Over the period 28^th April until 11^th May 2021, the preparatory work for WRC-23 agenda item 9.1b continued in ITU‑R Working Party 5A (WP5A). An ITU‑R report is under development detailing the technical and operational characteristics of the amateur services use of the band 1240 – 1300 MHz. As usual, the IARU participated in the meeting and delivered key information on the global amateur band plans in this key microwave band and the relationship to the radio navigation satellite services (RNSS) operating co-frequency across the band. This information is vital to ensure the amateur services are realistically represented in the studies as they move forward. For this reason the information was formally made available to ITU‑R Working Party 4C for their consideration as they develop the technical studies.

The work on this topic will continue throughout the year both in ITU‑R and in the regional telecommunications organisations and the IARU is committed to ensure every group hears the amateur position on this important microwave band.

The report from this last WP5A meeting is here.

IARU is continuing to represent the amateur services interests in the 23cm band Galileo/GLONASS radio navigation satellite service coexistence discussions in the CEPT project teams.

The most recent CEPT SE40 project team meeting was held from 24^th to 26^th March 2021 and the IARU R1 was represented by Barry Lewis, G4SJH (Region 1 SRLC chair). At that meeting the first coexistence calculations were introduced by one CEPT administration, based on some initial assumptions about the amateur service operation. The IARU is continuing to work with the regulators to refine the details of these assumptions and make them and the calculations more representative of typical amateur station characteristics and band usage. These first calculations are considered only as a starting point and the meeting agreed that further work is needed to develop the calculations into a more comprehensive study. 

Measurement campaigns have shown that the potential for coexistence depends very much on the frequency of the amateur service transmissions in the 23cm band with respect to the RNSS receiver bandwidth. This aspect needs to be considered more carefully once the initial scenarios and calculations are agreed. 

In addition the IARU continues to have questions about the protection criteria required by the RNSS receivers and in particular how they relate to RNSS operational and service provision behaviour. IARU has ensured alignment of the amateur and amateur service information being used in CEPT with that being used in the parallel work in the ITU‑R relating to WRC-23 AI 9.1b.

IARU continued engagement in the WRC-23 preparations in the CEPT RTO during March 2021 at the second meeting of the Conference Preparatory Group Project Team A (CPG PTA). This project team develops the CEPT WRC Briefs for several WRC scientific and regulatory agenda items which are of particular interest to the amateur community. Specific attention is being paid to WRC-23 agenda items 1.12, 1.14 and 9.1a. IARU provided a contribution putting forward the agreed preliminary IARU positions for these agenda items. IARU’s overall objective is to safeguard the allocations to the Amateur and Amateur-Satellite services in the co and adjacent frequency bands within the scope of each agenda item. The CEPT briefs have a specific section in which the views of all the recognised international and regional organisations can be placed and the IARU views are now in this section of the draft briefs for each of these agenda items.

WRC23 Agenda Item	Agenda Item Proposal Summary	IARU Position Summary	CEPT Position Summary
1.12	Earth exploration-satellite (EESS) (active) service for spaceborne radar sounders within the range of frequencies around 45 MHz.	Ensure adjacent band 50MHz Amateur services are protected.	Not defined yet.
1.14	Possible new primary frequency allocations to EESS (passive) in the frequency range 231.5−252 GHz.	No change to the 248 – 250 GHz primary allocations and the 241 – 248 GHz secondary allocations.	Supports the EESS proposal.
9.1A	Radio service designations for space weather sensors.	Additional constraints on amateur services must be avoided.	Not defined yet.

The IARU SRLC continues to be active in PTA and all the CEPT project teams dealing with the WRC preparation. CPG PTA is the group that will also be considering the agenda item proposals to be put forward for WRC-27. 

During the week 15 – 19 February, the preparatory work for WRC-23 agenda item 9.1b continued in ITU‑R Working Party 4C (WP4C). The WRC agenda item has initiated technical studies on coexistence between the radio navigation satellite service (RNSS) and the amateur services in the 23cm band. As usual, the IARU participated in the meeting and delivered key information on amateur activities in this important microwave band. This information is vital to ensure the amateur services are realistically represented in the studies as they move forward. 

It remains vital that national amateur communities present their views on the importance of this band to their national regulators in a consolidated and consistent manner. 

To assist with this the IARU-R1 is developing supporting material that member societies can refer to when addressing the topic with their national regulator.

The work on this topic will continue throughout the year and beyond both in ITU‑R and in the regional telecommunications organisations and the IARU is committed to ensure every organisation understands the amateur position on this important microwave band.

ITU‑R WP4C Meeting Report here