Monday, February 16, 2009

7100-7200 kHz shortwave broadcasts to cease

For many years the portion of the band from 7100-7300 kilohertz has been allocated to short wave broadcasters outside the Americas and not available to radio amateurs outside ITU Region 2. At the World Radio Conference WRC-03 in 2003 it was agreed that the broadcast stations would move out of the section 7100–7200 kilohertz on 29 March 2009 and that portion would become a worldwide exclusive amateur allocation afterwards.

Discussions on releasing the remaining 100 kHz of the band to amateurs at a later date will continue in future conferences. Several European countries have now allowed amateur communication in the 7100–7200 kilohertz section on a shared non-interference basis as an interim measure.

Due to the 24 hour nature of the band, the wide variety of ranges that can be spanned with it, and its shared nature, it tends to be extremely crowded, and interference from other amateurs and broadcasters can be a serious limiting factor. In addition, amateurs in east and south-east Asia have suffered severe interference from illegal users in recent years.
Better log all available prior to March 29th while you still can. Many of these are expected to move to 7300 plus (ED)
(Source: SW Report,Ian Cattermole, NZ, Feb 09)