IARU Electronic Newsletter November, 2009
In this issue:
An Introduction
Preparations for WRC-12
IARU Administrative Council Meeting
GAREC-09 - Action Needed
==> An Introduction
This is the first IARU E-Letter for some period of time. As such, I
thought I would take this opportunity to introduce myself. I am Rod
Stafford, W6ROD, the new IARU Secretary. I will also be responsible for
publishing this E-Letter. I assumed the office of Secretary on October
1, 2009. Dave Sumner, K1ZZ has been the IARU Secretary for the last 10
years and he was also IARU Secretary for a 7-year period in the 1980's.
Dave did a great job as Secretary and I hope to continue the high
standard that he established. Dave will continue to work closely with
the IARU Administrative Council and will be Recording Secretary at the
IARU Administrative Council meetings.
I began my association with the American Radio Relay League in 1983 as a
Section Manager in the ARRL Field Organization. The Section Manager is
a locally elected ARRL Official. In January, 1986, I became an ARRL
Director and since that time have served as a Director, First and Second
Vice President, President (1995-2000) and as the International Affairs
Vice President (2000-present). I have attended 16 regional conferences,
numerous regional executive committee meetings and numerous
Administrative Council meetings. I'm certain the international
experience will assist me as I take on the challenges of being IARU
Secretary. In my professional life I have just retired as a Superior
Court Judge in the State of California USA. My last day as an active
Judge was the day prior to assuming the duties as IARU Secretary.
As far as my amateur radio operating, I enjoy the HF bands, particularly
20 and 40 meters, when I can make time to get on the air. Since I am now
retired from full-time employment I should have more time for operating.
My favorite ham activity is ragchewing and getting to know the person I
work on the ham bands. I also enjoy VHF-UHF operation when I am in the
car.
The purpose of this newsletter will be to provide information to the
IARU member-societies that can be shared with their members. Many
members of IARU societies are unaware of much of what the IARU does and
why it does what it does. Hopefully, this newsletter will help
disseminate that information. Member-societies are requested to forward
this E-Letter to their members electronically or any other appropriate
way. Another purpose of the newsletter is to keep the member-societies
up to date on the preparations for the upcoming World Radiocommunication
Conference in early, 2012 (WRC-12) and how the member-societies can
assist in the preparations. The newsletter will also serve as a outlet
for information coming from the member-societies. If there is
information that is appropriate to be shared with other member-societies
around the world, please send me an email with the information and it
will be published in this newsletter.
==> WRC-12 Preparations Underway
WRC-12 will start in January, 2012. The year 2012 seems a long way away
but it is only slightly more than two years from now. Preparations
within national telecom administrations have been underway for some
period of time. Regional telecom organizations have been meeting to
discuss the WRC agenda items and to arrive at regional positions on each
issue.
Each and every IARU member-society capable of doing so should take the
initiative to contact their own administration and let the
administration know what the IARU position is on those WRC agenda items
that impact the amateur radio service. If your society needs some
guidance or advice on how best to approach the administration or what
the substance of such discussions should be then do not hesitate to
contact the IARU International Secretariat for assistance.
It would be very helpful if your society could place a knowledgeable
amateur radio operator on the national delegation attending the WRC. If
providing the support for an amateur to attend the WRC is not possible,
it would be helpful if your society could arrange to have a
knowledgeable amateur radio operator attend the national administrations
planning meetings or the regional preparatory meetings leading up to the
WRC.
Although the preparation process started some time ago it is not too
late for your society to get involved. Do it today.
==> IARU Administrative Council Meeting October, 2009
The IARU Administrative Council (AC) held its annual meeting in
mid-October, 2009, in Christchurch, New Zealand. IARU President Tim
Ellam, VE6SH/G4HUA, presided over his first AC meeting. Also in
attendance was Ole Garpestad, LA2RR, Vice President; Rod Stafford,
W6ROD, Secretary; Hans Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T, President and Dennis
Green, ZS4BS, Secretary, IARU Region 1; Ramón Santoyo, XE1KK, Secretary,
and Daniel Lamoureux, VE2KA, Director, IARU Region 2; and Michael J.
Owen, VK3KI, Chairman, and Shizuo Endo, JE1MUI, Director, IARU Region 3.
Also present was Region 3 Director Peter Lake ZL2AZ along with David
Sumner, K1ZZ, as recording secretary.
