For those who might be interested, WRC-97 ended in Geneva Nov. 21. The
only change which will affect contesters is that some European countries
removed footnotes to the ITU frequency tables with respect to the 160 meter
band, which will allow some contesters in Europe to use more of the 160
meter band.
The consideration of expansion and worldwide realignment of the Amateur
Radio 40 meter band has now been put off until at least WRC-2001, so for at
least the next four years the 40 meter band will remain exactly as it is
now. Of course, the FCC could always decide to expand the phone sub-band
for USA hams, since the ITU does not regulate how the different Radio
Services break down the use of the bands they are assigned. Most countries
don't have sub-bands at all, and the IARU Regional bandplans are what serve
as guidelines for mode usage in those countries.
The matter of possible changes in the ITU regulations governing Amateur
Radio (Article S25) was also put off until at least WRC-2001. This means
that for at least the next four years, the ITU will continue to require
that administrations require their applicants for Amateur Radio licenses to
demonstrate knowledge of the International Morse Code if they want to
operate below 30 MHz. Of course, individual countries can always ignore
this requirement, as Japan has done for years, pointing out that the ITU
regulations permit assignment of any station to any frequency as long as no
reports of harmful interference are received about such stations by the
licensing authority in the country in question. For example, Trinidad and
Tobago recently allowed no-code licensees to use all HF bands. The no-code
licensees there can be distiguished by use of the 9Z4 prefix.
Readers interested in more information about WRC-97 can visit the following
Web sites:
http://info.itu.ch
http://www.itu.int/radioclub
73, Fred
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