Netherlands get 5 MHz

The Netherlands State Gazette for March 28, 2017 announced that on April 1 Dutch radio amateurs will have the new 5 MHz band agreed at WRC-15

Telecommunication regulators in The Netherlands have scaled back considerably the liberal 60-meter privileges announced for radio amateurs in that country just days after the conclusion of World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15). Since December 2015, amateurs in The Netherlands have had access to a 100-kHz wide amateur band at 5 MHz, with a maximum power of 100 W.

Article 4.4 of the ITU Radio Regulations permits countries to authorize frequency assignments that are contrary to the international Table of Allocations, only on a non-interference, non-protected basis.

VERON, the IARU member society in The Netherlands, now reports that starting on April 1, Dutch radio amateurs will have to be content with the global secondary 15 kHz-wide allocation of 5351.5 kHz to 5366.5 kHz at up to 15 W effective isotropic radiated power that was agreed to at WRC-15.

“This outcome of WRC 2015 is implemented by means of the present modification of the scheme,” VERON said.

The ARRL has petitioned the FCC to allocate a contiguous 5 MHz band in the US while retaining four of the five channels already in use.

Radio amateurs in The Netherlands also will be permitted to conduct cross-band and duplex 50 MHz/70 MHz communication, starting on April 1.

Source:ARRL