KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

itu

Booklet outlines WRC 23 activities

By Leave a Comment

The International Telecommunication Union, ITU, has just released their WRC-23 booklet. Available in six different languages, It can be freely downloaded from https://www.itu.int/wrc-23/booklet-wrc-23/.

The booklet lists 44 resolutions that WRC will be addressing during the conference, which will be held in the United Arab Emirates (either in Abu Dhabi or Dubai), from 20 November to 15 December 2023. 9 of the 44 resolutions mention the Amateur Radio Service in some way, with the majority of them having to do with frequency bands in the microwave region.

I’m always kind of surprised at the attention that amateur radio gets at WRC, considering that the ITU has to administer all of the various radio services. In the preface to the booklet, the Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau, Mario Maniewicz, even gives a shout out to amateur radio: “It has been prepared following the past initiatives of the International Amateur Radio Union (www.iaru.org) and in order to maintain this good tradition to better assist the ITU membership in the preparations for the conference.”

ITU magazine features amateur radio

By Leave a Comment

The latest issue of ITU News, a publication of the International Telecommunications Union, the organization that regulates wireless communications around the world, is now online. This free downloadable magazine covers World Radio Day and features two articles on amateur radio:

  • Ham radio and emergency comms: Filling the United States Geological Survey ’donut hole’ by Adam Davidson W9AS
  • Why World Amateur Radio Day is key to highlight crucial services by IARU president Tim Ellam VE6SH

There are many other interesting articles, too, including

  • 10 things you didn’t know rely on the ITU Radio Regulations
  • 115 years and counting: ITU Radio Regulations updated

There is also a short history of the ITU and a couple of articles on 5G technology.

 

K1ZZ lays out amateur radio’s agenda at the upcoming World Radio Conference

By Leave a Comment

Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, may not be the ARRL CEO anymore, but he’s still working for amateur radio. He’s the secretary of the International Amateur Union (IARU) and will be a big part of ham radio’s presence at the upcoming World Radio Conference 2019. The confence starts on October 28 and runs through November 22.

In the latest issue of ITU News Magazine, K1ZZ describes the issues that the IARU will be addressing at the conference. They include:

  • Global harmonization of the amateur 50–54 MHz allocation.
  • Maintenance of existing spectrum access for amateurs.
  • Strengthening protections for radiocommunication services against interference from other generators of radiofrequency (RF) energy.

The article goes into more detail on these issues, and I would encourage  you to read it. The magazine also includes articles from other radio frequency spectrum users on their agenda items. The article immediately following K1ZZ’s article, for example is titled, WRC‑19 agenda items related to space science and Earth observation. Reading these articles will give you a better understand of what the IARU folks are up against at WRC-19.

Why there’s a license exam

By 1 Comment

quoraOn Quora, a website where people ask (and answer) all kinds of interesting (and dumb) questions, someone asked, “Why does a person still need a ham radio license?” There were the usual answers:

  • Without a license, amateur radio would turn into the morass that is CB.
  • Ensures that the operators have at least some basic understanding of radio and the rules and regulations they need to follow.
  • Provides a way to more easily contact radio amateurs should they be causing interference to other radio services.

ITUMy answer was a bit different. I knew that the reason that amateur radio operators must pass an examination to be licensed is that it’s required by international treaties, but I didn’t know the specifics. So, I did a little Googling.

I found out that Article 25.6 2) of the ITU Radio Regulations states:

Administrations shall verify the operational and technical qualifications of any person wishing to operate an amateur station. Guidance for standards of competence may be found in the most recent version of Recommendation ITU-R M.1544. (WRC-03)

ITU-R M.1544 goes on to state:

The ITU Radiocommunication Assembly recommends:

  1. that administrations take such measures as they judge necessary to verify the operational and technical qualifications of any person wishing to operate an amateur station;
  2. That any person seeking a licence to operate an amateur station should demonstrate theoretical knowledge of:
    • Radio Regulations
      • international
      • domestic
    • Methods of radiocommunication
      • radiotelephony
      • radiotelegraphy
      • data and image
    • Radio system theory
      • transmitters
      • receivers
      • antennas and propagation
      • measurements
    • Radio emission safety
    • Electromagnetic compatibility
    • Avoidance and resolution of radio frequency interference.

File this under the category “you learn something new every day.”

In amateur radio, who has the authority?

By Leave a Comment

 IARU(1)This morning, I received an e-mail from a reader. He wrote:

Who sets the band plans within a country ?  USA? How much authority does the IARU have on individual countries? On the USA?

I replied:

Well, there are band plans and then there are band plans. Here in the U.S., the FCC sets regulations that say where certain modes can be used within a certain frequency band. Those carry the force of law. For example, on the 40m band, Extra Class operators cannot operate SSB below 7.125 MHz. If  you operate SSB on 7.120 MHz, you can be cited for doing so.

ARRLThe ARRL and the IARU take that a step further by recommending that certain modes be restricted to certain sub-bands. For example, the FCC allows CW and digital mode operation to all operators in the 7.025 – 7.125 MHz band. The ARRL, however, suggests that digital operators restrict their operations to 7.080-7.125 MHz.

I use the word “suggest” because the ARRL and the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) have no real legal authority. The IARU is just a group of representatives from national amateur radio societies like the ARRL.

ITUInternationally, it’s the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) that has the power. They are an organization of the United Nations, and by international treaty are responsible for things like frequency allocations and licensing requirements. They hold conferences every three or four years. According to their website, “World radiocommunication conferences (WRC) are held every three to four years. It is the job of WRC to review, and, if necessary, revise the Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the use of the radio-frequency spectrum and the geostationary-satellite and non-geostationary-satellite orbits.”. The latest WRC was just held this year.

The IARU sends a non-voting representative to the WRCs, but they are there only in an advisory/advocacy role. Fortunately for amateur radio, many of the official delegates to the WRC are also amateur radio operators.

As an aside, the WARC bands–30m, 17m, and 12m–are so called because those bands were allocated to the Amateur Radio Service at the conference in 1979. At the time this conference was called the World Administrative Radio Conference or WARC.