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IARU to take action on radio spectrum pollution

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by G4TUT/SK2022, Oct 2, 2019.

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  1. G4TUT/SK2022

    G4TUT/SK2022 Ham Member QRZ Page

    IARU to take action on radio spectrum pollution
    The IARU Administrative Council meeting in Peru Sept 28-29 agrees to step-up efforts to combat radio spectrum pollution

    The Administrative Council (AC) of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) held its annual in-person meeting on September 28-29, 2019 in Lima, Peru, just before the triennial General Assembly of IARU Region 2. The AC is responsible for the policy and management of the IARU and consists of the three IARU international officers and two representatives from each of the three IARU regional organizations.

    Attending the meeting were IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH/G4HUA; Vice President Ole Garpestad, LA2RR; Secretary David Sumner, K1ZZ; regional representatives Don Beattie, G3BJ, Hans Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T, Reinaldo Leandro, YV5AM, Ramón Santoyo, XE1KK, Wisnu Widjaja, YB0AZ, and Ken Yamamoto, JA1CJP. Region 2 executive committee member George Gorsline, VE3YV, was present as an observer.

    The AC conducted its final review of IARU preparations for the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). WRC-19 will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, for four weeks beginning on 28 October. The conference has a lengthy agenda, with items of direct interest to the amateur service including consideration of improvements to the amateur allocation in Region 1 at 50 MHz, protection of existing allocations to the amateur service, and development of the agenda for the next WRC in 2023.

    For the past four years IARU volunteers and its member-societies have been working to influence the proposals from national telecommunications administrations and regional telecommunications organizations (RTOs) that will be considered in Sharm El-Sheikh. IARU efforts have reduced the number of potentially damaging proposals that otherwise might have been offered for consideration, but several challenges remain. A small team of IARU observers will attend WRC-19 and will work with amateurs and friends on national delegations to reach the best possible outcomes.

    Looking beyond WRC-19 the AC recognized the need for an increased commitment to influencing the work of standards organizations, particularly the International Special Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR) and its participating national committees. The rising level of radio spectrum pollution caused by unnecessary and unwanted emissions from electronic devices such as wireless power transfer for the recharging of electric vehicles is a serious threat to radiocommunication services including the amateur service.

    While the work of the IARU is done by volunteers, attending meetings is expensive and requires the financial support of individual radio amateurs through membership of their national IARU member-societies. Additional qualified volunteers are needed in order to meet present and future challenges.

    An extensive discussion was held to identify the principal challenges facing amateur radio and how the IARU and its member-societies can better address them.

    Upgrading of the current websites of the IARU and its three regional organizations is underway and should be completed in the coming months. The AC adopted a Brand Guide to ensure a common identity across the IARU organization.

    The theme for next year’s World Amateur Radio Day, April 18, was confirmed as “Celebrating Amateur Radio’s Contribution to Society.”

    The next in-person meeting of the AC is scheduled to be held immediately prior to the IARU Region 1 Conference in Novi Sad, Serbia, in October 2020. Virtual AC meetings are also planned beginning in December 2019 and January 2020.

    Source IARU http://iaru.org/

    http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2019/october/iaru-to-take-action-on-radio-spectrum-pollution.htm

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    KD5SYH, KG4BFR, K3OXL and 2 others like this.
  2. W9FSS

    W9FSS Ham Member QRZ Page

  3. G3SEA

    G3SEA Ham Member QRZ Page

    Good luck on this one but thank you for your volunteer work :cool:

    G3SEA/KH6
     
    MM0IMC likes this.
  4. KQ6XA

    KQ6XA Ham Member QRZ Page

    75kw_HF_welding_Welding_machine.jpg

    It is laudable that IARU vocally opposes spectrum pollution.

    Perhaps IARU can establish a widely accepted spectral purity mask standard for the Amateur Radio Service.

    But, what can IARU really do to "take action" against the rise of non-amateur unintentional RF emitters?

    The standards to alleviate spectrum pollution are already in place and effective in some countries. For many other countries the standards are non-existent, un-enforced, or circumvented.

    Let's face it, it is expensive to meet the standards for some types of products. That's why some manufacturers and marketeers will continue to produce spectrum polluting products. After all, that is the source of most spectrum pollution.

    Example: An HF industrial 75 kilowatt RF car door welder made in China. (pictured above)
    You see an industrial machine. I see a powerful HF transmitter with a large metal frame antenna.

    It is simply going to leak 50W or 100W ERP (or more). If it happens to drift out of its ISM band or someone leaves a grounding plate loose after the 2 year warranty is over, then what? RF pollution that can easily reach other countries.

    But, Amateur Radio is not blameless in the spectrum pollution game. During ARRL's 160m contest last year, I copied strong 5 MHz harmonics (S7 or more) from 3 contester ham stations that were more than 1000 miles away.
     
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2019
    KF4ZKU and W0PV like this.
  5. VK3VM

    VK3VM XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    The issue of radio spectrum pollution basically comes from the inability of many regulatory domains to control and regulate EME emanating from electronic equipment.

    As an example, almost every device that is purchased on Ebay, Amazon And Aliexpress that emanates from overseas sources comes with a power pack (i.e. "Wall Wart/Wort"). Are these power packs compliant with international EME specifications (i.e. "C Ticks")?

    Have components been removed since "C-Tick" certification?

    Many of us will know that when we examine power supplies and compare the devices to the images supplied to the FCC and other regulatory bodies that there have been changes to cheapen manufacture design - and often it is the EME components that has been adjusted.

