The first week of WRC-15 has been challenging for the radio amateurs present on the IARU team and the countries that have supported us. Our work continues on Monday, as delegates from nearly all countries agreed that formal consultations with their regional telecommunication organizations were necessary to further progress. These consultations take time, and the procedure for CITEL in particular is onerous. That said, the state of play has advanced somewhat, and dramatically so yesterday, to the benefit of amateurs around the world, but decidedly not, unfortunately, to the benefit of the amateurs in the United States. This is inherently uncertain work, but my best estimate is that the likely result of our 5 MHz effort will be a worldwide secondary allocation of a contiguous 15 kHz, but with a power limitation that will be no more than 100 watts e.r.p. and will likely be substantially less (anywhere from 3-11 dB less). For United States hams, that would be a gain of 1 kHz and transition to VFO operation at the obvious cost a substantial power cut. I suspect the power cut would be the aspect of the outcome most noticed and least appreciated by our members. There's still room to fight on the power, and that's part of our outside-the-meeting advocacy and retrenchment, with a deadline imposed by conference management to finish work at the sub working group level on Tuesday afternoon. (This deadline is not unreasonable given the difficulty of other issues at the WRC, in my view). There is no similar room to fight on the bandwidth to be allocated. There were simply too many countries supporting an allocation of 15 kHz (mainly China and several East and South African countries, and some members of the Arab Spectrum Management Group) who would not move, and the only other proponent of a minimal allocation (Cuba at 27 kHz) has been present at only one meeting. The 15 kHz quantity gained substantial traction yesterday when some countries with no change positions, including France, Germany, our own United States, and even member states of the RCC (the former Soviet bloc), said they could support an allocation at that level (the United States Spokesperson, ARRL life member Brian Patten, WV4Q, in his capacity as an NTIA employee, was under direction to support China to gain leverage on other issues). The fate was sealed at last night's meeting, when Canada acquiesced to 15 kHz. When we've lost Canada, we've lost. The state of play on the power issue is not encouraging. First, because China's input on the issue was most definitive, it was used as the model, using units of e.i.r.p., which has a 2.15 dB difference from the 100 W e.r.p. that served as the basis for studies in preparation for this item. There is substantial resistance in the room to any number above 100 because no higher number appeared in the studies. We've not yet effectively communicated that 100 W e.r.p. is actually 164 W e.i.r.p., and that we should either adjust the number, adjust the unit, or, most ideally, scrap the footnote. To make matters worse, France and RCC have come up with a 15 W e.i.r.p. number. France is selling it as a win-win scenario. RCC is selling it as a take-it-or-leave-it deal. The glimmer of good news is that the United States has shifted position, freeing Jon and me to overtly advocate for an outcome on the power issue that would leave us with a useful worldwide allocation. Brian Patten and our ambassador realize that a useful allocation is important to us, and have promised to help us on the power issue now that the position has shifted. They are persuasive and effective, and we need them if we're going to get anything approaching a win. We've barely started talking about band edges. That's another variable that has to be solved eventually. In other WRC items of interest, yesterday's plenary suppressed a WRC-12 Resolution calling for studies on the regulatory aspects of small satellites, as since studies are complete and no change has been deemed necessary. The suppression was an objective of the IARU, and limits the potential for inadvertent damage to the amateur-satellite service. It's the tiniest of wins, but it's a win. I must say we're collectively pretty glum this morning, and would rather be operating Sweepstakes. As for me, I'm more angry than glum, even after a night's sleep. It's time to effectively channel that anger into the power issue. So onward we go. 73 de Brennan HB9/N4QX Brennan T. Price, N4QX Chief Technology Officer American Radio Relay League PO Box 3470 Oakton VA 22124-9470 Tel +1 860 594-0247