Present:

Mr. Andrew Tang

OFTA (Chairman)

Mr. Paul Anderson

(VR2BBC)

HARTS

Mr. Steven Beesley

(VR2XMQ)

HARDXA

Mr. Logan Chan

(VR2XRW)

HARDXA

Mr. Ho Wing-leung

(VR2XVD)

HKARA

Mr. Hung Siu-hung

(VR2FO)

HKARA

Mr. Chiu Wai Ho

(VR2ZWH)

CARSC

Mr. Tang Wai Ping

(VR2ZWP)

CARSC

Mr. C.K. Cheng

OFTA

Mr. Warren Kwok

OFTA

Mr. K.T. Seto

OFTA

Mr. C.S. Wong

OFTA (Secretary)

JAROC absent with apology

1.

Confirmation of Notes of Last Meeting

1.1

The notes of the meeting on 4 March 2002 were confirmed without further amendment.

2.

Reciprocal Amateur Licensing Arrangement

2.1

The Chairman concluded that for Mainland China, OFTA had already completed to prepare the guidelines for the arrangement and proposal had been forwarded to our counterpart and awaiting their response. For Macau, OFTA also sent a proposal for the reciprocal arrangement in July this year and was waiting for their reply. Mr. Seto would keep close monitor on the progress of the matter.

For Australia, Canada, Japan and United States, ITBB confirmed that they had received no further replies from them until this morning. OFTA would continue to follow up the progress and would keep the societies informed.

2.2

Mr. Anderson of HARTS asked OFTA to publish a list/table for the reciprocal arrangements that were in progress so that the radio amateur societies could keep their members informed.

The Chairman agreed to prepare the appropriate information.

2.3

Mr. Anderson requested OFTA to consider joining the membership for CEPT and CITEL in order to save the effort in arranging the reciprocal licensing arrangement for every country individually.

The Chairman agreed with Mr. Anderson’s suggestion. However, OFTA have to look at the arrangement for joining these organizations first. The Chairman suggested HARTS to provide further information about CEPT and CITEL to Mr. Seto to submit for the senior management’s consideration.

2.4

Mr. Anderson enquired that as Hong Kong and Macau both have a special status within ITU, foreign parties (i.e. foreign amateur societies) would be puzzled about whether they should negotiate with PRC or HKSAR for the reciprocal arrangement.

The Chairman confirmed that, for reciprocal licensing arrangement, foreign organizations should negotiate with the Telecommunications Authority of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and OFTA would be the responsible department to be contacted.

3.

Repeater Linking

3.1

The Chairman confirmed that repeater-linking issue raised in last meeting had been settled and there was no additional licence required for that specific purpose.

For another suggestion submitted by Mr. Anderson for the linking to 999 Control Centre, the Chairman advised that it should be treated as a single application.  Mr. Seto would follow-up with HARTS in clarifying whether there would be any regulatory concern, additional licensing requirement or equipment type-approval issues.

4.

Preparation Work for the future World Radiocommunication Conference

4.1

Mr. Cheng briefed the meeting about the preparatory work of OFTA for the forthcoming World Radiocommunication Conference to be held in 2003 (WRC-03) in Geneva.  Mr. Cheng said that there is a Conference Preparatory Meeting (CPM) to coordinate the ITU activities for WRC-2003.  The coming CPM meeting would be held in November 2002 in Geneva, which would develop a CPM Report to facilitate the discussions in the WRC-2003.  Mr. Cheng said that OFTA would participate in the CPM and WRC-2003 joining the Chinese delegation team. 

Mr. Cheng further said that OFTA would consolidate the views expressed by all interested parties for discussion in the meeting of the Radio Spectrum Advisory Committee (RSAC) to be convinced later in order to formulate the position of Hong Kong for the WRC-03.  

4.2

Mr. Anderson asked whether OFTA would consider the proposal for expanding the 7 MHz band for amateur service.

Mr. Kwok said that there were existing users operating in the 7 MHz band in Hong Kong and that there would be difficulties for Hong Kong to vacate this band for the amateur service at this moment.  Mr. Cheng commented that there were different views among different countries on the proposed frequency expansion for amateur service in the 7 MHz band as it would involve changes in frequency allocation for the broadcasting service in the adjacent bands.

4.3

The Chairman asked Mr. Anderson for the issue of CW testing requirement.

Mr. Anderson confirmed that CW testing requirement referred to the Morse Code testing requirement. HARTS wanted to put this item into the agenda because HARTS considered it was an essential item and would like to have the views from all other societies.

Mr. Beesley said that a National Chapter of No Code International (“NCI”)  in Hong Kong was formed and that he was elected and appointed as the Chairman of the National Chapter in Hong Kong. No Code International is an international organization that was set up for striving to abolish Morse code as a requirement for any class of amateur radio licensing. A formal announcement would be declared and submitted to OFTA in due course.

Mr. Hung of HKARA said that HKARA agreed to waive the Morse code requirement for the Amateur Station Licence.

