the IARU information paper, Document 98, into French for distribution to them. We miss him already! Coming up: In Week Two we expect the real battles to begin on 7 MHz, Article 25, and 70 cm SARs. To help build support the IARU is hosting a reception on Wednesday evening for about 150 of the key delegates. The participants' list was reviewed and invitations addressed over the weekend with assistance from Linda Sumner, KA1ZD. Of course, we could not invite everyone we would have liked to; the room where are holding the reception, on the top floor of the ITU Tower, will not hold them all. We hope those we could not accommodate will understand our difficulty.
We also hope to see a change in the unusually warm weather here in Geneva!
David Sumner, K1ZZ
16 June 2003 |
