Australian Callsign Confusion

Confusion is being caused by Australia's new Foundation Class Amateur Radio Licences - which are being issued with four letter suffixes, beginning with the letter F for Foundation.

Foundation Class licens permit a maximum of 10-watts power on 80, 40, 15 and 10m only and CW or SSB only and commercially made equipment must be used (i.e. no homebrew).

Raj / VK4FRAJ is one Australian Foundation licencee - but he may be a bit unusual in that his love is for CW and contesting. However, he is somewhat frustrated by those who question his legality - and those who do not take the time to listen carefully to his callsign (not VK4FJ, not VK4RAJ, not VK4FRA, not VK4FR, not VK4FRJ.. etc.. )

VK4FRAJ's frustration has been made known to the world, not by Raj himself, but by his father Eddie / VK4AN !

7100 to 7200kHz

The International Amateur Radio Union has thanked short wave
broadcasters for achieving a high degree of migration away from the
now-worldwide amateur-exclusive band of 7,100 to 7,200kHz by the
mandated date of 29th March.

IARU Secretary Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, has been quick to acknowledge the
compliance by most broadcasters to QSY out of that band, as required
by a decision of the World Radio Conference in 2003. He also noted
that he is certain that the few remaining broadcast transmitters
operating on 7,200kHz and below will be addressed in the coming
weeks.

The departure of broadcasting from this spectrum has resulted in an
enormous improvement in the usefulness of 40 metres for amateur radio
communication.

At the end of March, a portion of the 40-metre band from 7100 to 7200kHz became exclusive to the Amateur Radio Service. The allotting of this segment to the amateur service is as a result of a resolution at the World Conference of the Radio Communications of the UIT in 2003

American Radio Amateurs are being heard in this sub-band as late as 1000 hours UTC in the North of the UK.

In France, the 7100-7200kHz section of 40m was discussed recently at the Commission of Planning of Frequencies (CPF). The modification of the National Table of Distribution of the Frequency bands was approved, allotting this segment to the amateur service on an exclusive basis. On 27 June, the French administration announced that 7.1 – 7.2MHz will be made available to the amateur service.

Belarus has gained also access to the extended 40m band. In the 7.1 - 7.2MHz frequency range it is allowed to use SSB and CW with 500W max and up to 1kW in contests under a special authorisation.

The Foreningen Sveriges Sandareamatorer (SSA), Sweden's IARU Member Society, also announced that as of 1 April, Swedish amateurs will gain access to 7.0 - 7,2MHz, bringing Sweden into line with the WRC-03 decision to shift broadcasting stations in Regions 1 and 3 out of the 7 100 - 7 200 kHz band and to reallocate the band exclusively to the Amateur Service in those two regions as of 29 March.

Each country in Regions 1 and 3 is permitted to determine their own timeline for the amateur allocation. While the band has been vacated by commercial broadcasters, no country is required to give amateurs privileges on those frequencies.

In the UK, 7,100-7,200 kHz is already allocated to the Amateur Service, currently on the basis of a Secondary User, with 26dBW power permitted.   This is available on the basis of non interference to other services (inside or outside of the UK). A new bandplan for 7MHz is scheduled for March 2009.

160

From May 2009 the 160m band has been extended for Belarus amateurs. The frequencies accessible are now 1.810 to 2.000MHz.

500kHz Memorial Band

May 2009

The RSGB President, Colin Thomas, G3PSM is has been appointed CEPT Lead Coordinator for the 500kHz proposal, which is Agenda Item 1.23, at
the 2011 World Radio Conference.

This appointment is unusual in that agenda item coordinators are normally selected
from administrations, ie Ofcom. This is a great honour for Colin and the role that the RSGB and the IARU play within the international telecommunications community.

The Norwegian Radio Relay League has been successful in persuading
the nation's licensing authority to add new bands to the amateur
radio band plan, with changes expected to take place in the spring of this year.
Included in the new offerings is a CW-only allocation of 490 to
510kHz on a secondary basis with a maximum power of 100 watts PEP.

April 2009
In the Republic of Ireland, the regulator has agreed to a limited
number of permissions to operate in the region of 500 kHz under a
licence to be issued to IRTS.
Expressions of interest are being sought equally from both non IRTS
and IRTS members. Participants will be expected to keep a separate
full detailed log of all experiments conducted. It should be noted
that only a relatively small number of permissions will be granted.

During the late hours of Friday 24th and the early hours of Saturday
25th April 2009, GB4FPR was operated from the Fort Perch Rock Marine Radio
Museum in the Wirral. Using a newly obtained 501kHz to 504kHz NOV
licence, they managed a transatlantic QSO on 502kHz with a station in
St. John's, Newfoundland. The operators used Marconi marine equipment
and Morse and received a 539 report from V01MRC. It was a crossband
QSO with GB4FPR transmitting 1 watt ERP on 502kHz and receiving the
Canadian station on 3566kHz.

Paisley YMCA Amateur Radio Club

Ayr Amateur Radio Group

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