AG36
QST de W1AW  
ARRL Bulletin 36  ARLB036
>From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington CT  December 19, 2023
To all radio amateurs 

SB QST ARL ARLB036
ARLB036 WRC-23 Concludes with Wins for Amateur Radio and Agenda
Items Designated for the Next Two Events

The following report comes from International Amateur Radio Union
Secretary Joel Harrison, W5ZN:

After 4 hectic weeks of the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference
(WRC-23), and a preceding week of Radiocommunication Assembly
meetings, WRC-23 concluded on Friday, December 15. Amateur radio
fared very well overall, despite the enormous pressures across the
radio spectrum from LF to terahertz. This is a tribute to the effort
of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) team, who at times
had to work from 8:00 AM to as late as 2:00 AM the next morning, as
well as on the weekends.

At the top of the amateur radio priority list was Agenda Item (AI)
9.1b, regarding the coexistence of the secondary amateur and
amateur-satellite allocation with the primary radionavigation
satellite service in the 1240 - 1300 MHz band. This had seen 4 years
of strenuous effort prior to WRC and resulted in a recommendation
being agreed upon at the Radiocommunication Assembly, followed by
WRC-23 participants agreeing to mention the recommendation in a new
footnote for the allocation. Both the recommendation and the
footnote are an excellent outcome for the amateur services.

Other items were relevant to the amateur service and were
prioritized beforehand:

* AI 1.12: 40 - 50 MHz radar sounders. These are now largely limited
to the polar area.

* AI 1.14: 231.5 - 252 GHz re-allocations for Earth sensing.
Fortunately, our secondary 241 - 248 GHz allocation is unchanged,
and the primary allocation of 248 - 250 GHz is unaffected.

* AI 9.1a: Space weather sensors was an item of major interest. A
clear definition for such sensors was confirmed, with frequency
protection being agreed upon as an agenda item for WRC-27.

* AI 1.2: More broadband in the 3.3 GHz and 10 GHz bands (in Region
2). This is a difficult challenge, as the amateur services are
secondary with numerous (mainly South American) countries allocating
mobile broadband by way of footnotes. Instead of a region-wide
designation for IMT at 10.0 - 10.5 GHz in Region 2, there is a
footnote limited to a dozen countries.

Every WRC agreed to an agenda for the next conference under AI 10.
This AI had an unprecedented number of proposals for WRC-27 and
preliminary ones for WRC-31. Following the relatively quick
agreement on AI 9.1b, the IARU team switched most of its efforts to
the following future proposals to reduce the impact on the amateur
services, as numerous amateur bands were under consideration.

WRC-27

The WRC-27 agenda will have 19 items. The following are the most
relevant to the amateur services:

* 1300 - 1350 MHz: A previous proposal for this band, adjacent to 23
centimeters, was suppressed, providing certainty for our secondary
allocation.

* Space Weather: This potential AI was initially very concerning, as
the 0.1 - 20 MHz and 28 and 50 MHz bands were initially under
consideration, until concerns were raised, and a team effort
resulted in these allocations being removed from the topic.

* Lunar Communications: This future agenda item initially included
70 centimeters and other bands where Earth-moon-Earth could be
restricted. Fortunately, the UHF aspect of this AI was modified to
exclude 430 - 440 MHz.

* 10 GHz: We were fortunate that this band was withdrawn from
another round of consideration for mobile broadband, especially in
Region 1.

WRC-31

A record number of preliminary item resolutions were agreed on. The
following two are especially relevant:

* Wireless Power Transmission (WPT): Both near-field and beamed are
being considered as part of the International Telecommunication
Union radio regulations, whilst minimizing the impact from
interference.

* 275 - 325 GHz Allocations: This will include an opportunity for
the amateur and amateur-satellite service.

The IARU team worked effectively to minimize the amateur bands from
future studies, which is a great result for amateur radio.

IARU is very pleased with the overall result of WRC-23. The IARU
team has already started to discuss and consider how to engage and
resource for the next cycle leading up to WRC-27. IARU WRC
Coordinator and Vice President Ole Garpestad, LA2RR, expressed his
pleasure with the results and complimented the extraordinary effort
of the dedicated team of IARU volunteers who worked long hours to
achieve the results that will benefit all amateurs.

The IARU team includes ARRL Technical Relations Specialist Jon
Siverling, WB3ERA. WRC-23 ran from November 20 - December 15, 2023.