The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Administrative Council (AC) met on September 28 and 29 in Lima, Peru, to conduct a final review of IARU preparations for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19). The Council’s annual meeting took place just ahead of the triennial IARU Region 2 (IARU R2) General Assembly. Responsible for IARU policy and management, the Council consists of the three IARU international officers and two representatives from each of the three IARU regional organizations.

WRC-19’s lengthy agenda includes items of direct interest to the Amateur Service, including consideration of improvements to the 50 MHz amateur allocation in Region 1, protection of existing amateur allocations, and development of the agenda for the next WRC in 2023. IARU volunteers and member-societies have been working for the past 4 years — since WRC-15 — to influence proposals from national telecommunications administrations and regional telecommunications organizations (RTOs) that will be considered at WRC-19, which gets under way late this month in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

“IARU efforts have reduced the number of potentially damaging proposals that otherwise might have been offered for consideration, but several challenges remain,” IARU said in a news release. “A small team of IARU observers will attend WRC-19 and will work with amateurs and friends on national delegations to reach the best possible outcomes.”

Looking beyond WRC-19, the AC plans to increase its commitment to influencing the work of standards organizations, particularly the International Special Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR) and its participating national committees. IARU cited “the rising level of radio spectrum pollution caused by unnecessary and unwanted emissions from electronic devices, such as wireless power transfer for the recharging of electric vehicles (WPT-EV), is a serious threat to radiocommunication services including the Amateur Service.”

Council participants engaged in an extensive discussion to identify the principal challenges facing Amateur Radio and how the IARU and its member-societies might better address them. Upgrading of the current websites of the IARU and its three regional organizations is under way and should be completed in the coming months. The AC also adopted a Brand Guide to ensure a common identity across the IARU organization.

The Council’s next in-person meeting will take place in October 2020, just prior to the IARU Region 1 Conference in Novi Sad, Serbia. Virtual AC meetings are also planned beginning in December 2019 and January 2020.

Attending the meeting were IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH/G4HUA; Vice President Ole Garpestad, LA2RR; Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ; regional representatives Don Beattie, G3BJ; Hans Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T; Reinaldo Leandro, YV5AM; Ramón Santoyo, XE1KK; Wisnu Widjaja, YB0AZ, and Ken Yamamoto, JA1CJP. Region 2 Executive Committee member George Gorsline, VE3YV, attended as an observer. — Thanks to IARU Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