WRC-12 Day 23, 14 February 2012 – Hard Work Over (for now)

The first (blue) and second (pink) reading of the 472-479kHz document took place during the first session of Plenary on Tuesday morning and was accepted (with one minor addition to a footnote). This means that with the signing of the Final Acts on Friday, the amateur service will have a new global allocation at MF.

The quest for an allocation started with an RSGB paper at the 2002 IARU Region 1 General Conference. That led to a recommendation being adopted within Region 1 for a Working Group to be set up to investigate, and report on, propagation and new amateur communication technologies in the region of 500kHz. From there on, a slow but gradual process brought on board a growing number of countries involved in the negotiations at both national and international levels; through Regional Telecommunications Organisations and then at the International Telecommunications Union level.

A similar story is developing for 5MHz. The first reading of the Draft Agenda for WRC-15 was approved. This draft agenda includes item 1.4, which proposes an amateur service proposal for a secondary allocation around 5.3MHz. The final and second reading is expected in the next day or so.

Watch this space.

Category: WRC-12