ARRL CEO Tom Gallagher, NY2RF, and ARRL Technical Relations Specialist Jon Siverling, WB3ERA, served on the US delegation to the Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) Permanent Consultative Committee II (PCC.II) hosted by the US in Orlando, June 26-29. Approximately 170 delegates from 16 countries throughout the Americas attended the meeting. PCC II serves as an advisory committee to CITEL, and the Florida session was part of the run-up to World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19). Others defending Amateur Radio interests at the meeting included IARU Region 2 Secretary José Arturo Molina, YS1MS/KD2GXZ, and Flávio Archangelo, PY2ZX, who were delegates to WRC-15.

“The most significant work of the delegates this week was in the Working Group on Preparation for Regional and World Radiocommunication Conferences, chaired by Carmelo Rivera of NOAA/Department of Commerce,” Siverling said. “This is the working group that will develop proposals from the Americas region to WRC-19.”

Siverling said that while it’s still early in the process, the working group continued to identify delegates who will attend WRC-19 to serve as chapter chairmen and agenda item rapporteurs. The US proposed Siverling to serve as the alternate rapporteur for WRC-19 agenda item 1.1, “to consider an allocation of the frequency band 50-54 MHz to the Amateur Service in Region 1” in accordance with WRC-15 Resolution 658.

The delegates to PCC II are preparing preliminary views — which will mature into proposals and later Inter-American Proposals, or IAPs, to the Conference for each WRC-19 agenda item, including several that may impact Amateur Radio. These include agenda item 1.11, railway train-to-trackside radiocommunication systems; agenda item 1.12, Intelligent Transport Systems; agenda item 1.16, wireless access systems/radio local area networks (WAS/RLANs) in the bands between 5,150 and 5,925 MHz, including additional allocations to the mobile service; agenda item 1.13, International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) above 24 GHz, and agenda item 1.15, land mobile and fixed service applications in the 275-450 GHz range.

“This meeting also advanced the work to update the International Amateur Radio Permit (IARP) to allow administrations to process applications and issue the permit electronically, a requirement for many countries as they transition to eGovernment,” Siverling said.