IARU E-Letter with the Special WRC Report Number Two.

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In this Issue:

Special WRC Report Number Two

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The procedures used by the Int’l Telecommunication Union (ITU) before and during a World

Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) seem complicated. They are somewhat complicated

but they are understandable with a bit of background.

Each agenda item that will be decided at a WRC has been studied for at least 3 or 4 years leading

up to a WRC. ITU Working Parties discuss the issues involved in the agenda item.

Compatibility studies, sharing studies, experiments, etc. take place whenever needed so that

discussions and decisions can be made based upon facts rather than opinions. Within a year

prior to the start of a WRC an important meeting called the Conference Preparatory Meeting

(CPM) occurs. The CPM report pulls together all of the information dealing with each of the

agenda items and sets forth the various ways, if there is more than one, that an agenda item can

be satisfied or decided. By the time of the CPM, most all of the arguments in favor of the agenda

item and opposed to the agenda items have been thoroughly discussed in the many meetings that

take place regarding each agenda item. When a national administration arrives at the WRC,

decisions have generally been made by that administration whether to be in favor or opposed to

any particular agenda items. However, it is usually not that clear cut. Some administrations may

be in favor if certain adjustments or modifications are made to one or more of the proposed

methods to satisfy the agenda item. In other words, discussions and negotiations really get

started during the earlier stages of the WRC. For example, Administration X may withhold

support or opposition on a specific proposal until other administrations agree to support

Administration X’s position on other agenda items that Administration X is very interested in.

At the beginning of the WRC, each agenda item is assigned to a Sub-Working Group (SWG) to

allow interested administrations and other interested attendees the opportunity to discuss the

agenda item. This is the stage where most of the negotiations and compromises are made in

order to arrive at a consensus as to how to decide the agenda item. The preferred way is to have

a consensus by the SWG attendees. Many times the consensus is achieved by all parties

realizing that the result may very well turn out to be a situation where “everyone is a little bit

unhappy.”

The flow of the work is that the output of the SWG goes to the Working Group level. After the

WG level deals with the issue it moves to the Committee level. By the time the issue gets to the

Committee level, revisions to the work done at the lower levels is generally not done. Once the

agenda item passes the Committee level, it goes to the Plenary for two readings. If it passes the

two readings the agenda item appears in the Final Acts of the WRC.

There are also times when a consensus by ALL parties is just not possible. An agenda item can

move from the SWG stage to the Working Group stage where most administrations have reached

a consensus on how to resolve the issue but there are still some administrations that are in favor

of No Change (NOC).

Agenda Item 1.23. In the case of agenda item 1.23, there was a good deal of support among

administrations at the SWG level for a secondary allocation to amateur radio just below 500 kHz.

However, there was strong resistance by several administrations to the allocation based upon a

stated concern that amateur operation in that portion of the spectrum could cause interference to

Non-Directional Beacons. SWG 4C3 (the SWG dealing with agenda item 1.23) met 12 times

over a period of ten days trying to arrive at a consensus on 1.23. Finally, a consensus was

achieved on the issue by adding various footnotes dealing with the allocation that satisfied most

of the administrations opposing the allocation. At the end of the day, there were still a couple of

administrations opposing the allocation. As a result, the SWG elevated the issue to the Working

Group level with 2 options to satisfy the agenda item:

1.) a secondary allocation to the amateur service in the band 472-479 kHz with certain

operating conditions set forth in footnotes to the allocation, or

2.) No Change (in other words, no amateur allocation).

The proposal that has been agreed to by most administrations that support the amateur allocation

calls for a worldwide secondary allocation to the amateur service at 472 to 479 kHz with a power

limit of 1 watt e.i.r.p., but with a provision for administrations to permit up to 5 watts e.i.r.p. for

stations located more than 800 km from certain countries that wish to protect their aeronautical

radionavigation service (non-directional beacons) from any possible interference. Proposed

footnotes provide administrations with opportunities to opt out of the amateur allocation and/or

to upgrade their aeronautical radionavigation service to primary if they wish to do so. In addition

to these protections for aeronautical radionavigation, the amateur service must avoid harmful

interference to the primary maritime mobile service.

At the Working Group meeting, there was no shifting of positions so the matter was elevated to

the next level to Committee 4 with the same 2 options. The Committee 4 meeting takes place on

Tuesday, 7 February. I will report on the results of that Committee 4 meeting but based upon the

results thus far, I am cautiously optimistic that the amateurs will have a new secondary allocation

at 472-479 kHz.

Agenda Item 1.15. Another agenda item being carefully watched by the IARU is agenda item

1.15 dealing with oceanographic radar. One of the candidate bands for the placement of

oceanographic radar is 5.250 to 5.275 MHz. There have been a number of administrations that

have granted amateurs access to spectrum around 5 MHz. In fact, one of the bands listed by

IARU as a future allocation is 5 MHz. If oceanographic radar is operating in the 5.250-5.275

MHz band, that may impact the ability of the amateurs to obtain an allocation in that area. The

candidate bands have not been finalized as yet at the WRC.

Distribution Of This E-Letter

This electronic newsletter is sent to many IARU member-societies headquarters around the world.

Individual amateurs should encourage their IARU national society to forward the newsletter to its own

members. The newsletter can also be read and downloaded from the IARU web site at www.iaru.org.

If you are an ARRL member, you can subscribe to this E-Letter directly on the ARRL web site. When

you log into the ARRL web site, go to the page where you can edit your profile and choose the electronic

newsletter options that are available.

If you have any information that would be appropriate to publish in this electronic newsletter, please

contact me at w6rod@iaru.org.

Rod Stafford W6ROD

IARU Secretary

The IARU E-Letter is published on behalf of the Administrative Council of the International Amateur

Radio Union by the IARU International Secretariat. Editor: Rod Stafford, W6ROD, IARU Secretary.

Material from The IARU E-Letter may be republished or reproduced in whole or in part in any form

without additional permission. Credit must be given to The IARU E-Letter and The International Amateur

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