After review and approval by the IARU Region 1 Executive Committee and the IARU Administrative Council a presentation on preliminary Amateur / RNSS Coexistence in the 23cm band has been released.
See the presentation at
https://www.iaru.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/23cm-Band-and-RNSS-June2022.pdf
Source IARU
https://www.iaru.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/23cm-Band-and-RNSS-June2022.pdf
IARU report on the recent meeting of ITU-R WP5A, the lead group responsible for developing the Conference Preparatory Meeting report about the WRC23 agenda item on the 23cm band.
The latest meeting of ITU-R WP5A concluded on June 2, 2022. The IARU was represented by Ole Garpstad (LA2RR – ITU Lead) and Barry Lewis (G4SJH – WRC23 AI9.1b Lead).
ITU-R WP5A is the study group at ITU which deals in part with topics related to the amateur and amateur satellite services. It is the lead group responsible for developing the Conference Preparatory Meeting (CPM) report on agenda item 9.1(b).
This Agenda Item provides for a “Review of the amateur service and the amateur-satellite service allocations in the frequency band 1240‑1300 MHz to determine if additional measures are required to ensure protection of the radionavigation-satellite (space-to-Earth) service operating in the same band in accordance with Resolution 774 (WRC‑19);” The CPM Report will form the basis for consideration of this issue at WRC-23 next year.
At the conclusion of the recent WP5A meeting a draft recommendation was prepared which will provide guidelines to administrations to ensure the protection of the RNSS primary allocation from the secondary amateur and amateur satellite services.
The draft recommendation will be the most important element of the WP5A work going forward for the amateur and amateur satellite services in the 23cm band. The working document contains a number of proposals for severe limitations on amateur usage of the band including transmitter power constraints. Very low power levels are proposed for large portions of the band (100% in one case). Proposals also identify possible frequency band usage limitations for broadband applications (e.g. ATV), narrowband applications and amateur satellite services in 1260-1270 MHz.
A full report of the WP5A meeting can be found here.
https://www.iaru.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Report-from-WP5A_June-2022-FINAL.pdf
None of these proposals are adopted at this time and work will continue at the next meeting of WP5A to rationalise the variations proposed by national telecom-administrations.
The IARU will work to minimise the constraints on amateur radio activities and continue to seek amendments to the draft recommendations through the ITU process, but as a secondary user, radio amateurs should understand the need to protect the Radionavigation Satellite Service (RNSS) in many consumer and industry applications (like autonomous vehicles) that will lead to some restrictions on our use of the 23 cm band.
ISS SSTV MAI-75 image 9/12 received by Chertsey Radio Club on Baofeng handheld
Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are planning to transmit Slow Scan TV (SSTV) images on 145.800 MHz FM probably using the SSTV mode PD-120.
Update June 8: There were no reports of any SSTV transmissions being received.
The transmissions are part of the Moscow Aviation Institute SSTV experiment (MAI-75) and will be made from the amateur radio station RS0ISS in the Russian ISS Service module (Zvezda). This will be the first time the experiment will use the recently installed Kenwood D710GA.
• June 8 Setup and activation 09:45-10:15 GMT, stop about 15:00 GMT*
• June 9 start about 08:35 GMT, stop about 16:15 GMT*
*Dates and times may be subject to change.
The signal should be receivable on a handheld with a 1/4 wave whip. If your rig has selectable FM filters try the wider filter for 25 kHz channel spacing.
You can get predictions for the ISS pass times at https://www.amsat.org/track/
ARISS SSTV Blog https://ariss-sstv.blogspot.com/
Useful SSTV info and links https://amsat-uk.org/beginners/iss-sstv/
In June 2022, Her Majesty The Queen becomes the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee after 70 years of service.
AMSAT-UK has decided to send a special Platinum Jubilee greetings message via FUNcube-1 (AO-73). Anyone who receives this message and uploads it to the Data Warehouse using the Dashboard can generate a certificate to remember this historic event.
AO-73/FUNcube-1 is transmitting the Jubilee Fitter message on the BPSK Telemetry beacon which has a nominal frequency of 145.935 MHz +/ Doppler.
The AO-73/FUNcube-1 Dashboard App can be downloaded from
https://funcube.org.uk/working-documents/funcube-telemetry-dashboard/
Data Warehouse http://data.amsat-uk.org/missions
Online tracking of AO-73 https://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=39444
The Chair of IARU Region 1 Spectrum Affairs, Barry Lewis G4SJH, reports on the work being done in defending the interests of the Amateur Services in the 1240-1300 MHz band.
On the IARU Region 1 site he writes:
During the period May 4-10, 2022, the IARU continued to engage in the preparatory work for WRC-23 agenda item 9.1b in ITU‑R Working Party 4C (WP4C).
Work continued to develop the coexistence studies between the amateur services in the 23cm band and the radio-navigation satellite services (RNSS) operating across the band. New studies were submitted by France, China and the Russian Federation.
The scale of the problem for the amateur services is becoming clear. For example, the studies predict that even a 10W 23cm band station could cause interference to RNSS receivers at up to 30km on the antenna main beam heading. Although the level of amateur activity and the density of users is quite low (compared to other more popular bands) the issue remains that from a regulatory perspective the amateur services are required to not cause harmful interference to RNSS services.
The figure shows a sample of one result from one study submitted into ITU‑R and further illustrates the scale of the problem. In this example a station using an 18dBi gain antenna is used for both narrow band and wideband (ATV) transmissions and a range of power levels. The protection criteria for the RNSS receivers differs for narrowband and wideband interfering signals. The figure shows the distances out from the amateur station where the RNSS protection criteria could be exceeded along the antenna main beam heading.
These results have been developed based the ITU‑R defined receiver protection level for the GALILEO RNSS. For the narrow band modes this is ‑134.5dBW and for the wideband modes is ‑140dBW/MHz. In addition, measurement campaigns have shown that an improvement in the compatibility potential can be seen if the amateur signals avoid the centre portion of the GALILEO receiver passband.
Of course the studies cannot take into account every possibility that might mitigate the problem (e.g clutter, terrain blocking etc.) but it is clear that the potential for interference is considerable.
The IARU is working hard to ensure that the amateur service can continue to develop in this band and allow all the amateur applications in use today to continue. However, given the heavy spectrum occupancy of the band by the various RNSS systems it is evident that proposals will come calling to restrict our ability to operate in certain parts of the band and at the power levels possible today. IARU is totally engaged in the discussion of these considerations and these will continue within ITU‑R (and other regional bodies).
The IARU summary report on the WP4C meeting can be found at
https://www.iaru.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IARU-Report-from-WP4C_May-2022.docx
Link to the full draft study https://storage.iaru-r1.org/index.php/s/BtpxWjL7La7syr7
Source IARU Region 1 https://iaru-r1.org/
Kents Hill Park Conference Centre Milton Keynes MK7 6BZ
This is the first call for speakers for the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium 2022 to be held as part of the RSGB Convention on October 8-9 at the Kents Hill Park Conference Centre, Timbold Drive, Milton Keynes, MK7 6BZ.
https://amsat-uk.org/colloquium/
AMSAT-UK invite speakers, about amateur radio, space and associated activities, for this event.
Submissions should be sent via e-mail: to dave at g4dpz.me.uk
AMSAT-UK also invites anyone with requests for Program Topics to submit them as soon as possible.
Likewise if anyone knows of a good speaker on subjects of interest to the audience, please send us details.
AMSAT-UK 
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