IARU issue Amateur-Satellite Service spectrum requirements

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The IARU has released a revised edition of Spectrum Requirements for the Amateur and Amateur-Satellite Services.

The document mentions the need for the expansion of the 20m band from 14000-14350 kHz to 14000-14400 kHz which was the spectrum originally allocated to amateurs at the 1927 Washington Conference. No expansion to the 14 MHz Amateur-Satellite allocation is planned.

The IARU seeks expansion to 250 kHz of the Amateur-Satellite Service allocations at both 18 and 24 MHz.

A harmonized allocation for the Amateur-Satellite Service is sought at 50-54 MHz, to bridge the gap between 28 MHz and 144 MHz but it should be noted the IARU plans for a harmonized 50 MHz band at WRC-18 are for the Amateur Service only not Amateur Satellites.

The document notes that because of the crowding of the existing band 435-438 MHz with uncrewed amateur satellites and crewed space stations, it is desirable to study expansion of the band. This is exactly what the IARU were saying over 8 years ago, as yet they do not appear to have actually studied band expansion. See the 2008 IARU Spectrum Requirements document.

Regarding the existing 1260-1270 MHz Amateur-Satellite Service allocation the IARU say they seek the deletion of the “Earth-to-space only” restriction. They note that WRC-2000 allocated the band 1240-1300 MHz to the radiodetermination-satellite service for space-to-space use. In addition, WRC-2000 allocated the band 1260-1300 MHz to the radiodetermination-satellite service for space-to-Earth use such as for the European Galileo positioning system. These actions do not change the Amateur and Amateur-Satellite Service allocations but present new sharing situations and potential operating restrictions.

Due to the high level of interference from license exempt devices substitute spectrum for the Amateur-Satellite Service 2400-2450 MHz allocation is sought.

It seems the IARU no longer any intends to seek a global Amateur-Satellite Service allocation at 3400-3410 MHz.

There are no plans to improve the status of Amateur-Satellite allocations at 5 or 10 GHz.

Download the Spectrum Requirements document from
http://www.iaru.org/spectrum-requirements.html

Download the Summary Record of the IARU Administrative Council meeting held in Viña del Mar, Chile, October 7-8, 2016 http://www.iaru.org/administrative-council-meetings.html

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