The Administrative Council (AC) of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) held its annual meeting on September 21-22, 2013 in Cancun, Mexico. The AC is responsible for the policy and management of the IARU and consists of the three IARU international officers and two representatives from each of the three IARU regional organizations.

Here is a summary of the discussions and actions:

1.    The consultative process was completed for the election of IARU President and Vice President for the 2014-2019 terms of office. The Secretary was instructed to present to the member-societies, in a Calendar to be issued no later than 9 December 2013, proposals by the International Secretariat with the concurrence by the Administrative Council that Tim Ellam, VE6SH/G4HUA, be elected for a five-year term as IARU President and Ole Garpestad, LA2RR be elected for a five-year term as IARU Vice President.

2.     The Council discussed the issue of some member-societies failing to represent all of the amateurs in their country.  For example, some do not participate in their regional organization activities, some do not pay their regional dues, some are unwilling to handle non-member QSL cards even on a cost-recovery basis and some even fail to respond to inquiries from their regional organizations.  In many of these countries, there are other non-IARU member-societies.  The Administrative Council is studying ways to work with the non-IARU societies to ensure that the interests of all the amateurs are represented in those countries where the IARU member-society fails to do so.  Possible solutions to the situation include establishing communications with the non-IARU societies to allow input from the country’s amateur community on IARU and amateur related issues or by recommending the use of QSL bureaus that will service all the amateurs within a particular country.

3.    The IARU positions for WRC-15 agenda items and future WRC agenda items were reviewed and the strategy for achieving IARU objectives at WRC-15 was discussed.

4.    The Council reviewed and updated the IARU Spectrum Requirements Document.  The document is available on the IARU web site.

5.     The Future Spectrum Committee presented its final report.  The committee report detailed current amateur usage of bands above 148 MHz.  The Council approved a plan to have one person in each region to serve as a contact person in spectrum matters.

6.    The President reported on the IARU acceptance of an ITU invitation to participate in the ITU Spectrum Management Training Program (SMTP) and accepted an appointment on the founding board of advisers for the ITU-D Smart Sustainable Development Model (SSDM).

7.    IARU participation in World Telecom 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand was reviewed.  IARU will have a booth at the event to promote amateur radio.  More information about the Telecom can be found at http://world2013.itu.int/

8.    The Council reviewed and refined a draft paper on emergency communications strategy.

9.     The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) meetings at which IARU representation will be required for the coming year were identified, and plans for representation at these meetings were reviewed.

10.     The Michael J. Owen VK3KI Award was awarded to David Wardlaw, VK3ADW and Wojciech Nietyksza SP5FM.  Both of these individuals have made contributions of time, effort and expertise to the IARU for many years. The award was created by the Administrative Council to recognize an individual or individuals that best exemplify the dedication and hard work of IARU volunteers.

10.     The theme “Amateur Radio: Your Gateway to Wireless Communications” was adopted for the next World Amateur Radio Day, April 18, 2014.

11.     Ken Garg, W3JK was added to the list of IARU Expert Consultants.

12.     The budget for 2014-2016 as presented by the IS was reviewed and adopted. The budget is based upon anticipated financial contributions from the three regional organizations to defray a portion of the expenses, in accordance with previously adopted policy.

13.     Reports of the IARU international coordinators and advisers were received. They are International Beacon Project Coordinator Peter Jennings, AB6WM/VE3SUN; Satellite Adviser Hans van de Groenendaal, ZS6AKV; EMC Adviser Christian Verholt, OZ8CY; International Coordinator for Emergency Communications Hans Zimmermann, F5VKP/HB9AQS; and EMC Coordinator Thilo Kootz, DL9KCE.  The Council reappointed each of the coordinators and advisers to a new three-year term.

Attending the Cancun meeting were IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH/G4HUA; Vice President Ole Garpestad, LA2RR; Secretary Rod Stafford, W6ROD; regional representatives Hans Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T, Dennis Green, ZS4BS, Reinaldo Leandro, YV5AM, Ramon Santoyo, XE1KK, Gopal Madhavan, VU2GMN, Geoff Atkinson, VK3TL; and recording secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ.  Also in attendance as observers were Jay Bellows, K0QB representing the IARU International Secretariat and Jose Arturo Molina, YS1MS as Region 2 observer.

The next scheduled in-person meeting of the AC will be held in the vicinity of Varna, Bulgaria, in September 2014 in conjunction with the IARU Region 1 Conference.