The WIA wants a review of the effectiveness of the amateur service examination system in light of the lack of growth of newly licenced operators in Australia

The Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) recently made a submission to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), the regulatory authority for radio spectrum in Australia, in response to the ACMAs 5-year spectrum outlook. There are two key items on ACMAs agenda that are of special interest to radio amateurs:

continued work on the non-assigned amateur service licensing review
review of arrangements for amateur service stations operating at increased transmitter power levels

The WIA made a significant submission on the first point. That submission led to a meeting between the WIA and relevant staff of the ACMA to discuss the submission. The aim of the meeting was to seek clarity on aspects of the ACMAs proposal that were unclear; to discuss specific areas of concern; and to understand the next steps in the process.

The second point is proposed to commence in the second quarter of 2022. The WIA welcomes the opportunity to again explore how Australian amateurs may operate with higher transmitter power.

Also in the pipeline are other key issues the WIA believes are important to the amateur service at this time. They are:

Define and implement a new model for managing the AOCP syllabus that retains amateur service engagement in the process
Review the effectiveness of the amateur service examination system in light of the lack of growth of newly licenced operators in Australia, particularly through 2020 under COVID compared to other countries
WIA continues to advocate spectrum access to ACMA on behalf of radio amateurs. Particularly, the WIA is seeking to address the following matters:
Extension of operating privileges for AOCP(S) class licensees to include access to the 50-52 MHz band and
The ACMA conducted a further review of the defined usage of 7.100-7.200 MHz in the Australian Radio Spectrum Plan.
The WIA has continued to lobby for access to the 60 metre band but opposition from military and commercial users ensures that this item is difficult to attain in the immediate future. We will revisit this in a subsequent 5 year plan.

As the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) representative in Australia, the WIA is the only authority authorised to recommend to the IARU, the use of Amateur frequencies in satellites. The WIA has recently published a policy document detailing the requirements for the processing of Australian amateur satellite licence applications. The WIA has authorised the BINAR-1 project as well as tentatively authorised the CSIRO-Sat 1 Project.

The IARU are responsible for Amateur Radio band planning. The WIA represents Australia at the IARU triennial conferences where decisions on changes to the band plan are ratified. Subsequently the WIA implements the IARU band plans for Australia.

More Information - https://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/wianews/di