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. 

At the request of the European Commission, IARU met on 25 March with representatives of the automotive industry, standards bodies and the Commission to review the current position on the development of an emission standard for Wireless Power Transfer for Electric Vehicles. There was a frank exchange of views, during which IARU made clear the technical basis for its concerns about unwanted emissions from WPT-EV. WPT-EV developers presented their case, based on the tests they had undertaken. After exploring the issues, the Commission determined that further joint tests should be arranged and asked CEN/CENELEC to facilitate these. IARU confirmed it was content to participate and welcomed the initiative, stressing that the tests needed to be conducted in an electrically quiet environment. 

A further meeting will take place once the relevant tests have been completed, with a view to making progress towards an emission standard. In attending the meeting, IARU made clear that it viewed the discussions as being without prejudice to the ongoing work in CEPT, CISPR and ITU on the same topic.

The IARUMS Region 1 Newsletter February 2021 is now available.
Click on the link to read it!

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

The IARUMS Region 1 Newsletter January 2021 is now available. Click on the link to read it!