AG34
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 34  ARLB034
>From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  November 19, 2015
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB034
ARLB034 World Radiocommunication Conference Approves Global 60 Meter
Allocation!

The Plenary Meeting of the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference
(WRC-15) in Geneva has approved an allocation of 5351.5-5366.5 kHz
to the Amateur Service on a secondary basis with a power limit of 15
W effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP). The November 18
decision on Agenda Item 1.4 was adopted on two back-to-back
readings. Some Region 2 countries, but not the US, will be permitted
up to 25 W EIRP. With this action, and despite conditions that are
more restrictive than had been hoped at the start of the Conference,
the Amateur Service has obtained its first new global HF allocation
since 1979. The new band will not become available until and unless
the FCC adopts the Acts of the Conference and establishes operating
rules. Until then, the five discrete channels will remain in place.

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) team in Geneva is now
focusing its efforts on tweaking the agenda for WRC-19. It is
likely, but not certain, that the agenda will include an effort to
harmonize the Amateur Radio allocation at 50 MHz. A proposed agenda
item to align the 160 meter allocation in Region 1 with the rest of
the world is no longer under active consideration.

The WRC-19 agenda will also likely pose spectrum defense challenges,
including the possible consideration of the 144 MHz and 430 MHz
Amateur Radio allocations for sharing with the space operations
service, and the possible consideration of one or more bands above
10 GHz for 5G smartphone use. The bounds of these potential
defensive items, however, are still under discussion.

The IARU team continues to monitor several other WRC-15 items that
appear to be headed toward acceptable conclusions. WRC-15 continues
through the signing of the Final Acts on November 27.