The IARU Region 3 Newsletter Issue 1/2004, March 2004 The 12th Conference will be remembered for a not-so-happy reason. It will go down in history for the contentious issues that were brought up and which tended to disrupt the traditional harmony and good fellowship of a Region 3 Conference. Considering that many if not all Delegates, from so many parts of the world, had sacrificed much personal time and incurred financial costs, some on their own account and others on their Society's account, we should do whatever may be necessary to avoid any repetition. Let us leave that episode behind us and press ahead! K C Selvadurai 9V1UV Director IARU Region 3 >>> 12th Region 3 Conference Taipei Feb 2004 <<< The Conference was attended by over 60 participants and commenced with an introduction by the Charter President of CTARL Tim Chen BV2A, a much respected member of the host society. David Wardlaw VK3ADW, Vice President IARU brought a message from Larry Price W4RA President IARU. Our Region 3 Chairman Fred Johnson ZL2AMJ then read a letter from the head of External Affairs of ITU and expressed a personal view that it was good that the ITU had recognized the work of IARU. The Chief Guest, Kuo-Jen Tsai, Director of the Dedicated Telecommunications Department of Taiwan praised the work of CTARL and then officially declared the Conference open. All the Conference Documents are available at: http://www.jarl.or.jp/iaru-r3/12r3c/docs/docs.htm There was a request at the first Plenary session that some documents be considered straight away. In the ensuing controversial discussion one of the delegates mentioned that the issues now raised were complicated and the matter should be dealt with by people with experience and background knowledge. It was also mentioned that this is amateur radio, a hobby and there was no good reason for anyone to get ruffled. After further discussion, it was agreed that the matter be referred to a Special Committee. The Report of the Special Committee was presented on the last day. Documents 33, 67 and 75 were withdrawn and document 34 proposing a change in the Region 3 Constitution was referred for further consideration. The Special Committee's finding was that the actions by the Directors were within their mandate. A vote of confidence in the Directors followed and was carried unanimously by the Conference. The Conference observed a minute of silence in memory of those involved with Region 3 activities who have gone silent key since the last Conference. These were Bob Denniston, W0DX/VP2VI (founding Director of IARU Region 3) Mike Matsumoto JA1AYC and Don Mackay ZL3RW. As is the practice, the Conference moved into Working Groups for detailed consideration of the papers submitted to the Conference. A Workshop on WRC-2003 and the changes to Article 25 of the ITU Regulations was presented by Fred Johnson ZL2AMJ and another on the duties and responsibilities of a Society's IARU Liaison Officer by K C Selvadurai 9V1UV. The social side of the conference provided opportunities to meet other delegates. CTARL hosted a banquet on the first evening. With their flair for group singing the host society demonstrated skills that went far beyond the competent organizing of a conference! The ARRL/IARU reception and the JARL dinner on later nights contributed to good fellowship and informal discussions. CTARL are congratulated for a very well organized conference. The camaraderie among their members and the personal sacrifices they made for the comfort, well being and convenience of delegates was something very special. Thank you CTARL! >>> Deliberations at Working Groups <<< Two additions were made to the Objectives of the Region 3 Strategic Plan. Both are action matters for Member Societies. One is to promote awareness of the value and collective benefits of membership of the national society. The other calls on member societies to stimulate the flow of newcomers into amateur radio. Further, recognizing the diminishing numbers of amateurs in many societies, member societies were called on to widely publicize the benefits of amateur radio. The threat of interference from BPL/PLC received attention. Member Societies are called on to educate their members on this potential for interference. It was recognized that there is an urgent need for volunteers for the Monitoring System from South East Asia to help to identify the languages used and to identify the intruders. It is difficult to select the matters of importance to mention in this Newsletter. The conference minutes together with copies of all the documents and reports will be mailed to Member Societies in about 4 to 5 months time. All Member Society office bearers should read and study all these documents to gain an understanding of the business discussed at the Conference and its effect on Amateur Radio. There appears to be misunderstanding on the Morse code situation. The WRC 2003 decision is to remove Morse code as a mandatory examination element for an amateur license. The IARU policy is to support the removal of Morse code testing as a requirement for an amateur license. If a Member Society feels it appropriate to retain the testing requirement without change for whatever reason, that action will be respected. Morse code continues as one of the important modes in amateur radio communication. The Report from the Monitoring System uses the acronym "CODAR" and this needs clarification. It comes from the first 2 and last 3 letters of COastal raDAR. Introduced by The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce over 30 years ago, it uses electromagnetic waves of about 10 m length, which interact with ocean waves of 5 m length. As one radar can only measure the radial component of the surface current, a minimum of two HF radars has to be installed. The systems are set up on the ground close to the sea and have a working range of up to 50 km depending on the salinity of the water and the sea state. The technology has since been expanded and now it is also known as Coastal Ocean Dynamics Applications Radar. An improvement on CODAR technology is known as SeaSonde which has a small antenna footprint, low power output and 360 degree possible viewing angle which minimizes siting constraints and maximizes coverage area. The SeaSonde is suited for fine scale monitoring in ports and small bays, as well as open ocean observation over larger distances up to 70 km. >>> Region 3 Directors Meeting <<< A meeting of the Region 3 Directors was held on 13th to 14th and again on 21 February 2004 in Taipei. Reports from Coordinators and Committee Chairman were considered. The Directors accepted a proposal to identify a resource person to plan and coordinate a Region 3 approach to a 300 kHz world-wide amateur exclusive allocation at 7 MHz which was not achieved at WRC-03. The task would include the study and work towards setting the right and favorable conditions for the next WRC and facilitate the continuous and positive liaison of Member Societies with their respective administrations >>> Your country's Regulations for Amateur Radio <<< After more than ten years of planning and plain hard work, the efforts of the many volunteers in IARU were successful at the World Radiocommunications Conference 2003 to bring change to Article 25 of the International Radio Regulations. These new Regulations are now in force. New local regulations for Amateur Radio are possible now in your country too. Have you explored the possible changes with your administration? A Workshop on "Implementing the new Article 25" was held during the 12th IARU Region 3 Conference at Taipei. The message from that workshop is that Member Societies should be negotiating with their own administrations to be sure that the best arrangements can be provided for the radio amateurs of their country. You should give this matter high priority. The new Article 25 brings new opportunities for Amateur Radio. Your local regulations and local rules for amateur radio should reflect these opportunities. All the workshop documents are available for downloading from the Region 3 web site at: http://www.jarl.or.jp/iaru-r3/wrc-03/wrc-03.htm Please study these documents, plan your own strategies, and please seek early improvements to your local regulations. >-< The Region 3 Web site >-< Go to: http://www.iaru-r3.org/ Newsletter Editor: K C Selvadurai 9V1UV, Director IARU Region 3, kcselva@starhub.net.sg Publisher: The International Amateur Radio Union Region 3, P.O. Box 73, Toshima, Tokyo 170-8691, Japan. E-mail: iaru-r3@jarl.or.jp Tel: +81 3 3944 3322 Fax: +81 3 3943 8282 The statements or opinions in this Newsletter do not, unless otherwise stated, necessarily reflect the views of IARU Region 3, the Directors or the Secretariat. Items from this Newsletter may be freely copied for publication by member societies of IARU. MS Word version of this newsletter is available at http://www.iaru-r3.org/news/r3nl-04-03.doc