Third Report Following Release of Discussion Paper

The Committee does not repeat what is set out in its Discussion Paper, its First Report or its Second Report. Please see those papers for the terms of reference of the Committee, the views of the Region 1 Conference, an alternative approach offered for discussion, the Committee’s approach to the matters that the Committee has been asked to review and how the ultimate policy of the IARU will be determined by the Administrative Council.

Since its Second Report, all but one of the members of the Committee attended the Region 3 Conference from 8 to 12 September 1997 in Beijing.

The Committee now reports the Region 3 Conference discussion and conclusion and offers some comments. This will provide an opportunity for societies to consider the matter further leading to a world wide position. Further comment is invited and FASC expects to issue one more report prior to the Region 2 Conference in 1998.

The Region 3 Conference Plenary referred the matter of S25 revisions to a Working Group, that generally met when no other Working Group was meeting, so that everyone present had the opportunity to participate.

The report to the Plenary from the Working Group records:

"To summarise, Mr Wardlaw said his report will indicate strong support for the retention of the Morse treaty requirement by the majority but will note the comments of a significant minority that favours the elimination of the mandatory requirement and the adoption of a more flexible approach."

The Plenary adopted the following Recommendation, based on the report of the Working Group.

"Recommendation 3B

With regard to Agenda Item 11.1.3, Revision of Article S25, if any, of the Radio Regulations, it is recommended that the following resolution be adopted:

This Conference

Noting Document 36, Report of the IARU Future of the Amateur Service Committee (FASC) to the Tenth IARU Region 3 Conference" (a reference to the FASC Second Report Following Release of Discussion Paper),

"Accepting the invitation to offer comment to the FASC on the approach to possible revision of Article S25 described in this report,

Recognising that the policy of the IARU ultimately will be determined by the Administrative Council after receipt of the final report of the FASC, and

Further recognising that individual member-societies also have an opportunity to offer comment directly to the FASC,

Instructs the Secretary of Region 3 to submit the following comments to the FASC on behalf of Region 3:

1. The fundamental characteristics that distinguish the Amateur Services from other radiocommunication services are, first, their non-commercial nature, and second, that the participants are operators having demonstrated qualifications. The service-specific regulations should reinforce these characteristics.

2. It is desirable that the role of the Amateur Services as a disaster communications resource be recognised explicitly in the radio regulations.

3. It is desirable to delete from the service-specific regulations those provisions that also appear in the regulations of general application.

4. It is desirable to delete the provision relating to the banned country list.

5. With regard to the specific text offered by the FASC as a possible new approach to Article S25, the text is agreeable with the following amendments:
   1. In S25.1, second sentence, change "may" to "shall";

   2. In S25.2, FASC should consider whether the wording of the phrase "transmissions between amateur stations shall not be encoded for the purpose of obscuring their meaning" can be improved.

   3. In S25.4, first sentence, as a consequence of the change to S25.1, delete "by an administration that requires demonstration the demonstration of a knowledge of the topics specified in ITU-R Recommendation M-XXX before granting such a license." FASC should consider whether the clarity of this section can be improved."

Without implying that the Committee will accept the conclusion of Region 3 as the basis for its recommendations to the Administrative Council for the policy to be adopted by the IARU in relation to Article S25, the Committee feels that it can offer a number of comments for consideration in the context of the conclusions of Region 3.

One is that by making the qualifications "incorporated by reference" mandatory, so long as the standards are an acceptable minimum, then what is generally seen as a basic feature of the amateur services of qualification may be better protected.

A consequence of the qualifications incorporated by reference being mandatory is that the drafting of a provision relating to the recognition of the licences of visiting amateurs is very much simpler, as no distinction needs to be drawn between administrations following a recommendation and those not following a recommendation.

A further consequence of the qualifications incorporated by reference being mandatory is that the concern of what would appear to be the majority of societies and a majority of amateurs where surveys have been undertaken that a compulsory morse qualification should be imposed for operation below 30 MHz would be met.

The Committee notes that the Region 3 Conference suggested that it should consider whether the wording of the phrase "transmissions between amateur stations shall not be encoded for the purpose of obscuring their meaning" can be improved.

To date the Committee has been unable to find a form of words that better expresses the intent of that provision without narrowing its effect substantially.

If the suggested revision of Article S25 offered for discussion in the Second Report was further amended to incorporate the views of the Region 3 Conference, then it could appear as set out on the following page.

It is stressed that the matters set out in this Report are only raised for discussion, and do not constitute a proposal that any Society should put to their administration.

No position has yet been formulated by the Administrative Council. It will be considered at the Council meeting to be held in Venezuela in October 1998, following the Region 2 Conference.

The Committee invites further submissions regarding any aspect of the matters raised by the review of S25, particularly expressions of opinion on the matters raised in the Second Report and this Report.

A further Report will be submitted to the Region 2 Conference outlining the further comments that are received.

The Future of the Amateur Services Committee

Michael Owen, VK3KI, Chair
John Bazley, G3HCT
Tom Atkins, VE3CDM
Terry Carrell, ZL3QL
Larry Price, W4RA
David Sumner, K1ZZ

IARU President Richard Baldwin, W1RU is an ex officio member of the Committee.

Further comments are welcome. Please communicate to the Committee as follows:

By Mail:	IARU FASC c/o IARU International Secretariat P.O. Box 310905 Newington, CT 06131-0905 USA
By FAX:	1 860 594-0259 label "To IARU FASC, c/o IARU International Secretariat")
By electronic mail:	iaru@iaru.org Subject: "To IARU FASC")