No Strong Opposition to 144 – 146 MHz Reallocation Proposal at CEPT Meeting

csphoto

W7ZOM

http://www.arrl.org/news/no-strong-opposition-to-144-146-mhz-reallocation-proposal-at-cept-meeting

"
06/25/2019
A World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23) agenda item proposing to study a range of frequencies, including potentially reassigning 144 – 146 MHz as a primary Aeronautical Mobile Service allocation, drew little opposition at a meeting of the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) Project Team A. The team is responsible for some aspects of CEPT WRC positions, and the meeting was held June 17 – 21 in Prague, Czech Republic. Introduced by France, the proposal targeting 144 – 146 MHz would be part of a broader consideration of spectrum allocated to the Aeronautical Mobile Service. Another issue addressed during the meeting concerned the sharing of the Amateur Radio 1240 – 1300 MHz band with Europe’s Galileo GPS system.

“We hear only one admin[istration] (Germany) opposed the 144 MHz proposal — no one else,” the UK Microwave Group tweeted following the meeting. Otherwise, it has been carried forward to the higher-level CEPT Conference Preparatory Group (CPG) meeting in August.
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), which was represented at the Prague meeting, expressed “grave concern” to any proposal that would include 144 – 146 MHz in the proposed Aeronautical Mobile Services agenda item. That comprises the entire available 2-meter band in ITU Region 1. IARU has pledged to make every effort to fully protect Amateur Radio interests and seek the support of regulators for their view.
IARU Region 1 President Don Beattie, G3BJ, said prior to the meeting that the IARU would “energetically” promote its opposition in Regional Telecommunications Organizations (RTOs) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) “to obtain assurances that the spectrum will remain a primary allocation for the amateur services.”
The 144 – 146 MHz band is allocated globally to the Amateur and Amateur Satellite services on a primary basis, and is the only globally harmonized Amateur Radio VHF band. A widely used segment of the Amateur Radio spectrum, 2 meters supports a broad base of terrestrial users, repeater systems, and satellite stations, including the International Space Station.


According to the meeting minutes, the proposal provides no justification for targeting 144 – 146 MHz, and the IARU believes that sharing with airborne systems likely would be difficult and lead to constraints on the development of the Amateur and Amateur Satellite services there. IARU suggested that alternative proposals might be developed that could provide further spectrum for the aeronautical applications without impacting this Amateur Service spectrum.

IARU is expected to brief member-societies, requesting that they discuss the French proposal with their governments in advance of the August CEPT-CPG meeting. France could seek to introduce the same proposal to study 144 – 146 MHz for aeronautical use into other RTOs.

Meanwhile, further discussion on the 23-centimeter band study proposal is anticipated prior to the Conference Preparatory Group meeting in August. The proposal was raised in the wake of reports of interference to the Galileo navigation system, but IARU has said it’s aware of only “a handful of cases” of reported interference to the Galileo E6 signal on 1278.750 MHz. Work on this issue will continue in other specialized CEPT forums in the interim. "


https://www.change.org/p/rsgb-stop-...xp=initial-16346738-en-GB&share_bandit_var=v1
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Just saw this yesterday (it reminded me to renew my ARRL membership).

There's several amateur satellite uplink and downlink frequencies within 144-146, I don't see how they can reallocate the spectrum anytime soon.
 
Last edited:

BigJimCruising

Adventurer
“We hear only one admin[istration] (Germany) opposed the 144 MHz proposal — no one else,”

I wouldn't renew your ARRL just based on this. Wonder if the U.S.A. was even invited?
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
“We hear only one admin[istration] (Germany) opposed the 144 MHz proposal — no one else,”

I wouldn't renew your ARRL just based on this. Wonder if the U.S.A. was even invited?
Right now I think it would only affect IARU region 1 (Europe, Africa, Mid East) but since it's part of the globally coordinated 2m spectrum if they can't use 144-146 then it becomes less important internationally and would probably come here. The ARRL has a spectrum defense fund that is already working on protecting our 2m and 70cm allocation from the little LEO micro satellites.

It's valuable spectrum, if Thales wants 144-146 in region 1 for an air band they'll come after it globally. A significant reason it's valuable is being universally allocated to hams there's no one else using it already so it's low hanging fruit for a commercial allocation. Just gotta boot a few dorky hams and, boom, 2MHz of empty bandwidth.

The U.S. be at the WRC conferences, but I don't know if this particular agenda item would be anything the FCC is involved in.
 

sonoronos

Usually broken down on the side of the road
It's actually much worse for amateurs in Region 1 because 144-146MHz covers their entire 2m band. Region 2 gets 144-148MHz, although the thought of losing half of it to military and aviation is still pretty outrageous.

Currently Region 1 has 146-148 designated as fixed and mobile excluding aero mobile. It is apparently easier for CEPT to propose moving 144-146 to aero mobile than to simply allow aero mobile on 146-148. Aero mobile already owns 138-144. I don't understand half of what is going on there, as the politics are way over my head.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,783
Messages
2,878,191
Members
225,329
Latest member
FranklinDufresne
Top