Tom -- Dave is probably 33k feet above Ireland or somewhere out over the Atlantic at this point so I thought I would answer your question about WRC07 issues. When he gets back to the office I suspect he has a pile of things to go through. Dave can review my response to you and add any comments he feels are necessary. There are a number of agenda items on the WRC07 agenda that are of varying degrees of concern from an amateur radio perspective. I look at the issues with a dual view, as ARRL IAVP and as President of IARU Region 2. On each and every issue of amateur interest on the WRC07 agenda, I believe the ARRL and IARU goals and objectives are aligned. 1. Agenda Item 1.13. 40 meters. Yes, that again! If you recall, prior to WRC03 Region 1 and Region 3 had an amateur band from 7.0 to 7.1 MHz. Here in Region 2, we had 7.0 to 7.3 MHz. It has been the objective of IARU for some time to "harmonize" the 40 meter band so that 7.0 to 7.3 MHz would be amateur exclusive worldwide once again. At WRC03 IARU was able to obtain an additional 100 kHz on 40 meters for Region 1 and portions of Region 3 (some places in Region 3 already had access to 7.1 - 7.3 MhZ). That gave R1 and R3 an amateur band from 7.0 to 7.2 MHz. Of course the effective date is in 2009. The good news about that 2009 date is that there are some administrations in R1 and R3 that have already allowed early amateur access to the additional 100 kHz. We in Region 2 were able to maintain our long standing allocation of 300 kHz. WRC07 agenda item 1.13 is a review of allocations to ALL services in the HF bands between 4 MHz and 10 MHz, except 7.0 to 7.2 MHz which had just been dealt with at WRC03. So at WRC07, 7.2 to 7.3 MHz is in play, so to speak since that top 100 kHz of Region 2 amateur spectrum on 40 meters is included in the agenda item. This is of concern to us in R2 because it would be a very simple matter for WRC07 to conclude that by chopping off 7.2 to 7.3 MHz in Region 2 that the 40 meter amateur band could be harmonized! Obviously, not a good idea from our point of view. Or, administrations that have expressed a desire for more fixed and mobile spectrum may push for the top amateur 100 kHz in R2 be shared with fixed and mobile services. Again, not good for us in R2. So, here in IARU Region 2 we have been encouraging, and will continue to encourage, our member societies to lobby their administrations to "hold the party line" and insist that we in R2 maintain our full 300 kHz on 40 meters. Most all of the administrations in R2 have always supported the amateurs on this issue and absent some unforeseen circumstances I believe that support will continue. We CANNOT take that support for granted. We still have to continue to remind the R2 administrations of their long standing support and try to obtain commitment for their continued support on the issue. In R2 the HF broadcasters haven't had access to 7.2 - 7.3 MHz so there's no real pressure from R2 HF broadcasters to have access to that top 100 kHz so that's certainly a help to maintain that segment as amateur spectrum. In the two other regions the HF broadcasters have been and continue to be very active in the top half of the segment 7.0 to 7.3 so they fight to maintain all the HF broadcast spectrum they have. In R1 and R3, to say the administrations are only "luke warm" to the idea of adding the last top 100 kHz (7.2 - 7.3) at WRC07 would be an overstatement. Our IARU colleagues in R1 firmly believe CEPT will not be in favor of that change in 2007. So, although the IARU objective and long range goal is to have 300 kHz on 40 meters worldwide, the practical approach for WRC07 is to make sure the status quo is maintained on 40 meters. This same issue can be addressed in a later WRC when the climate is more favorable to harmonization of the full 300 kHz worldwide. Our public view, and our position to any regulatory body, ought to be that there is an unsatisfied amateur need of 300 kHz worldwide on 40 meters. We should NOT in our public comments appear to be satisfied with the status quo over the long haul. 2. Agenda item 1.15. This agenda item is to consider an allocation to the amateur service at 135.7 to 137.8 kHz. This will likely be adopted by the WRC07 since there appears to be little opposition except from a couple of administrations including the U.S., Canada and Japan. The U.S. has already indicated that should the WRC adopt this proposal that the U.S. administration will NOT allocate this band to the amateur service domestically because of their concern about potential interference with power line communications. This shouldn't be a surprise to any of us since the weren't very receptive to the ARRL request for access to that spectrum a couple of years ago. 3. Agenda item 1.1. This is an on-going project of getting country names deleted from footnotes in the table of allocations that are related to amateur radio. A very basic example is where a country is listed by name in a footnote annexed to an amateur allocation granted by the ITU signifying that administration's amateurs will not be granted access to that allocation within their own country. The process also involves making sure that countries do not ADD their names to existing footnotes. In short, get footnotes deleted if possible and at the same time try to dissuade any administrations to add their names to current footnotes. 4. Agenda items 1.5 and 1.6. Agenda item 1.5 involves spectrum requirements and possible additional allocations for aeronautical telecommand and high bit-rate aeronautical telemetry. 1.6 deals with aeronautical mobile allocations between 108 MHz and 6 GHz. Amateur radio bands do not appear to be threatened by either of these two agenda items at this time. In other words, amateur bands have not been mentioned or studied as being related to either of these items. There are two other amateur radio related allocation matters that deserve mention. There has been some discussion over the last few years about seeking an international allocation at 5 MHz. No administration appears to be willing to sponsor such an allocation and no ITU study has taken place at the ITU level on this issue. By the way, it is an objective of the IARU to obtain such an allocation when the time is right. The other aspect is getting more spectrum at 10 MHz under agenda item 1.13 above. The amateur band at 10 MHz does not fall within the study, i.e. 4 to 10 MHz. However, there is some thought that it could be construed to include ALL of the 10 MHz band. After all, if they had wanted to only go up TO 10 MHz they would have said 4 to 9.999 MHz, right?...... hi hi In any event, it would appear the prevalent view is that the amateur radio band is outside the study parameters. Hey, as a "recovering lawyer" I could comfortably argue either position....... As to the dates of the WRC, I don't recall the specific dates but it will take place in the September-October, 2007 time frame if I remember correctly. Hope this addresses adequately your questions Tom. 73, Rod W6ROD At 04:58 PM 9/18/2005, you wrote:

At 04:07 PM 9/18/2005, K1ZZ wrote:

...

4. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) meetings at which IARU representation will be required for the coming year were identified, and plans for representation were reviewed. The principal focus is on preparations for the 2007 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-07). IARU positions on agenda items for WRC-07 were affirmed.

Dave -

Would you remind me what the WRC-07 agenda items are that involve ham radio? Are ARRL positions the same as IARU positions? Any update on the date/location for WRC-07? Thanks! -- Tom

===== e-mail: k1ki@arrl.org ARRL New England Division Director http://www.arrl.org/ Tom Frenaye, K1KI, P O Box J, West Suffield CT 06093 Phone: 860-668-5444