Delegates attending the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference have approved a new 7-kilohertz-wide secondary allocation between 472-479 kHz for the Amateur Radio Service.
While the Final Acts of WRC will be signed on Friday, February 17 at the close of the Conference, the new allocation will not take effect until it is entered into the Radio Regulations. No date has been set for this, but it is unlikely to be earlier than January 1, 2013. In any case, no amateur can use the band until his or her national regulations are revised to implement the allocation.
The new allocation calls for a worldwide secondary allocation to the Amateur Service at 472-479 kHz, with a power limit of 1W EIRP. A provision has been made for administrations to permit up to 5 W EIRP for stations located more than 800 km from certain countries that wish to protect their aeronautical radionavigation service (non-directional beacons) from any possible interference.
Footnotes provide administrations with opportunities to “opt out” of the amateur allocation and/or to upgrade their aeronautical radionavigation service to primary, if they wish to do so.
In addition to protections for aeronautical radionavigation, the Amateur Service must avoid harmful interference to the primary maritime mobile service. Quite a few additional administrations — mainly in the former Soviet Union and the Arab states — added their country’s names to the Footnotes prior to the Agenda Item’s consideration in Plenary.
Footnotes
5.77 Different category of service: In Australia, China, the French overseas communities of Region 3, the Republic of Korea, India, Iran, Japan, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka, the allocation of the frequency band 415-495 kHz to the aeronautical radionavigation service is on a primary basis. In Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, the allocation of the frequency band 435-495 kHz to the aeronautical radionavigation service is on a primary basis. Administrations in all the aforementioned countries shall take all practical steps necessary to ensure that aeronautical radionavigation stations in the frequency band 435-495 kHz do not cause interference to reception by coast stations of transmissions from ship stations on frequencies designated for ship stations on a worldwide basis.
5.82 In the maritime mobile service, the frequency 490 kHz is to be used exclusively for the transmission by coast stations of navigational and meteorological warnings and urgent information to ships, by means of narrow-band direct-printing telegraphy. The conditions for use of the frequency 490 kHz are prescribed in Articles 31 and 52. In using the frequency band 415-495 kHz for the aeronautical radionavigation service, administrations are requested to ensure that no harmful interference is caused to the frequency 490 kHz. In using the frequency band 472-479 kHz for the Amateur Service, administrations shall ensure that no harmful interference is caused to the frequency 490 kHz.
5.A123 The maximum equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) of stations in the Amateur Service using frequencies in the band 472-479 kHz shall not exceed 1 W. Administrations may increase this limit of EIRP to 5 W in portions of their territory which are at a distance of more than 800 km from the borders of Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, China, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, the Russian Federation, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Syrian Arab Republic, Kyrgyzstan, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Ukraine and Yemen. In this frequency band, stations in the Amateur Service shall not cause harmful interference to, or claim protection from, stations of the aeronautical radionavigation service.
5.B123 The use of the frequency band 472-479 kHz in Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, China, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, the Russian Federation, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Oman, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Syrian Arab Republic, Kyrgyzstan, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen is limited to the maritime mobile and aeronautical radionavigation services. The Amateur Service shall not be used in the above-mentioned countries in this frequency band, and this should be taken into account by the countries authorizing such use.
