The 144 – 146 MHz Amateur Radio segment has been removed from a French proposal to study spectrum additional for Aeronautical Mobile Service (AMS) applications. France had included the band, which comprises the entire 2 meter band in ITU Region 1, for consideration as a European Conference of Telecommunications and Postal Administrations (CEPT) position for World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19). Heading into a just-ended CEPT Conference Preparatory Group (CPG) meeting in Turkey this past week, France was holding firm on the proposal to have AMS share 144 – 146 MHz with Amateur Radio. The CPG meeting considered CEPT ECC positions on this and other issues for WRC-19.

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) had called the French proposal for 144 – 146 MHz “unsound” and contended that sharing of the current amateur allocation with AMS radio systems would not be possible “without a significant likelihood of mutual interference.”

The French spectrum study proposal would have had to gain approval from at least 10 CEPT countries at the CPG meeting — with not more than 6 opposing — to appear on the agendas of WRC-19 and WRC-23, where a final decision would be made.

Also at the CEPT meeting, at the insistence of the European Commission, a WRC-23 agenda item was considered necessary to address world-wide protection of Regional Navigational Satellite Systems (RNSS) from amateur emissions in the 23 centimeter band, 1240 – 1300 MHz. Delegates agreed to a draft WRC Resolution that stresses the importance of the band to the Amateur Service and explicitly excludes the removal of existing allocations as part of the proposed agenda item. The issue stems from reported incidents of interference to the Galileo GPS E6 signal on 1278.750 MHz.

Other Amateur Radio-related issues addressed at the CEPT CPG included:

• Agreement to a European Common Proposal (ECP) on allocating 50 – 52 MHz to the Amateur Service in Region 1 (Europe, Africa, and the Middle East) on a secondary basis, with a footnote listing those countries where the Amateur Service will have a primary allocation in the band 50 – 50.5 MHz (WRC-19 Agenda Item 1.1).

• Agreement to an ECP on spectrum to be considered for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT), which does not now include the primary Amateur Radio band at 47 – 47.2 GHz (WRC Agenda Item 1.13).

• Agreement to an ECP that retains the current regulatory position in the 5725 – 5850 MHz band that includes secondary Amateur Radio and Amateur Satellite allocations (WRC Agenda Item 1.16).

• No change to an already agreed upon CEPT position on wireless power transmission (WRC Agenda item 9.1.6). This calls for no change in the Radio Regulations to address the question of operating frequency for wireless power transmission for electric vehicle charging (WPT-EV), but leaves open the question of spurious emissions from WPT-EV.

IARU Region 1 President Don Beattie, G3BJ, said that the IARU team at Ankara — the only representatives of the Amateur Service at the meeting — had presented clear and convincing arguments for Amateur Radio positions and that he was pleased that regulators had recognized the strength of the amateur case. He expressed his thanks to everyone who contributed to the outcome at CPG.

CEPT is one of the six regional telecommunications organizations but viewed as the most influential. The issues now move to WRC-19 in Egypt this fall for final resolution. IARU will be represented at the international gathering, which gets under way in late October. — Thanks to IARU