January 2, 2008 by kb3ljm.

Richard Dillman from the Maritime Radio Historical Society (MRHS) reports a new US class 1A common carrier Morse code coast station has been licensed by the FCC!

Richard said “Those in the US interested in preserving 500KHz for commercial operation should apply for a commercial coast station license - just as the MRHS did for KSM.”

Two people made applications. One of these has been granted today 24th Sept.
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September 11, 2007 by kb3ljm.

NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) has issued a report of the expected effects that widespread BPL application would have on the HF spectrum. Particular emphasis is placed on ambient noise in “quite rural” zones and the “Absolute Protection Requirement”. The calculations assume ubiquitous installation of BPL. The report concludes: a) High probability that BPL would cause increased noise levels at sensitive receiver sites given the projected market penetration; and b) The percentages are highly influenced by assumptions on transmitter EIRP, BPL market penetration, and duty cycle.” The entire report (9MB) can be downloaded at: http://ftp.rta.nato.int/public//PubFullText/RTO/TR/RTO-TR-IST-050/$$TR-IST-050-ALL.pdf [WIA]

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July 6, 2007 by kb3ljm.

The WIA has applied to the ACMA for experimental access to a small band of frequencies near 500 kHz.
Amateur radio operators in the United States, Sweden and Germany have recently been granted experimental access to frequencies just above 500 kHz. Applications for access to this band have also been lodged by the NZART and the RSGB.
“We conducted a poll last year of Australian radio amateurs to ascertain if there was an interest in a similar allocation in Australia”. WIA Director, Glenn Dunstan VK4DU said. “We received numerous enthusiastic responses”.
The WIA submission requests a temporary/experimental MF amateur allocation be made for the frequency range 505-515 kHz.
“This proposed allocation places us above the guard band around the distress and safety channel at 500 kHz, and lines up with the current amateur MF allocations in Europe and the US”, Glenn said.
The WIA recognises that the former marine distress and calling frequency of 500 kHz remains so designated in the International Radio Regulations (guard band 495-505 kHz), and that this status will not be changed until WRC-11 at the earliest.
“The WIA requested a temporary amateur allocation, rather than an experimental (non-amateur) licence, as it is our view that this represents the most suitable access mechanism”, Glenn said.
“Many administrations forbid communications between amateur and non-amateur stations, and an Australian non-amateur experimental licence would thus preclude many weak signal propagation opportunities with overseas stations.”
The limited spectrum available precludes the use of wide band telephony type modes. The WIA submission proposes a maximum necessary bandwidth of 200 Hz, to limit operation to CW and slow speed robust data modes, such as PSK31. This is the practice adopted in the current experimental MF amateur band in Europe and the US.
The WIA also proposed that because of the technical challenges involved, the MF band be only made available to Advanced class amateur stations.
It is also proposed that normal amateur output power limits be used.

http://www.wia.org.au/news/2007/20070214-01.php

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