WRC-07 So Far (November 1)

 

Following up on Joel's message of about five minutes ago, I have prepared this report for the private information of the ARRL Board. I will generate a somewhat abridged version for wider dissemination.

 

The end of the second week of the four-week 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference is drawing near, but – at least as far as the amateur services are concerned – there is not much to report in the way of firm conclusions.

 

An unexpected highlight of the opening plenary was the announcement by Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré, at the end of his prepared remarks, that he had earned his amateur license. We seldom, if ever, have received such prominence during the opening ceremonies of a conference. Dr. Touré’s call sign is HB9EHT. He left for the Connect Africa Summit in Kigali immediately after the conference opening but is expected to be back in Geneva next week.

 

The amateur services have been quite visible at the conference in other ways:

 

Progress on the agenda items of interest to the amateur services has been slow. The 4-10 MHz issue is bogged down, with opponents of HF broadcasting expansion holding fast to a position of “no change.” HF BC proponents are not nearly as numerous as in 2003 and are mainly in Europe; they have backed off from an initial position of 350 kHz of expansion down to 200 kHz, but there has not yet been any movement from the other side. In the meantime work on the other 4-10 MHz issues, including the possibility of a 5-MHz secondary amateur allocation (which so far is supported by the European BC proponents), cannot progress. Even if the HF BC allocation could be settled quickly, which seems unlikely at this point, time is running out to complete work on the rest of these issues.

 

Early this week it appeared that the issue of a 135.7-137.8 kHz secondary allocation to the amateur service had been settled favorably. However, it turned out that the concerns of some Arab administrations had not been fully satisfied and more work needed to be done. We’re hopeful that this has now been taken care of, but we won’t know for certain until sometime next week.

 

The process of identifying possible frequency bands for future international mobile telecommunications (cell phones and beyond) is very contentious. One frequency range being examined is 2.3-2.4 GHz, which of course is of concern to us although there is no immediate cause for alarm.

 

Prior to every WRC we look for opportunities to clean up so-called “country footnotes” that allow individual administrations to depart from the regional or international allocations that are in the body of the Table of Frequency Allocations. It is gratifying that several countries have agreed to remove themselves from footnotes that apply to parts of 160 and 80 meters, 6 meters, and (in some European countries) parts of 70 cm.

 

With regard to agenda items for future WRCs, discussions will begin in earnest on Saturday (yes, there are weekend meetings). Proposals have been offered for agenda items dealing with possible amateur allocations around 500 kHz, 5 MHz, and (in Region 1) 50 MHz; of course, 50 MHz is already allocated to the amateur service in Regions 2 and 3. There are more than 40 proposals for future agenda items, which it at least twice as many as are likely to be approved, so the fate of “our” future agenda items remains to be determined. We are following other proposed agenda items closely to determine (and minimize, to the extent we are able) their potential impact on the amateur services.

 

As you know, I arrived in Geneva last Wednesday and was not present at the start in order to be able to attend the oral argument in our BPL lawsuit. The initial core IARU team consisted of Larry Price, W4RA, Ken Pulfer, VE3PU, Reinaldo Leandro, YV5AMH, and Paul Rinaldo, W4RI. Hans Zimmermann, HB9AQS was here to help out with the German trailer. Tim Ellam, VE6SH arrived on October 30 and will stay for a few more days. As you know, Larry Price’s hospitalization has kept him from participating this week. Reinaldo Leandro must return to Caracas to deal with some family medical issues and is expected to leave sometime this weekend. I am still planning to return home on November 7, but may remain here a while longer depending on what happens over the weekend and whether it looks as if it would do any good to stay.

 

Walt Ireland, WB7CSL and Jon Siverling, WB3ERA are hard at work on the US delegation. We also have considerable help from amateur representatives on other national delegations and from Region 1 Vice President Tafa Diop, 6W1KI, who is here for the first half of the conference representing the African Telecommunications Union.

 

73, David Sumner, K1ZZ