    Its not just cheap imports either where this occurs... This component "EME-component-de-creeping" occurs with almost EVERY electronic device from every manufacturer.

    We need the IARU to take these issues to the ITU and lobby hard to change processes that allow manufactured designs to alter outside of original certification parameters. We need the IARU to start lobbying individual dominions and regulatory domains to stamp out the exponential growth of noisy devices that spit massive amounts of spurious EME into our radio spectrum. We need the IARU to lobby HARD to ensure that devices maintain compliance throughout their lifetime - and to lobby regulatory domains to enforce this.
     
    KF4ZKU likes this.
  6. WD8ED

    WD8ED Ham Member QRZ Page

    Without enforcement it's all just hopes and dreams.

    Ed
     
    G2NV, KE0GXN, MM0IMC and 3 others like this.
  7. N0AMY

    N0AMY Ham Member QRZ Page

    um yeah to get into the lobbying game is only about 10 million to start . they should get right on that ..
     
    KF4ZKU and N1SCA like this.
  8. N1SCA

    N1SCA Ham Member QRZ Page

     
  9. N1SCA

    N1SCA Ham Member QRZ Page

    good luck on that one.
     
    MM0IMC and KF4ZKU like this.
  10. K8LCS

    K8LCS Ham Member QRZ Page

    I wonder which pollutes more.... : an HF industrial 75 kilowatt RF car door welder made in China,
    or 75 million little LED (shop lights) RF Transmitters shipped out of China with absolutely no compliance
    to current regulations????
     
    G2NV, K0TWA, N1SCA and 2 others like this.
  11. KY5U

    KY5U Ham Member QRZ Page

    I contribute to the IARU so David Sumner can fly to the meetings and still feel useful
     
    KQ6XA likes this.
  12. KL7AJ

    KL7AJ Ham Member QRZ Page

    Maybe the IARU will do what the ARRL won't/can't. Hope springs eternal.
     
    KR3DX and WA2LXB like this.
  13. W0PV

    W0PV Ham Member QRZ Page

    For those who missed it, this thread in the QRZ General Technical Q&A forum < a year ago covers an interesting QRM incident. It's a long but good read.

    Link ---> 75m Phone Wide Interference/Jamming

    The story in the thread starts out with general assumptions and misidentification of the interference as being OTHR etc, ie, the usual suspects. The sound it made was incredible.

    After some hams got busy gathering RDF evidence through KiwiSDR TDoA, other hams put boots on the ground and reported, then others applied that info to some good investigative thinking and browsing, and the likely culprit was narrowed down to a surprising source.

    It seems to have be coming from the vicinity of Penn State University where academic research activity was being performed using a QRO RF drying kiln for curing lumber, as this article explains.

    I have not seen complete confirmation of that as yet, but after being reported to the FCC, and a few investigating hams making calls to various professor hams at the school, the RFI suddenly stopped.

    Ironic, or perhaps just a mistake too embarrassing to admit. :rolleyes:
     
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2019
  14. KQ6XA

    KQ6XA Ham Member QRZ Page

    Power supply, motor, and LED companies usually don't design-in any EMI suppression from the beginning of their project.
    They only add RFI suppression parts if they are forced to, because the added parts cost lowers their profit.

    Once upon a time, I was a mid-level RF Design Engineer at the RF division of a big electronics corporation.
    The company was more well known for its other division, which at that time, manufactured about 75% of the world's switching power supplies.

    Even though I wasn't in the Power Supply division, every so often a power supply engineer would show up at my RF lab with a sob story.

    "Hey, Bonnie, our new XYZ-123 power supply failed FCC. We can't meet our production schedule. You gotta design us a quick EMI fix. The product release date was supposed to be last month, but the whole factory line is stopped. We have 50k finished units sitting there that need the EMI fix re-work."

    But, they never asked for EMI RF design advice until after they had already finished their power supply product design and sent it to production.
    They thought that the process of "FCC Lab" test measurement of the radiated and conducted emissions required a completed product, and EMI was a random roll of the dice.
    There is something backasswards about that kind of a design and verification process, but it still exists to this day.
     
    KC0KEK, K3OXL and WA2LXB like this.
  15. NJ3T

    NJ3T Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    I hope that someone clamps down on all the interference being generated by "cheep" and sometimes poor designed electronics being imported into our country. Although I see that they have not made much progress on those non FCC type accepted HT's (another topic all together) so I don't want to get my hopes up quite yet. The noise on the bands is much worse today than it was 30 years ago that's for sure. (Well, we did have that pesky woodpecker until it got radiated). Where is it all coming from? Many times its right in your house! Faulty components in appliances, lights, etc. Other times it is coming from equipment and machinery being used in hospitals and factories nearby, just to mention a couple. I don't see an end to any of it unless someone decides enough is enough and the research begins! I like the story and end results W0PV shared on the possible interference from PA State on 75 meters. It shows that there could be a positive outcome to some of our noise problems if everyone can work together. Hope the IARU can help. By the way, has anyone driven past any of these "electronic" billboards or scrolling electronic signs? My dualband vhf/uhf rig gets S9+ interference from them. A loud open squelch hash noise that is enough to make ya want to turn off the radio! Or use PL on the receive frequencies so long as the repeater has PL on it's output. I live in a rural setting and a small town nearby that has these signs lined up and down the main street. Out of 10 signs, 9 of them generate RF noise on VHF and sometimes UHF. There's only one I know of that doesn't. Could it be that they all have power supplies made in China? I think the one that I don't get an interference from must have a decent power supply in it. Made in USA? Best 73 to all
     
    KR3DX likes this.

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