It is timely to advise the Board on developments during preparations for the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12). I have tried to make this advisory relevant to those not familiar with the alphabet soup that seems to be prevalent in this line of work. If I have failed, please invite me to clarify. The FCC and NTIA have reconciled their widely divergent views on WRC-12 Agenda Item 1.23, which calls for consideration of a secondary allocation to Amateur Radio of about 15 kHz between 415 and 526.5 kHz. I am pleased to report that the United States will make an affirmative proposal, advocating that 461-469 kHz and 471-478 kHz be allocated to the amateur service on a secondary basis. This proposal will be introduced at next week's CITEL PCC.II meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil, with the goal of developing support for a common regional proposal. Jon Siverling will represent ARRL at this meeting. In prior news stories regarding this matter, ARRL has identified our efforts at this frequency range as efforts at "500 kHz," in large part because the status quo of usage of this spectrum suggested that the range around 500 kHz would be ideal, and in some part because of the historical use of that discrete frequency and the consequent nostalgia some hold for it. Our initial efforts did focus on a range encompassing 500 kHz, and the FCC supported an ARRL-authored WRC-12 Advisory Committee proposal for 495-510 kHz. But the range 495-505 kHz has been identified by maritime interests for future high speed data broadcast systems. While there is some question in my mind whether maritime interests have the political werewithal to get such systems funded, the maritime mobile service cannot be faulted for looking at frequencies already allocated to it for new technologies. As a result, the international resistance to an Amateur Radio allocation at "500 kHz" is significant, and our own NTIA, representing the views of the Coast Guard, has been among the resistance. In fact, the NTIA supported a Coast Guard proposal of no change as its initial position. At the May meeting of Working Party 5A, amateur-friendly contributors to the CPM text (very simply put, CPM text is the starting point for WRC-12 discussions) inserted two other affirmative methods therein: 472-487 kHz and the two-band approach described above. These ranges were chosen to minimize conflicts with aeronautical non-directional beacons, which are sparse but measurable within this range in ITU Regions 1 and 3. We anticipate that 472-487 kHz will be affirmatively proposed by Canada in Fortaleza next week. Through our engagement in the reconciliation process, which occured at the invitation of and with the support of the FCC International Bureau staff, we attempted to bring the United States to 472-487 kHz or a substantial portion thereof. Unfortunately, we simply could not overcome unfounded concern by the Coast Guard, purportedly based on proximity to NAVTEX at 490 kHz. Nevertheless, the agreed-upon method is significantly better than NTIA's initial position of no change, as well as their initial offer during reconciliation (440-450 kHz, which is only nominally better than no change for a variety of reasons). In the end, we judged that having the United States make an affirmative proposal at this time had value, even if the proposal was the least ideal of the three affirmative methods in the CPM text. The end result was agreed to by the NTIA despite the affirmative objections of the Coast Guard. We continue to work within the United States toward the adoption of more ideal methods as fallback positions. Internationally, we are more free to advocate for a successful conclusion to AI 1.23 than we have been able to at previous meetings, thanks to the resolution of the United States position on this matter. The road to a successful conclusion remains treacherous. The Russian Federation is advocating no change as a European common proposal, countering the affirmative proposals of some European administrations. The International Maritime Organization has also adopted a preliminary view of no change. Even though IMO's argument has been little more than, "We won't know what we want to do with 415-526.5 kHz until 2014," the strength of the organization could easily compensate for the weakness of its argument on this issue. IARU President Ellam will be meeting with IMO officials in early September to gauge and temper the strength of their opposition. So while the long term prognosis is inherently perilous and uncertan, the short term news is good. On to Fortaleza. 73, Brennan T. Price, N4QX Chief Technology Officer American Radio Relay League 3545 Chain Bridge Road Suite 209 Fairfax VA 22030-2708 Tel +1 703 934-2077 Fax +1 703 934-2079