ARLA/CLUSTER: Austrália quer preservar e aumentar segmentos para amadores na banda de 3,5 GHz (9 cm)

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Our Microwave Bands

On 30th July, the Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) lodged a
submission with the Australian Communications and Media Authority -
the ACMA - putting a case to preserve a future for our nine centimeter
amateur band, which spans from 3300 MHz to 3600 MHz, where the Amateur
Service is secondary.

The submission was our response to the ACMA’s current inquiry into
future licensing arrangements in the "3.5 GHz band", which extends
from 3400 MHz to 3600 MHz.

To many amateurs, this sort of effort probably seems like the
championing of lost causes – defeated before we even get to storm the
ramparts of the enemy’s castle. After all, cashed-up telcos are
willing to hand out big bucks for licences from which they can
generate considerable cashflows.

I have learned from long experience that it pays to put aside such
self-defeating thoughts and think creatively about the issues at hand.

The famous Spanish musician, Pablo Casals, summed up what to do when
faced with seemingly daunting situations – he said: The situation is
hopeless. We must take the next step.

Defending our spectrum allocations and operating conditions is one of
the Institute’s primary roles. Success, however small, benefits all
amateurs.

So, when any of our amateur bands faces a threat – the Institute must
take the next step.

You may recall that, last year, we faced loss of access to the bottom
end of the 13 centimetre band – 2300-2302 MHz is to be re-allocated to
spectrum licensing so that the ACMA can bundle up a tidy 100 MHz to
auction off, from 2300 to 2400 MHz.

A seemingly hopeless situation.

The WIA took the next step and produced a submission proposing
retention of amateur access to 150 kHz of the band, from 2300 to
2300.15 MHz, following up with a campaign encouraging amateurs to
submit their own objections to the ACMA proposal.

The outcome, you might remember, was that the ACMA said that it would
work with the WIA to test whether a coexistence licensing arrangement
might be developed under the Radiocommunications Act. We’re hopeful
that that will proceed in the fullness of time.

Getting back to the current ACMA inquiry into the 3.5 GHz band, The
Institute’s submission details the impact of loss of Amateur access to
3400-3600 MHz and puts forward a strong case to preserve future access
to this section of our 9 cm band.

It’s a curious thing that amateurs seek to explore and experiment with
new technologies, yet retain an interest in, and continued use of,
technologies of the past, albeit in a modern context. The WIA
submission points this out, adding that innovation in the use of
wireless technologies in increasingly diverse applications continues
relentlessly, both within and beyond the sphere of amateur radio, the
WIA sees that it is important to facilitate radio amateurs’ ability to
adopt or adapt innovations without unnecessary impediments.

The Institute submission also made the point that, while commercial
and defence operations focus on reliable, high signal-to-noise ratio
communications, radio amateurs deliberately seek to explore testing
and establishing communications under difficult circumstances where
weak-signal reception is the norm, rather than the exception.

As a result, the amateur radio community, globally and in Australia,
has built up a commendable record of investigation and achievement in
advancing the state of the art with weak-signal communications
technologies and techniques.

No better example of that is the recently-reported contact on 10 GHz
over more than 900 kilometres using aircraft reflection between David
VK3HZ portable in country Victoria and Rex VK7MO portable in southern
Queensland.

Making a contact like that was not so long ago – for example, last
year – considered to be a hopeless endeavor. But there you go – VK3HZ
and VK7MO took the next step!

The WIA is committed to maintaining Amateur service allocations across
the radiofrequency spectrum – both primary and secondary. Over
decades, the Institute has defended assiduously the retention of
Amateur access to frequency bands throughout the spectrum.

And that’s quite apart from pursuing new allocations!

Pablo Casals made a profound statement: The situation is hopeless. We
must take the next step.

When it comes to defending our spectrum allocations and operating
conditions, our policy is to always take that next step.

Roger Harrison VK2ZRH

Wireless Institute of Australia