One of the major topics of discussion at the AC meeting involved the
upcoming WRC-12, the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2012. The
AC adopted preliminary IARU positions on the WRC agenda items that
relate to amateur radio or may impact the amateur radio service. The
most significant agenda items are:
1. Agenda Item (AI) 1.14 - Implementation of the radiolocation
service in the range 30-300 MHz;
2. AI 1.15 - Possible allocations in the range 3-50 MHz to the
radiolocation service for oceanographic radar applications;
3. AI 1.19 - Software-defined radio and cognitive radio systems;
4. AI 1.22 - Effect of emissions from short-range devices; and
5. AI 1.23 - To consider an allocation of about 15 kHz in parts of
the band 415-526.5 kHz to the amateur service on a secondary
basis, taking into account the need to protect existing
services.
IARU has a document on the IARU web site that identifies the present and
anticipated future requirements for radio spectrum allocations to the
Amateur and Amateur-Satellite Services. These requirements are
identified so that they may be taken into account in the formulation of
national policies with respect to proposed and possible future
international allocations conferences. At each AC meeting, those
requirements are reviewed and when circumstances change so do the
requirements. If you're interested in seeing what the IARU sees as
spectrum requirements for the amateur service then log onto the IARU web
site at http://www.iaru.org and look for the "Spectrum Requirements"
document.
The IARU 2025 Committee was established a few years ago to explore
restructuring IARU to make it more effective to meet the challenges
faced by amateur radio. The committee came up with a proposed new
structure. However, even though the proposed new structure had a number
of beneficial aspects it became obvious early on that funding of the new
structure could be problematic. At its recent meeting, the committee
was restructured and given a slightly different mandate. If the
committee can't develop a funding method for the proposed new structure
then the committee may propose a different structure. Additionally, the
committee should identify changes which can be implemented in the
present structure to address concerns raised by the regional
organizations and some member-societies.
There has been a movement in the last several years to try to identify
"centers of activity" frequencies across all three IARU regions that can
be used in disaster relief operations. It has at times been difficult
to arrive at a consensus on what frequencies should be used. The AC
noted that all three regions have now reached consensus on three global
Center of Activity (CoA) frequencies for use in the event of
emergencies: 14.300, 18.160 and 21.360 MHz. When no emergency
operations are being conducted, these frequencies are open for normal
amateur usage. However, GAREC-09 (more on GAREC later in this report)
calls upon IARU member-societies, among others, "whenever emergency
communications are being conducted on frequencies that propagate
internationally, to use any available real-time communications channels,
including but not limited to e-mail bulletins, web-sites, social
networking and DX-clusters to draw the attention of the largest possible
number of Amateur Radio operators to on-going emergency communications,
in order to avoid interference with emergency traffic." It would be
helpful for each member-society to develop an effective method of
notifying amateurs within their own country of any such emergency
traffic being handled on the CoA frequencies, or elsewhere in the
amateur bands.
In 2008, the AC called for a study of the QSL Bureau System. Since the
study was initiated over 51 member-societies responded to the study
questionnaire. It became clear that in some societies, QSL cards are
not handled the same way for members as non-members. There are a small
number of societies that dispose of the cards sent through their bureaus
for non-members. The AC adopted a resolution stating "that
member-societies are strongly encouraged, whenever possible, to provide
incoming QSL bureau service to non-members within their operating
territory, if such non-members agree to pay the full cost of this
service; and if they are not already doing so, to explore appropriate
means and methods for delivering QSL cards to non-members."
The AC adopted a protocol to deal with member-societies that no longer
exist. If for a period of not less than 5 years: (a) there is no
address or other means known to either the International Secretariat or
the relevant regional organization by which communication may be made
with a member-society; (b) there has been no communication from any
person claiming to represent that member-society; and (c) there is no
other evidence of the continued existence of that member-society. If
those circumstances exist, then the relevant regional organization may
request that the AC thereafter publish in the Calendar a notice setting
out its belief that the particular Member-Society has ceased to exist,
and calling for the submission of any evidence to the contrary within
180 days of the publication of the Calendar. If no such evidence is
submitted within 180 days of the publication of the Calendar, then the
member-society shall be deemed to no longer exist from that date.
Thereafter, any association of radio amateurs claiming to represent that
country or separate territory shall be required to apply for membership
in the IARU in accordance with the IARU Constitution and Bylaws.
