IARU Presents the Amateur Radio Service position on key WRC items to CEPT

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Published: Friday, 15 September 2017 14:18

Written by Super User

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At the meeting of Project Team D of the CEPT World Radio Conference Preparatory Group, held in Vilnius, Lithuania week beginning September 11th, IARU presented further positions on two core WRC Agenda items, mainly the globally coordinated amateur allocation at 50 -54 MHz and the potential impact of spurious emissions from proposed high power wireless transfer systems for electric vehicles on the reception of both amateur and broadcast signals. Read more

RADIO DARC International Shotwave Broadcasts

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Published: Friday, 15 September 2017 14:15

Written by Dennis Green, ZS4BS

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During the 24^th IARU Region 1 Conference in Landshut, Germany, there will be a series of six consecutive special shortwave transmissions to keep the IARU Region 1 amateur radio audience up to date with news and background reports. The programs will be in the English language.

The RADIO DARC programmes will be compiled by Eva-Maria, DG9MFG, Christian, DL8MDW, Peter, HB9MQM and Rainer, DF2NU, the Editor-in-chief.

Several transmitters and shortwave bands are used to allow reception in different target regions of IARU Region 1. The broadcasting partner is the Austrian Broadcasting Transmitters Corporation (ORS) in Moosbrunn near Vienna. The schedule is as follows:

Sunday, 17 September to Friday, 22 September 2017

17:30 - 18:00 UTC - 13 775 kHz with 300 kW for Africa
17:30 - 18:00 UTC - 9 790 kHz with 100 kW for Eastern Europe / Russia / Middle East
18:00 - 18:30 UTC – 6 070 kHz with 100 kW for Central, Northern and Southern Europe
18:00 - 18:30 UTC – 9 540 kHz with 100 kW for Western Europe

RADIO DARC is the weekly magazine of the German Amateur Radio Club for radio amateurs and shortwave listeners, with three broadcasts on 6 070 kHz for Europe. The programs contain DX news, technical features and reports from the DARC, as well as commentary, propagation forecasts and some great music from the 70s and 80s. After the discontinuation of Deutsche Welle and other SW stations, the weekly broadcasts of the DARC are one of the few remaining shortwave programmes from Germany.

New licensing arrangements for Tunisia

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Published: Thursday, 14 September 2017 06:53

Written by Ashraf Chaabane

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The Ministry of Telecommunications of Tunisia has approved and issued a decree orginising amateur radio activity in Tunisia. The decree has appeared in the Official Journal of the Tunisian Republic 2017-3215.

It is now possible for Tunisian hams to apply, pass an exam and get their own amateur radio licenses. Those who already have a foreign license can be granted licenses without passing an exam. Resident foreigners can also apply. Read more

Emergency Communications Activities at Friedrichshafen 2017

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Category: Emergency Communications

Published: Tuesday, 04 July 2017 20:08

Written by Greg Mossop

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14-16 July beings the largest gathering of Radio Amateurs in Europe and also the largest gathering of Emergency Communicators at HAMRADIO 2017 in Friedrichshafen. IARU Region 1 will be hosting a meeting for Radio Amateurs interested in Emergency Communications in Room Rom on Friday 14th July between 1200-1600 local time with the following preliminary programme ( times may change ).

1200-1230 Reports from the IARU Region 1 Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator
1230-1330 Open forum for National Co-Ordinators to report on activities in their countries.
1330-1400 Italian Earthquake response 2016 - Alberto IK1YLO
1400-1445 RAYNET-UK - What Technology should we use for emergency communication?
1445-1515 Discussion- What is an emergency and when should we activate?
1515-1545 Discussion - How can we have an international network?
1545-1600 Close and discuss Friedrichshafen 2018

The Working language for this meeting will be English.

On 15th July between 1100-1600 the DARC will be holding their fifth 'Notfunk Universitaet' in Room London covering a wide range of topics.

The working language for the Notfunk Universitaet will be German and more information will be available from DARC shortly.

IARU News Release - Satellite Coordination

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Category: News

Published: Saturday, 01 July 2017 17:07

Written by IARU Secretariat

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IARU Aligns Satellite Coordination Guidelines with ITU WRC-15 Decisions

As the global federation of national associations of radio amateurs in more than 150 countries, the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) for many years has provided frequency coordination services for amateur satellites free of charge. Often these satellites are constructed by students at universities and other institutions as a part of their educational experience. In general, they have been licensed to operate in the amateur-satellite service, which is defined by the Radio Regulations of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as having the "...purpose of self-training, intercommunication and technical investigations carried out by amateurs, that is, by duly authorized persons interested in radio technique solely with a personal aim and without pecuniary interest."

