New 472-479khz spectrum allocation for Amateur Radio in Canada
/Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) is pleased to announce the official Canadian implementation of the 472-479 kHz band. “Agreed to in 2012 at the World Radio Conference (WRC), and now approved in Canada this is more good news for Canadian amateur radio”, said RAC President Geoff Bawden, VE4BAW, enthusiastically.
The amateur service is now authorized to use the 472-479 kHz band with the release of the new Canadian Table of Frequency Allocations by Industry Canada. While approved at WRC 12 by the ITU, each country then must implement regulations for its amateurs before the band is available. Operations are subject to the international foot notes, which limit power to 5 watts EIRP except in certain areas within 800 km of certain other countries.
The RAC 0-30 MHz Band Planning Committee will be proposing a suitable band plan to enable best use of this new very narrow band. Comments and suggestions may be sent to the committee via rachq@rac.ca. Those looking to become active on this new band are encouraged to write of their experiences for TCA, given the challenges of antennas and equipment for this new band.
This addition to our allocations is especially appropriate given that Industry Canada, with Bryan Rawlings, VE3QN, acting as a representative for both RAC and IARU, lead the charge for this new band at WRC 12. Of course, WRC 12 was the end of a long process that started many years earlier and many others need to be recognized for their contributions: Industry Canada which brought together all of the industry players to form consensus, Ken Pulfer VE3PU (SK) who started it all off and provided help and insight throughout the multi-year process, Dave Conn VE3KL did the critical antenna analyses. Jim Dean VE3IQ oversaw getting licenses for 504 – 509 kHz experiments to verify non-interference to power control systems. Also, Norm Rashleigh VE3LC who guided the favourable responses to the proposed amateur secondary allocation at 472-479 kHz through IC’s Request for Public Consultations on the WRC-12 decisions. Many others also provided valuable support and work over a seven year process.
Canadian amateur operators have two new segments of spectrum thanks to the very hard work by RAC with our regulator. Five 60 meter band channels were made available by Industry Canada a few month ago.
Industry Canada release - http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/h_sf01678.html