Mr. Chiu of CARSC also agreed with HKARA’s view on that issue.

Mr. Beesley of HARDXA agreed that the Morse test requirement should be abolished for the operation of HF band.

4.4

The Chairman asked HARTS to further clarify on their suggestions for Call Sign format liberalization.

Mr. Anderson of HARTS said that as a member of the IARU, HARTS would follow the proposal of IARU. HARTS put up this item in the agenda to allow other societies to give their views.

Mr. Beesley of HARDXA confirmed that HARDXA support HARTS in this issue.

HKARA and CARSC both had no comment on this issue.

The Chairman confirmed that OFTA would consult the societies before having any changes on this issue.

Mr. Anderson emphasized again that HARTS would suggest OFTA to consider having discussion with the Asian Administrations in the feasibility of establishing an IARP within the Region 3 areas during the ITU Telecom Asia 2002.

The Chairman said that OFTA considered that the ITU Telecom Asia 2002 might not be the appropriate place for raising such agenda. OFTA would take note about the suggestion and would discuss internally for any follow up action required.

4.6

The Chairman said that OFTA would include the input of the societies and other attendants of the meeting concerning the WRC-2003 agenda items in the RSAC discussions in order to formulate the Hong Kong position to the WRC-2003.

5.

New Internet webpage for Amateur Services at OFTA’s website for public access

5.1

The Chairman introduced to the members that a new OFTA webpage which consisted of information regarding radio amateur service i.e. licensing matters, notes of liaison meetings would be available in the near future for public access.  The information published would be in bilingual. The general outline and structure of the new webpage were distributed to the members for advance information.

6.

Frequency allocation for Amateur Services at 10 GHz band

6.1

Mr. Anderson said that HARTS had discussed with other societies and found that it was technically feasible to modify the commercial equipment for Amateur Television service to operate in the 10 GHz band.  HARTS wanted to confirm if the amateur licensees could operate Amateur Television service in the 10 GHz band in Hong Kong.

The Chairman said that there were two separated issues regarding the proposal.  One was the frequency issue and the other was the nature of service.  For the nature of service, as the Broadcasting Ordinance was not administered by OFTA, OFTA would like to have more information about the Amateur Television service so that OFTA could liaise with TELA on this issue.

Mr. Kwok said that amateur and amateur-satellite service has a secondary allocation in the sub-band 10.45 – 10.5 GHz as per ITU worldwide frequency allocation.  As far as the spectrum availability was concerned, OFTA would study if this sub-band could be made available to the amateur service in Hong Kong.

The Chairman requested HARTS to provide additional information for the new service for consideration.

7.

Any Other Business

7.1

Mr. Anderson of HARTS asked the present situation about the band 436 – 440 MHz which is allocated to the radiolocation service.

Mr. Cheng said that the band 430 – 440 MHz has been sub-divided into two slots of four MHz each for radiolocation service.  The lower frequency slot in the sub-band 431 – 435 MHz has been assigned to a public radiolocation service and the other slot in the sub-band 436 – 440 MHz is yet to be assigned.  Mr. Cheng said that OFTA was discussing with the existing operator in 431 – 435 MHz concerning a proposal to make available the band 433 MHz for low power device applications.  OFTA would liaise with the amateur societies if there were any changes in frequency allocation that may affect the amateur service.

Mr. Anderson of HARTS asked OFTA to review and consider allocating unused frequencies in the 436 – 440 MHz band to amateur service until the actual user turned up.

Mr. Beesley of HARDXA also requested OFTA to consider additional allocation for amateur service in the vacant portion of this band.

Mr. Cheng said that the 430 – 440 MHz was the only frequency band primarily allocated to the radiolocation service in the UHF band below 1 GHz.  It would be difficult for OFTA to allocate more frequencies to amateur services without considering future demand of radiolocation service in Hong Kong.  Mr. Cheng confirmed that there were proposals to OFTA for radiolocation applications to operate in the 430 MHz band.

The Chairman said that, as the frequency band 436 – 440 MHz was primarily allocated to radiolocation service, it should be reserved for radiolocation service only despite its current status.  The Chairman requested HARTS to submit their proposal in writing for OFTA’s consideration.

7.2

Mr. Ho of HKARA requested OFTA to consider allowing amateur users to operate their mobile/portable stations in the 430 MHz band in the future planning.

The Chairman said that OFTA would look into the matter while considering the proposal submitted by HARTS.

7.3

Mr. Beesley of HARDXA asked about the current situation for the use of CB in Hong Kong.

Mr. Cheng said Citizen Band (CB) was defined by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) of the US to operate in the 40 channels in the 27 MHz band with maximum power of 4 W.  Mr. Cheng added that some bandwidth for CB was currently occupied by an existing service in Hong Kong.  Meanwhile OFTA was liaising with the existing user to vacate the band for use by CB in Hong Kong in the long term.  OFTA was now working on the revision to an existing exemption order which allowed the use of radio transmitting equipment with power up to 0.5 W in the 27 MHz band.  The legislation amendment process was underway. 

