IARU regional conference hailed a success

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 3, 14th Triennial Conference was held on 12-16 October, hosted by the NZART in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Delegates from 10 member societies (ARRL, ARSI, CRSA, HARTS, JARL, KARL, NZART, ORARI, SARTS and WIA), with RAST, RSGB and VARC being represented by proxy.
Also attending was the IARU President Tim Ellam VE6SH and Vice President Ole Garspetad LA2RR, from Region 1 President Hans Timmerman PB2T and Secretary Dennis Green ZS4BS and Region 2 Secretary Ramon Santoyo XE1KK.

The IARU R3 Directors had identified two topics, the IARU Monitoring System, and emergency communications, as being highly important, and major decisions were made on both of them.

Three working groups were established:

• The IARU Monitoring System (MS)

• Policy matters that included education, training, development of amateur radio and international and regional conferences involving radio administrations

• Operational and Technical Matters, including emergency communications, the IARU R3 Award and band plans

The Conference agenda included five documents on the IARU MS that generally sought a review and reinvigoration of this important activity. A special working group was established with Peter Young VK3MV appointed chairman and Rod Stafford W6ROD as secretary.

The amateur services must take action to protect their bands, the Conference heard, because without complaints about an intruder causing harmful interference, it may be claimed that there is no breach of the ITU Radio Regulations.

There was keen interest and participation in that working group. As a result of its work, the Conference resolved to acknowledge the contributions over many years of the IARU MS Region 3 Coordinator Arasu Monohar VU2UR.

The Conference identified the need to update and modernise the IARU protocols and procedures to effectively deal with intruders causing harmful interference in the amateur radio bands.

A package of proposed measures adopted by the Conference included greater coordination between the IARU MS coordinators in the three IARU regions, a single website to more effectively collect data on intruders and to record action being taken on them, and to provide information to assist those submitting intruder observation reports.

The Conference confirmed the importance of participation in regional telecommunication organisations, which are setting directions on regulatory matters that could impact on amateur services. IARU member societies are encouraged to be involved in that activity, where possible.

The regional telecommunication organisation’s decisions significantly influence the decisions taken by the ITU World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), with the next being in January 2012.

The NZART received praise for a number of its initiatives. One was its “ZL3 Buildathon” project that involved the encouragement of electronic project construction in schools and elsewhere in the community to lift the profile of amateur radio. Another was the ‘Radio WAVE’ project that demonstrates the principles of radio frequency propagation, polarity and effective radiated power.

The Conference heard that the Amsat-ZL’s KiwiSAT amateur satellite project was undergoing final development. Some difficulties has arisen because of the US restrictions on the export of technology. KiwiSAT was expected to be ready for launch in 2010, although no decision has been made on launching it into orbit.

A total of nine documents on the agenda referred to emergency communications and amateur radio. ORARI and CRSA were highly commended on the role that they and radio amateurs had played in Indonesia and China after major natural disasters.

The Conference considered the concept of emergency centre of activity (CoA) frequencies worthwhile, and adopted 3.600, 7.110, 14.300, 18.160 and 21.360 MHz. These have been immediately included in the IARU R3 Band Plans.

CoA are not spot frequencies, but starting points + or – 5 kHz, are not the only frequencies to be used, and are not mode specific and should be considered as being ‘all modes’.

The Conference also encouraged radio societies and emergency groups to include in their planning and training, how best to publicise the role of radio amateurs during emergencies and make it known internationally.

Among the other agenda items considered were ARDF, better utilisation of all allocated amateur bands, BPL/PLT, EMC, visitor licensing, liaison between societies and the radio administrations in their nations, operating ethics and standards, and support for the development of amateur radio in the region.

An election was required for the five-member IARU R3 Directors, with Michael Owen VK3KI, Shizuo Endo JE1MUI, Peter Lake ZL2AZ, Gopal Madhavan VU2GMN and Joong-Guen Rhee HL1AQQ being re-elected. The Directors then nominated Michael VK3KI as their chairman, which was endorsed by Conference. The Secretary, Jay Oka JA1TRC, was elected unopposed.

Michael VK3KI described the Conference as one of the most constructive and friendly he had attended. He said the credit for that goes to all who participated in the meaningful discussions resulting in productive outcomes.

All in attendance were in praise of the NZART organising committee, headed by Terry Carrell ZL3QL, who also took on the role of Conference Chairman, contributing greatly to its success. Sue Carrell and Mary Rogers ran a full women’s program during the week for the wives of delegates and visitors.

The IARU recognised the work of Bob Knowles ZL1BAD on his retirement as the IARU MS Coordinator, a position he held for more than 20 years.

The Conference elected Peter Young VK3MV as the IARU R3 Regional IARU MS Coordinator. All other regional coordinators were reappointed.

The Conference received two invitations, one from ORARI for Bali, Indonesia, and another from VARC for Ho-Chi-Minh City, Vietnam to host the next Conference. The delegates voted in favour of accepting the VARC invitation for the 15th Conference in late 2012.