Some administrations have issued experimental licenses for such satellites operating in amateur-satellite frequency bands. The IARU has coordinated these satellites as well, to reduce the possibility of harmful interference that might result from uncoordinated operation. Since 1 July 2014 it has not been possible to coordinate experimental satellites in the 144-146 MHz band because of the high probability of harmful interference in this heavily used band.

Educational satellite projects have grown in popularity as launch opportunities have increased. In 2012 the ITU World Radiocommunication Conference took note of the proliferation of what in Resolution 757 (WRC-12) it called "nanosatellites and picosatellites" and invited WRC-18 (now scheduled for 2019) to consider steps to facilitate their deployment and operation. Two Reports, ITU-R SA.2312 (09/2014) and ITU-R SA.2348 (05/2015), are instructive regarding the characteristics, definitions, spectrum requirements, and notification procedures of and for such satellites, which generally must use spectrum below 1 GHz for operational reasons.

At the following WRC in 2015, in place of Resolution 757 the Member States of the ITU adopted Resolution 659 (WRC-15) in which it was noted that the use of 144-146 MHz and 435-438 MHz by non-amateur satellites is not in accordance with the definition of the amateur-satellite service in the Radio Regulations. Resolution 659 cites the two reports mentioned above and makes it clear that the spectrum needs of what are now called "non-geostationary satellites with short duration missions" should be met either within the service in which the space station is operating or within the space operation service. Further, if new or upgraded allocations to the space operation service are required, studies should be limited to the frequency ranges 150.05-174 MHz and 400.15-420 MHz.

Accordingly, effective 1 August 2017 the IARU will be following revised guidelines for satellite frequency coordination.

The strong preference is for all satellites using spectrum allocated to the amateur and amateur-satellite services to operate under amateur licenses and within the definition of the amateur-satellite service and the service-specific Article 25 of the Radio Regulations. The IARU believes the definition is sufficiently broad to encompass nearly all educational satellite projects that include giving students hands-on experience with radiocommunication and are conducted under an amateur license.

The IARU will only coordinate a non-amateur satellite if an administration directs in writing that it be operated in an amateur-satellite band under an experimental or other non-amateur license.

Satellites with combined amateur and non-amateur missions will continue to be coordinated.

Asteroid Named After Radio Amateur

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Published: Tuesday, 20 June 2017 16:53

Written by Dennis Green, ZS4BS

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The International Astronomical Union on 13 April, rewarded the space physicist and radio amateur Asta Pellinen-Wannberg, SM3UHV, by designating a celestial body in her name, Asteroid 11807 Wannberg. 

The Swedish national amateur radio society SSA reports: 

Asta Pellinen-Wannberg is a professor at the Department of Physics at Umeå University. She has made a ground-breaking effort to use scattering radar when studying meteors that are activated when small particles penetrate the atmosphere.

The method is now applied to about ten stations around the world. It increases the ability to study different large flows, smaller particles and details in their interaction with the atmosphere, says Asta Pellinen-Wannberg.

Asta is chair of the Swedish National Committee for Radio Science SNRV and has researched together with Gudmund Wannberg, SM3BYA, who served as Technical Manager at EISCAT Radar in Kiruna and Associate Professor at Umeå University.

Youth Contest Program – Young operators visit 9A1A in Croatia

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Category: Youth - general

Published: Wednesday, 24 May 2017 18:28

Written by Philipp, DK6SP

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For a while now the YCP (Youth Contest Program) event has been organized by the Youngsters On The Air (YOTA) group, funded by IARU R1. It offers young hams under the age of 26 the opportunity to operate in a team during international contests from so called “Big Gun” stations around Europe. This includes the stations: ES5TV in Estonia, 4O3A in Montenegro, SK3W in Sweden or even 9A1A in Croatia. All levels of contest experience are accepted but a participant should have at least basic knowledge about contesting and using a transceiver. Also, the fun of contesting and the opportunity to learn new things about how to operate more efficiently in contests, are important points for the events success. This year three contests were announced on the webpage of YOTA to be in YCP 2017.

Minutes of the 2017 EC Meeting

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Published: Monday, 22 May 2017 09:24

Written by Dennis Green, ZS4BS

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The minutes of the 2017 EC Meeting, held from 5 to 7 May, can be downloaded here