Highlights of CITEL WRC Preparatory Meeting: August 12-16 Ottawa

Highlights of CITEL WRC Preparatory Meeting: August 12-16 Ottawa

Radio amateurs at CITEL WRC Preparatory Meeting OttawaRadio amateurs at CITEL WRC Preparatory Meeting Ottawa

CITEL, the telecommunications committee of the Organization of American States, concluded a week of meetings on Friday, August 16 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa.

The Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) report:

These meetings have as their principal purpose to try to establish common positions on agenda items which will be acted upon during the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19) which begins on Monday, October 28 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

The following Radio Amateurs (from left to right in the above photo) were present at the CITEL meetings and were tasked with looking out for issues of concern to the Amateur Radio Service:

• Bryan Rawlings, VE3QN – on the Canadian Delegation and Radio Amateurs of Canada’s Special Advisor to World Radiocommunication Conferences
• George Gorsline, VE3YV – member of the Executive Committee for the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU-R2)
• Flavio Archangelo, PY2ZX – on the Brazilian Delegation and International Amateur Radio Union Region 2 CITEL Coordinator
• Serge Bertuzzo, VA3SB, Radio Amateurs of Canada’s International Affairs Officer
• Jon Siverling, WB3ERA – on the American Delegation and the Technical Relations Officer for the American Radio Relay League (ARRL)

The following are the principal highlights of the week’s activities for Radio Amateurs:

Six Metres: There are now 14 signatories to an Inter-American Position (IAP) which in effect voices no objection to an allocation in 50 – 54 MHz to the Amateur Service in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Region 1 (Europe, the Mideast and Africa).

Six Metres: Amateurs were successful in adding wording to protect the Amateur primary allocation in 50 – 54 MHz from a US proposal to study implementing space-based Earth Exploration Service radars to operate in or close to 45 MHz.

47 GHz: Amateurs were successful in having Mexico remove the frequency segment 47 – 47.2 GHz from their proposal to study several additional frequency ranges for the Fixed Satellite Service.

47 GHz: An IAP supported by 11 member states supports No Change (NoC) to the existing (Amateur Primary) allocation in 47 – 47.2 GHz. Specifically, not to be considered for sharing with 5G International Mobile Telephony (IMT).

5 GHz WAS/RLAN: An IAP supported by 12 member states supports No Change (NoC) to the existing allocations in 5725 to 5850 MHz and 18 member states support No Change in the range 5850 to 5925 MHz (as opposed to using these frequency ranges for higher-power and outdoor wireless access points). The Amateur secondary allocation in Canada is 5650 to 5925 MHz.

WPT(EV): Wording in a Canadian contribution with additions from the American delegation has been added relative to a WRC-19 agenda item which seeks to identify frequencies for medium and high-power wireless charging of electric vehicles. The wording emphasizes the requirement to properly set standards to avoid harmful interference to radio services from WPT(EV) systems.

Note: The French proposal to consider 144 – 146 MHz for sharing with the aeronautical mobile service was not on the CITEL agenda. It will be considered next in a CEPT meeting in Ankara in late August. For more information please visit:
https://www.rac.ca/2-metre-sharing-proposal-is-on-cept-conference-preparatory-group-agenda/

This was the last CITEL meeting before the upcoming WRC-19 Conference; therefore, the above is a fair representation of the status of the various Amateur issues going into that meeting.

Stay tuned to the WRC-19 webpage on the RAC website for more updates https://www.rac.ca/wrc/

Bryan Rawlings, VE3QN
Special Advisor to World Radiocommunication Conferences
Radio Amateurs of Canada

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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Robotics Work Prepping Docking Port Ahead of Wednesday’s Spacewalk

Robotics Work Prepping Docking Port Ahead of Wednesday’s Spacewalk

NASA astronaut Nick Hague
NASA astronaut Nick Hague takes an out-of-this-world “space-selfie” during a spacewalk on March 22, 2019.

Robotics controllers are preparing a new commercial crew docking port for installation during a spacewalk on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Expedition 60 crew is researching life science and physics while packing a cargo ship for return to Earth next week.

The Canadarm2 robotic arm will extract the International Docking Adapter-3 (IDA-3) from the trunk of the Space Dragon cargo craft during the crew’s sleep shift tonight. Ground controllers will remotely position the IDA-3 on top of the Harmony module where it will soon become a permanent part of the orbiting lab.

Spacewalkers Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan will exit the station Wednesday about 8:20 a.m. EDT to finish the IDA-3 installation job. The duo will work outside Harmony for about six and a half hours routing cables and configuring the IDA-3 in preparation for the arrival of future SpaceX and Boeing crew vehicles. See an animation of their planned activities.

Hague had time on Monday afternoon to research ways to improve tire manufacturing and performance on Earth. Morgan and NASA astronaut Christina Koch were packing Dragon and readying the space freighter for its return to Earth on Aug. 27.

Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) spent the day on a variety of life science studies. He first collected his blood and urine samples for analysis, and then he tested his blood sugar for the Vascular Aging study observing cardiovascular health and insulin resistance in space. Finally, he spun cell culture samples in a centrifuge for the Micro-15 study investigating cell differentiation.

The two cosmonauts, Alexey Ovchinin and Alexander Skvortsov, kept up the Russian segment of the orbiting lab today. Commander Ovchinin checked out a treadmill in the Zvezda service module before gathering items for return to Earth on a Soyuz spaceship. Flight Engineer Skvortsov is recording his heart activity for the next 24 hours while also maintaining Russian life support hardware.

Russia’s Soyuz MS-14 crew ship has rolled out to its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today. It will launch Wednesday with no crew onboard at 11:38 p.m. EDT to test its 2.1a booster segment during ascent. The unpiloted Soyuz spacecraft will automatically dock Saturday at 1:30 a.m. to the station’s Poisk module.

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Mark Garcia

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NASA Television to Broadcast Sixth Meeting of the National Space Council

NASA Television to Broadcast Sixth Meeting of the National Space Council

NASA Television and the agency’s website will provide live coverage of the sixth meeting of the National Space Council at 9:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 20, from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

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NASA Breaking News

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NASA Administrator, Members of Congress to Discuss Ohio’s Role in Artemis Program

NASA Administrator, Members of Congress to Discuss Ohio’s Role in Artemis Program

Media are invited to accompany NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, U.S. Senator Rob Portman and U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio Wednesday, Aug. 21, as they visit the agency’s Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in Cleveland and Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio, to view progress on the agency’s Artemis program.

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NASA Breaking News

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NASA Awards Contract for Specialized Engineering, Evaluation, Test Services

NASA Awards Contract for Specialized Engineering, Evaluation, Test Services

NASA has awarded the NASA-wide Specialized Engineering, Evaluation and Test Services (NSEETS) contract to the Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California, to provide on- and off-site project management, independent multidisciplinary engineering services, testing, consulting, contractor on-site monitoring, and evaluation of project and/or progra

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NASA Breaking News

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