Promoting and preserving amateur radio is the mainstay of the IARU. The
AC has at its disposal a number of expert consultants and technical
representatives and relies heavily on such volunteer experts and
technical representatives. There is always a need for more assistance
by knowledgeable amateurs to attend ITU meetings and other
telecommunications meetings to represent IARU. The IARU regional
organizations and member-societies can be of assistance by recommending
individuals who are capable of attending meetings and effectively
promoting the IARU objectives at such meetings. Individuals who are
amateurs and who have backgrounds in various technical fields such as
broadband or wireless technologies, propagation, radar, satellite
communications and spectrum management, just to name a few, can be of
assistance. Individuals who may be retired from government work in the
field of communications or telecommunication regulation are good
candidates for working within the IARU to achieve IARU goals.
Member-society leaders are requested to investigate whether such
individuals are members of their society and to determine if those
amateurs would be willing to assist the IARU. If they are willing to do
so, please contact the International Secretariat with the names and
contact information so inquires can be made to determine if they are
willing to join the IARU team of experts.
These are some of the important matters discussed at the recent
Administrative Council meeting. The complete Summary Record of the
meeting can be found at
http://www.iaru.org/admin-council-summaries.html.
==> GAREC-09
The Fifth Global Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Conference
(GAREC-09) took place in Tokyo, Japan, 24 & 25 August 2009. GAREC-09
was hosted by Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL) and was held in
conjunction with Jam Fair 2009. Representatives from IARU, the three
IARU regional organizations, representatives from a number of IARU
member-societies and specialized amateur radio emergency communications
groups from all three IARU regions attended the conference.
GAREC-09 produced a statement calling upon IARU member-societies and
specialized amateur radio emergency communications groups to:
- to establish close working relationships between the National IARU
Member Society and independent specialized Amateur Radio
Emergency Communications Groups in the respective countries as
well as to cooperate internationally,
- to request their national regulatory authorities implement the
modifications to Article 25 of the Radio Regulations adopted by
the World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03), in
particular the regulations governing third-party traffic during
emergencies and during training for emergency operations,
- to provide training in emergency communications to as many
amateurs as possible in their respective countries with
particular emphasis on:
- personal and logistical preparedness, the psychological aspects of
entering a disaster area, and familiarity with the civil
protection system in their country,
- specific communications techniques of particular value in
emergencies, and
- remembering that the skills developed in the amateur service can
be of great benefit to disaster relief organizations in
maintaining and operating their own telecommunications networks,
- whenever emergency communications are being conducted on
frequencies that propagate internationally, to use any available
real-time communications channels, including but not limited to
e-mail bulletins, web-sites, social networking and DX-clusters
to draw the attention of the largest possible number of Amateur
Radio operators to on-going emergency communications, in order
to avoid interference with emergency traffic,
- to use their contacts with national regulatory authorities to
encourage the accession to and implementation of the Tampere
Convention on the Provision of Telecommunication Resources for
Disaster Mitigation and Relief Operations,
- to support the work of the IARU on an international Emergency
Communications Handbook and to provide copies of existing
agreements with institutional partners in emergency response as
well as copies of emergency communication guidelines, manuals,
and checklists developed for national or local use as inputs to
this work,
- to work towards the implementation of the Memoranda of
Understanding established between the IARU and ITU, IFRC, and
the United Nations by seeking cooperation with the respective
national institutions and organizations in their country,
- to continuously improve their awareness of the mission, vision,
and values of served agencies, and
- to represent themselves as a human and technical resource able and
willing to investigate the communication requirements of served
agencies, offer recommendations when asked, and facilitate
emergency communications when required.
GAREC-10 is already being planned. GAREC will return to Region 2 in
2010. The Venue will be CURACAO. The dates will be October 11-12,
2010.
The Theme of the Conference will be: "Learning Through Practicing". More
details about GAREC-10 will be available as the conference draws closer
or on the GAREC web site at http://www.iaru.org/emergency/.
==> CONTACT INFORMATION
I can be reached by email at w6rod@.... If you have information
that you believe would be of interest to the other IARU member-societies
around the world then send the information to me. If you would like to
see a particular subject discussed in this E-Letter, don't hesitate to
contact me with the suggestion.
73,
Rod Stafford W6ROD Secretary, International Amateur Radio Union
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