The IARU Region 3 Newsletter Issue 1/2006, March 2006 To promote and defend the interests of all radio amateurs at international telecommunications conferences it is necessary for the IARU to speak with a common voice on behalf of all radio amateurs. The Region 3 Conference in August this year will be an opportunity for Member Societies to express views on matters of concern and interest so that consensus may be developed towards a common view. Member Societies should therefore begin early preparations for this important occasion in the Region 3 calendar of events. K C Selvadurai 9V1UV Director IARU Region 3 >>> ITU Matters <<< A Working Group (WG) considering the Draft CPM Report to WRC-07, Agenda item 1.13 has considered text elements related to the amateur service. The following paragraph has been included to support certain other ones- "Most administrations recognize the amateur services as serving public protection, humanitarian and disaster relief agencies as well as non-government organizations such as the Red Cross and Red Crescent. At 7 MHz, amateur services provide auxiliary or emergency communications on a local, national, and international basis as an adjunct to normal communications, and in many cases provide the first information about disasters and serve as the only communications link when communications infrastructures are destroyed." Meetings of various WG's continue as the preparations for WRC-07 build up. >>> IARU Plan for the Future <<< The last issue of the Newsletter mentioned that IARU has been considering its future role and organization structure. The IARU was initially conceived in 1925 as an organization of individual members. The original organizational model only lasted a few years before it was discarded in favor of the federation model. The IARU Constitution embodying the federation model remained more or less unchanged for almost 50 years, from mid 1930s to the early 1980s. The present Constitution, adopted in 1984 and amended slightly in 1989, recognizes the three regional IARU organizations as autonomous entities within the IARU as a whole. It is generally recognized that the existing IARU structure has some shortcomings. These include: - IARU has no legal standing in any country. - Member Societies have no real voice in the selection of international IARU officers. - The three IARU regional organizations are defined on a geographical basis that is relevant only for ITU radio spectrum allocations and not for any other purpose. - The constitutions of the regional organizations are not fully aligned with the IARU Constitution. - The IARU is not widely regarded as relevant by radio amateurs at the grassroots level. A vision for the future is likely to be developed first and consensus sought on that vision. At this stage of the development of the Plan, the discussion paper poses more questions than it answers. Hence it is still in a preliminary phase. It is likely that a paper to be presented at the Region 3 Conference in August 2006 will provide more details. Member Societies need to make every effort to attend, learn and contribute. >>> EMR AND THE RADIO AMATEUR <<< It is now well understood and accepted that exposure to high levels of RF energy is hazardous to human health. Many administrations have already imposed regulations to require transmitter operators to meet electromagnetic radiation (EMR) limits. The International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) is the specialist international forum with the competence and responsibility to develop RF exposure guidelines. It has participation from experts across the fields of medicine, bio-physics and engineering. The World Health Organization has been undertaking a project to review the research undertaken in the field of RF exposure and to identify topics that require further study. This project has effectively validated the ICNIRP Guidelines. The ICNIRP Guidelines are expressed in terms that directly reflect the frequency-dependent interactions of radio frequency fields with the human body. However, these fundamental interactions are generally not readily measurable in an actual exposure environment, so measurable quantities such as incident RF field are generally used as "substitute" parameters for the purposes of compliance assessment. The ICNIRP Guidelines form the basis for most current exposure standards, but there are detail differences between the actual standards set by different administrations. The formal measurements needed to demonstrate compliance with RF exposure guidelines are difficult to achieve in practical cases because of the interaction of the measuring equipment with the exposure environment. For this reason, some administrations have established "compliance assessment" guides that describe typical installations that have been effectively "deemed to comply" with the guidelines. At a bare minimum, amateur transmitting antennas should be installed in situations where accidental or inadvertent contact with the antenna structure is not possible. As far as is practical, the objective is to avoid situations where the main lobe of the antenna pattern illuminates nearby living areas or other places where people spend periods of time. In some cases, it may be necessary to avoid transmitting in certain directions or to operate at reduced power when the antenna is pointing towards nearby houses. Report by Keith G Malcolm VK1ZKM Regional Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) Interim Coordinator >>> Regional Meetings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia <<< The 3rd meeting of the APG in preparation for WRC-07 was held in KL from 13th to 16th Feb 2006. A circular letter is being sent to all Member Societies to report on that meeting. The key issue for amateurs was the proposed review of 4-10 MHz affecting our 40 metre band. Directors Peter Lake ZL2AZ and K C Selvadurai 9V1UV represented IARU Region 3. An input document was presented. The outcomes were generally positive. Peter also attended a follow on Wireless Forum. The R3 Directors also visited the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU). HFBC broadcasters are being encouraged to switch to digital transmissions. The Malaysian Authority (MCMC) was visited along with MARTS. Useful discussions included licensing and examinations, the status of Morse code and plans for expansion of the allocations at 7 MHz. >>> Disaster and Emergency Communication Rehearsal held by CRSA <<< The CRSA held a disaster and emergency communication rehearsal in Tang Shan City, China from 30th to 31st July 2005. This was the city that suffered an earthquake in 1976 of magnitude 7.6 on the Richter scale resulting in the deaths of over 200,000 people. The rehearsal included 3 stages: Setting up emergency amateur radio stations and a control station, GPS target searching at sea, and ARDF. Over 1,000 amateur radio operators/officers participated in this activity. In recent years, amateur radio operators have played a more important role in disaster and emergency communication. During the 2004 spring festival, 17 climbers were lost in Xiao Wu Tai Mountain, He Bei Province. Fortunately, they had taken a radio and sent out signals. An amateur radio operator copied their signals and relayed them to other amateur radio operators and all were saved. Report by Fanbin BA1RB >>> Hams Help After Mud Slide in Philippines <<< Radio amateurs were reported as helping to coordinate rescue operations after a devastating mud slide on the Philippines island of Leyte buried an entire village on February 17, 2006. More than 1800 people are believed to have died when the village of Guinsaugon was engulfed by mud following a week of torrential rain and a small earthquake. A forty meter net and an EchoLink net which were set up for the Leyte disaster went on the air within hours of the mudslide. Philippine amateurs passed lists of missing people and survivors as well as other messages for emergency supplies. >>> The 13th IARU Region 3 Conference <<< All Member Societies will now have received the letter mailed out from the R3 Secretariat in Tokyo on 9th Feb 2006 about the next Region 3 Conference to be held in Bangalore, India from Monday 7th August to Friday 11th August 2006. Member Societies should straight away plan to attend, draft papers and identify their delegate(s). Early visa application for travel to India is advised. >>> D D Devan 9M2DD Silent Key 26th Nov 2004 <<< We record with regret the passing of Devan 9M2DD, who was a Director of IARU Region 3 from 1985 to 1991. He became a SK on 29 Nov 2004. He will be remembered for an eloquent speech made as a Malaysian delegate at a working session at WRC-92 in support of amateur radio issues. >>> Tim Chen BV2A Silent Key 22nd Feb 2006 <<< We also record with regret the passing of Tim BV2A who became a SK on 22 Feb 2006. Tim was Taiwan's first radio amateur and founder & first President of CTARL. 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. iaru-r3@jarl.or.jp Tel: +81 3 3944 3322 Fax: +81 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-06-03.doc