Winter 2008 Issue

The IARU International Satellite forum meets annually to discuss issues that are of relevance to the amateur radio satellite fraternity and informs the IARU Satellite Adviser on items that should be brought to the attention of the IARU Administrative Council. The forum is hosted in alternate years in the USA as part of the AMSAT NA Space Symposium and in the UK as part of the AMSAT UK Satellite Colloquium.

AMSAT NA hosted the forum at the Pittsburgh Space Symposium in October 2007. The main topics of discussion were a frequency wish list for future allocations and congestion on the 2-metre band.

The IARU annually updates a wish list, which the organization representing all national amateur radio societies uses to form the basis for its interaction with the ITU and the World Radio Conferences. For years, the international satellite community has not produced any input for this list. However, with many recent developments, the AMSAT NA forum resolved that a wish list should be developed and submitted to the IARU for consideration.

After considerable debate, the following wish list was decided upon. Individual radio amateurs and AMSAT organizations worldwide are asked to give further input before a final list is submitted to the IARU Administrative Council. AMSAT groups on the international list will be canvassed. It will also be necessary to develop a set of justifications as to why these additional or revised allocations are important for future development. Input and comments should be sent to <zs6akv@amsat.org>.
The following are being put forth forfor consideration:

Congestion on 2 Meters

The worldwide band plan for satellite operation is 145.800–146.000 MHz, which simply is not enough to accommodate the many satellites being built.

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