• World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 Concludes

    From ARRL de WD1CKS@VERT/WLARB to QST on Wed Nov 27 00:49:22 2019
    11/26/2019

    World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, wrapped up on Friday, November 22. The month-long event, sponsored by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), was the largest ever, with some 3,300 delegates in attendance. ITU has posted the provisional WRC-19 Final Acts[1] on its website as a 567-page PDF. The WRC-19 Final Acts will take effect on January 21, 2021.

    During the last week of the conference, meetings often ran into the wee hours in an effort to get the work completed on schedule. The prime amateur radio agenda item involved agreeing to a band allocation for ITU Region 1 (Europe, Africa, and the Middle East). When theÿFinal Actsÿtake effect, 44 countries in Region 1 will have a primary allocation of at least 500 kHz, including 26 countries with a primary allocation of 50 - 54 MHz. The entire region will have an amateur secondary allocation of 50 - 52 MHz, except Russia, whose administration opted for only 50.080 - 50.280 MHz on a secondary basis.

    The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) called the 6-meter outcome "a dramatic improvement in the international Radio Regulations for amateurs in Region 1." The next WRC will be in 2023.


    [1] https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-R/conferences/wrc/2019/Documents/PFA-WRC19-E.pdf

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