New Band at 5 MHz

During todays (November 18th) afternoon plenary session of WRC-15 in Geneva a new amateur service allocation at 5 MHz was approved.   Although only a small allocation of 15 kHz between 5351.5 – 5366.5 kHz was eventually agreed it is the first new allocation at HF since the WARC of 1979.   After intense pressure from the Fixed service primary user, power limits have been set at 15 Watts eirp in Regions 1 and 3, 20 Watts eirp in Mexico and 25 Watts eirp in Central America, South America and most of the Caribbean area.

Region 1 Member Societies not having an allocation under Article 4.4 of the Radio Regulations are urged to contact their administration to have this narrow segment included in their licence, although the new Radio Regulations will not come into force until the 1st January 2017.

Source: newsflash on www.iaru-r1.org