Interference caused by lack of common SRD frequencies

Japanese taxi drivers are the latest to suffer interference as a direct result of the failure to allocate spectrum for Short Range Devices (SRDs) on a Global basis.

The BBC reports that taxi and lorry drivers in Japan are being affected by unusual disruption from US military bases - baby babble that jams their radios. Officials in Tokyo said that US-bought baby monitors used by parents on bases were emitting signals that interfered with other nearby transmissions.

Currently there aren't any global allocations between 42 and 2400 MHz that can be used by license exempt SRDs. Different countries allocate different frequencies, some countries such as the UK even stick them in the middle the 70cm Amateur Radio band ! This fragmentation results in chaos as equipment made in one country is exported to others around the globe.

Fortunately an opportunity exists to resolve this problem. The spectrum from 915-921 MHz is available for license exempt SRD's in most of the world with Europe being a notable exception. If Europe were to allocate this spectrum for SRD's we could at last have a single globally accepted band for these devices to use.

The matter has been discussed at meetings of the CEPT Working Group Frequency Management (WGFM / FM Working Group) and one of the input documents to their May meeting in St.-Petersburg was FM(10)046_LS from ETSI ERM on TR 102 649-2 on SRDs and RFID at UHF_SRDoc which explores the use of spectrum at 915-921 MHz for these devices.

To download this document follow these steps:

1. Go to the ECO (formerly ERO) home page http://www.ero.dk/
2. Under the 'ECC Activities' drop-down menu select 'ECO Meeting Documents'
3. In 'Select Group: ' select 'FM Working Group'
4. In 'Select Year: ' select '2010'
5. Expand the meeting venue 'St.-Petersburg May'
6. Expand 'Input'
7. Tick FM(10)046_LS from ETSI ERM on TR 102 649-2 on SRDs and RFID at UHF_SRDoc
8. Click on the 'download Selected' button (top right)

BBC - US baby babble hits Japan taxis
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-10998238

Southgate Aug 2009 - Ofcom 917-921 MHz Consultation
http://www.southgatearc.org/news/august2009/
ofcom_917-921_and_872-876mhz_consultation.htm