OCTOBER FMTAG NOTES

At its October meeting, NZART Council approved the publication of the following notes for the information of, and seeking comments from, NZART members.

Any comments should be sent to FMTAG at:

fmtag@nzart.org.nz

MEMBER COMMENTS ON 2400 MHz BANDPLAN (July/August Break-In)

• Three members have indicated support for the proposed "below 2400 MHz" bandplan, without providing additional information.
• Three members gave useful information on local non-Amateur band usage and/or the experience in overseas countries, such as Australia, where most weak signal work now takes place just above 2403 MHz.
• Three members, being the owners of commercially-made Japanese transceivers, which do not operate, or are difficult or impossible to modify to operate, on the proposed frequencies below 2400 MHz, have strongly objected to the proposed bandplan. The models involved are ICOM IC-970 including the ICOM UX-98 module, Kenwood TM-2400, and Maki Denki UTV-2400E.
• One member described his direction-finder activities, locating the sources of non-Amateur transmissions between 2400 and 2450 MHz in his vicinity. He reports that their energy density seems to fall off below 2405 MHz. He also reported on his investigation into the behaviour of these non-Amateur transmissions in the presence of an un-modulated carrier (10 Watts into an omni-directional antenna): unsophisticated cordless telephones continued trying to make contact even though they became non-functional, while most of the frequency-hopping or pseudo-wideband-noise types eventually avoided frequencies in the vicinity of the un-modulated carrier and moved elsewhere in the band.
• One member pointed out that we are likely to lose the frequencies below 2400 MHz at the next World Radio Conference, as these have been identified for Next Generation radio services, by various national Radio Administrations.

Taking all the above comments into consideration, FMTAG suggests that a long-term solution, likely to be acceptable to the majority, would be to locate the narrowband segment somewhere close to, but above, 2400 MHz, and seeks further comments from all members, including from the authors of the "move to below 2400 MHz" proposal.

INTERIM RECOMMENDATIONS TO NZART COUNCIL

Published for the information of, and seeking comments from, NZART members.

• Branch 86 Suburban ARC has applied for a 70 cm D-STAR Digital Voice repeater, to be located at Musick Point, at map reference NZ260 R11 799820. The repeater transmit frequency will be 439.575 MHz and the repeater receive frequency will be 434.575 MHz. An engineering evaluation confirms that there will be no interference to other stations.
• Branch 86 Suburban ARC has applied for a 23 cm D-STAR Digital Voice repeater, to be located at Musick Point, at map reference NZ260 R11 799820. The repeater transmit frequency will be 1293.625 MHz and the repeater receive frequency will be 1273.625 MHz. An engineering evaluation confirms that there will be no interference to other stations.
• Branch 86 Suburban ARC has applied for a 23 cm D-STAR Digital Data repeater, to be located at Musick Point, at map reference NZ260 R11 799820. The repeater transmit frequency will be 1294.625 MHz and the repeater receive frequency will be 1274.625 MHz. An engineering evaluation confirms that there will be no interference to other stations.

FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS TO NZART COUNCIL

None this month.

KEEP YOUR BEACON OR LINK OR REPEATER LICENCE UP TO DATE

Please contact FMTAG before making changes to the operation of your beacon, link or repeater, to ensure that the licence can be modified in time to match the proposed changes.

The MED issues a Warning, or Infringement Notice, with an attached Instant Fine, when it discovers that the equipment doesn't match the licence:

1. Unlicensed equipment,

2. Location error of 100 metres, or more,

3. Wrong frequency,

4. Excessive power,

5. Excessive bandwidth.

The size of the instant fine is at the discretion of the Issuing Officer. Typical fines usually start at a minimum of $250 for individuals, and $1250 for corporate bodies, per infringement.

COMMENTS AND APPLICATIONS

Please send your comments and suggestions on the above matters and recommendations, and on any other FMTAG matters, by e-mail to: fmtag@nzart.org.nz

Applications for repeaters, beacons, digipeaters, point-to-point links, and so on, should be made on the latest version of FMTAG Form 10. The latest versions of FMTAG Form 10, and the explanatory Form 10A, are available on the NZART web site:

http://www.nzart.org.nz/nz/fmtag.html

Completed forms should be sent by e-mail to fmtag@nzart.org.nz