'New' Belize Amateur Radio Club Admitted to IARU Membership

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The member societies of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) have approved a proposal to admit a new representative of the radio amateurs of Belize to IARU membership
 
77 member-societies had voted in favour of admitting the Belize Amateur Radio Club (BARC) with none opposed. There were no abstentions. The affirmative votes of 55 member-societies were required for approval.
 
Belize previously was represented in the IARU by another organisation of the same name. Once the IARU Administrative Council determined that this earlier organisation no longer existed, IARU Region 2 accepted an application for membership from the new BARC and confirmed that it satisfied the requirements of the IARU Constitution and Bylaws.
 
The officers of BARC are:

  • Emil Rodriguez, V31ER, President
  • Dr. Andre T. Scholz, V31DL, Vice President and IARU Liaison
  • Steven Harp, V31SH, Secretary

Belize Amateur Radio Club - http://barc.bz/

Harmonisation of CEPT Novice Licences

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VERON.jpg

In a paper for the IARU Region 1 General Conference the Netherlands national society VERON is proposing the harmonisation of CEPT Novice licences in member countries.
 
Although it is not clear from the name, the CEPT Novice licence is equivalent to the UK Intermediate, USA General and Australian Standard licence. One countries Novice is another's Standard licence!
 
Currently there are major differences among the various CEPT member countries in the frequencies permitted and transmitter power for Novice licenced amateurs.
 
VERON say that because of the international character of the amateur service, these differences are undesirable. 
 
The paper proposes to start a process to harmonise the use of frequencies and power by Novice licences, with the objective to equalize the differences within European countries. This will lead to more activity and will reduce the use of non-Novice frequencies by Novice stations.
 
VERON say Novice stations will be able to make more contacts in major contests, and improve their operating skills.
 
The aim to "equalize" may, however, give rise to some concerns. Such a move might for instance lead to both Power and Band Reductions for Novice holders in some countries if the terms were equalized down to some mid-point between all countries. 
 
The VERON paper is titled LA17_C3_38 Harmonisation of Novice Licences and comments on this and other papers can be made on the RSGB Forum. Information on downloading IARU-R1 General Conference papers - http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2017/may/discussion-of-iaru-papers-on-rsgb-forum.htm
 

70 MHz in Germany

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DARC report that during the Sporadic E season 2017, German class A radio amateurs can again use a section of the 4m band at 70 MHz for experiments  
 
The official publication of the notice was published on 17th May 2017 in the Official Gazette No. 9/2017 of the Federal Network Agency. 
 
DARC website - http://www.darc.de/