Mr. Beesley responded that 0.5 W may not be adequate for CB communications and requested OFTA to consider raising the power level to 4 W to be in line with the European and FCC’s standards.  Mr. Beesley further asked if OFTA have a schedule in vacating the CB band.

Mr. Anderson of HARTS asked if OFTA would allow public to operate in part of the CB band as the vacation of the whole CB band may take time.

Mr. Cheng clarified that the provision in the exemption order was not actually referring to CB as CB radios could operate up to 4 W.   Mr. Cheng said that OFTA was still liaising with the existing user and that there had been no agreed arrangement yet.  Mr. Cheng also commented that there would be enforcement difficulty if only part of the CB band was opened for the public.

Mr. Anderson of HARTS asked OFTA should consider earmark an emergency channel for the CB users in future.

Mr. Seto said that CB Channel 9 was currently used as the emergency channel for CB radios operating onboard licensed fishing vessels.  Mr. Cheng said that OFTA would take note of the arrangement when planning the CB band for land mobile application.

7.4

Mr. Hung of HKARA wanted to follow up the issue of Family Radio Service (FRS) discussed in last meeting.

Mr. Cheng said that the frequency availability for FRS and other popular frequency bands for short-range portable radios had been summarized in the RSAC paper number 5/2002 and discussed in the 24^th meeting of the RSAC held on 15 April 2002.  Since there was no adverse comment from the RSAC, OFTA had proposed to allow the use of the band 409 MHz for short-range portable radio in Hong Kong and the legislation process was underway.

7.5

Mr. Ho of HKARA thanked OFTA for opening the “public access information” for amateur services.

7.6

Mr. Beesley of HARDXA requested OFTA to increase the frequency of the liaison meeting.

The Chairman confirmed that OFTA should take into the consideration of the actual needs and the views from other societies for the frequency of the meeting. However, societies were welcome to submit their views and suggestions to OFTA at any times via letter, fax and/or email.

7.7

Mr. Anderson of HARTS said HARTS would like to invite OFTA to have a gathering with the IARU Region 3 representative during the ITU Asia Telecom 2002.

The Chairman thanked HARTS for the invitation. However, OFTA would be very busy during the ITU Asia Telecom 2002. As OFTA did not work out the exact schedule for the ITU Asia Telecom 2002, the Chairman could not confirm a date with HARTS for the availability in attending the gathering. After receiving the invitation, OFTA would discuss internally to have representative(s) to participate the gathering.

7.8

Mr. Beesley of HARDXA requested OFTA to have representative from RMU to be presented at the liaison meeting so that to have more transparency.

The Chairman agreed to arrange with the Enforcement Section so that the staff of RMU would attend in the next liaison meeting. Currently, societies were welcomed to express their views if there were any comments regarding the interference issues, the Chairman would relay the ideas, questions to the RMU where appropriate.

7.9

Mr. Anderson asked OFTA if the 2.4 GHz band could be added to the schedule of the amateur licences to promote more use of the 2.4 GHz band by the radio amateurs similar to the arrangement for the 5.8 GHz band.

Mr. Cheng said that amateur service had a secondary allocation in the band 5.725 – 5.850 GHz.  Such use had been specified in the amateur licence schedule although the band 5.725 – 5.850 GHz was also available for the general public as per Low Power Device (LPD) Exemption Order.  Regarding the band 2.400 – 2.4835 GHz which was covered by the said LPD Exemption Order, amateur service got a secondary allocation in the sub-band 2.400 – 2.450 GHz as per ITU worldwide frequency allocation.  Mr. Cheng highlighted that the general public, including the amateur licensees, could use the band 2.400 – 2.4835 GHz conforming to the requirements of the exemption order.  He considered that the proposal by Mr. Anderson to include the sub-band 2.400 – 2.450 GHz in the amateur licence schedule might give rise to confusions to other amateur licensees.

Mr. Ho of HKARA further asked whether the LPD in the 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz band required type-approval from OFTA.

Mr. Cheng said that OFTA operated a voluntary certification scheme for LPD in response to the industry’s request.

The Chairman concluded that OFTA would keep in view on this issue and might further discuss in the next meeting if other societies have different views.

7.10

Mr. Beesley of HARDXA asked who/what were existing users/usage in the frequency band of 51 – 52 MHz.

The Chairman said that it was difficult for OFTA to provide detail information about the frequency usage on individual frequency band.  He asked Mr. Beesley to submit their request by email.  OFTA would consider and provide the appropriate information according to their request.

7.11

Mr. Anderson of HARTS asked OFTA which foreign examinations were recognized by OFTA for the licensing of Amateur Station Licences.

The Chairman confirmed that currently, OFTA only recognized the examinations held by IVE Tsing Yi and The City & Guilds of London Institute.

8

Date of Next Meeting

8.1

To be notified by email.