144-146 2m band in danger? Re-allocation request submitted by France for current CEPT meeting

How likely to you think this is going to pass? The meeting has just started today.

France proposes 144-146 MHz for Aeronautical Mobile Service

http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2019/june/france-proposes-144-146-mhz-for-aeronautical-mobile-service.htm#.XQePzI-xWM8

The meeting that is coming up this month is only deciding what the list of proposals for WRC 2023 will be. There has been such a reaction from the IARU R1 organisation (representing the current primary user - Amateur radio) against this proposal from the French commercial communications delegation that I would be very surprised if it is allowed into the list of proposals to be considered for WRC 2023 but if it does get in, it can still be thrown out before or at WRC 2023.
The proposal is to make aeronautical the primary user of 144-146 MHz for things like drones and reduce the Amateur radio usage rights to be secondary on a non-interference basis. This is, of course, totally unacceptable. Look at what would happen when some aero guy complains that he is getting interference to the control of his non-essential drone or other equipment and operations from a satellite or the ISS or a terrestrial repeater on 2 metres MUST be closed down, perhaps during a natural, or man-made, disaster! 144-146 is the only band above 30MHz that AR has primary rights on in ITU/IARU region 1.

73 Ed.

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:scream: We really can only hope, this proposal will be rejected! To my mind 2m is the most important band we have for mobile communication and DXing on VHF-SHF.
Austria has already lost the upper part of their 70 cm band to the commercials. Not to imagine, if we would lose part of the narrow 2m band. Especially, as the US has 4 MHz whereas we are limited to 2 MHz on 2m.

73 de Michael, DB7MM

Considering trends in popularity of playing drones vs. playing radio, I would not exclude possibility of such a colossal theft…

Drones and high power 2m stations sharing a band. What could possibly go wrong?

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Hi Michael,
Although this proposal is coming from a Region 1 country (France) it would have global effects if it were ever implemented. So amateurs in the US would also be affected. especially in the satellite and ISS link frequencies.

In the yanqui kingdom, there is always a threat of losing bands. There’s always a question of “are we using the bands enough?” “Does Amateur Radio have the popularity to preserve the current bands?”
It is critical everyone use a log book – QRZ LOTW, any others that preserve our use information so our governing organizations can step up with the necessary reams of data and say “DON’T YOU DARE.”
Victor KI7MMZ

It’s not so much the number of QSOs. It’s the existence of a wealthy lobby promising politicians millions of for using the frequencies. Think about the 6.549.651.000 € German mobile phone providers are paying for the 5G frequencies. German amateurs only pay approx. 25 € a year for their allocations.

73 de Michael, DB7MM

Wow Michael, amateurs now pay nothing in UK, you just validate your details every 5 years.

Michael,
The corporate interests talk with their money, certainly. We can fight with our numbers and validation of QSO. Where we lack is showing our own lobbyists have our support and button-holing our legislators and tell them, NO.
I’ve invited several legislators to Field Day. It’s a subtle way to garner their support when they see us in action. When we shift the discussion to emergency management, their understanding of of our value increases.
Never miss an opportunity to kick a lobbyist in the stones by demonstrating to politicians why AMATEUR RADIO MATTERS.
Victor KI7MMZ

G1INK,
Renewing our details is a part of what we do to maintain our allocations, however the government manages the allocation.
Victor KI7MMZ.

We would not be Germans if there was no administration and some fee to be payed :grinning:
For fun I just looked up my last bill from 2012-2014 (they always wait until several years have summed up).
For the actual frequency use the fee was 23,33 €. For the efforts regarding electromagnetic compatibility it was 65,24 €. So 88,57 € for three years or 29,52 € per year.
You do not have to actively validate, but if you do not pay the bills they can revoke your license.
Of course amateur radio exams and issuing of call signs costs extra in the range of 70 to 150 €.
This is all done by the Bundesnetzagentur, the telecommunication office. They also do the auctioning of the 5G frequencies, a more profitable business.

@KI7MMZ If fully agree, showing activity is important. But less than 70 000 licensed hams are a minority out of 80 000 000 Germans. So having an influence on politics is hard.

73 de Michael, DB7MM

Michael,
The downside for us is the many who think “Politics is unimportant,” or “They don’t listen to us.”
I know they do, and I’ve had a few successes with them. We just need our voices to be louder with greater numbers.
Getting my local legislators educated helps. Even if we’re fewer in number, we can have strength.
Michael, I appreciate your reasoning and support.
You may understand how I’m digging this us two 7MM!!!
Victor KI7MMZ

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This does not sound very promising: No Strong Opposition to 144 – 146 MHz Reallocation Proposal at CEPT Meeting

Time to bang up the 2m beams and use it more often. I love i when 2m opens and the ranges you can do is unreal some days pushed into northern Spain from here about 900km.

karl

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Good distances are there to be worked 24/7, 365 days a year. I start most of my activations on 2m SSB. Only when there is little prospect of local activity do I start with HF to ensure qualification of the summit and then try 2m afterwards. Don G0RQL has been worked over some pretty spectacular distances. It is a shame that there are not more regularly active on the band - there used to be! Use it or lose it!

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Everybody knows the frequencies mostly used on 2 m. Alas, they are not relevant to SOTA or GMA. - But I won’t start a new discussion of this well-known problem…

73, Alfred, OE5AKM

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As I have pointed out before, how much success you get tropo DXing on 2 metres is a function of how good your location is. When the “B” license was merged with the “A” license then those not blessed with good locations migrated to the DC bands where location was not so much of an issue. This, I think, was the main cause of the drop in activity, and of course reduced activity was discouraging for those of us with better locations. I think that it is unreasonable to expect people with poor locations for VHF to return to the band. Truth to tell, they probably won’t actually miss it if we lose it, though sentimental memories might fuel regret. In my case the time has come when I need to take down my beams and service or replace them, and I am seriously wondering if it is worth taking the trouble for the amount of use they will get. Activity in my area on two metres is sparce to say the least, and I can’t remember when I last heard any activity on 70cm outside of contests. Of course there are apparently some areas where there is more activity, but mine iusn’t one of them. It would be depressing if there wasn’t so much of interest going on on the DC bands!

Yet, Germany was the only administration across Europe that opposed to the French proposal!

73 de Pedro, CT1DBS/CU3HF

What’s going on here ?

Taking away 2m band ? Anyone else heard this ?

Matt 2E0FGX

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