Melbourne's ACA consultation has been and gone. Somewhere between 250 and 300 people crammed into a room that would have comfortably seated 200. 9 club members were present.

The ACA's Mr Mark Loney presented the ACA's preferred position in accordance with the discussion paper released in August. He then opened the evening up to questions from the floor taking each point strictly in the order he had prepared. There was lengthy discussion on the subject of type of licenses to be issued in future to the amateur service. Of the three possible Spectrum, Apparatus or Class. Mr Loney did his best to persuade those present that there was nothing to fear in a change to a class licensing system. Most were not convinced, although could accept that a class license system was necessary for visitors only if Australia is to offer temporary visitors permission to operate their amateur equipment here within the CEPT concept. On the issue of whether we have a 2 or 3 tier licensing system on a show of hands it was a close thing, I think from where I was sitting the vote for 3 was just ahead. The ACA will wait for all submissions to be collated before making a decision.

The "No interference policy" was the last subject on the agenda and with little time left (10pm finish) there was a push by the ACA to stifle discussion. But thankfully a person with a roving mike forced a vote on the feelings of those present on this policy, the result was an almost 100% rejection of the proposal. It remains to be seen what the ACA make of this. With Michael Owen VK3KI coming to talk to us on things ITU on Friday 17th we will make time also for a general question time so that others who attended this function can give their views also.

Keep up to date with coming events via the Event Queue.

I will be away at Ascot farm sitting from Thur 23rd Oct until Nov 8th. I will keep the same sked times and frequencies as Helmut listed in our September Magazine.

Please find time to send in your submissions in response to the ACA document, the continuation of amateur radio as we know it could be at stake.

The ACA public meeting on its review of Amateur Service Regulation held in Melbourne was attended by 160 radio amateurs from throughout Victoria.

During the meeting a show of hands resulted in the following votes:

Unanimous opposition to the ACA’s proposed "no interference" policy for amateur stations.
Only half a dozen of those in attendance supported the retention of Morse code as an amateur licence test requirement. The meeting also gave its general support for 1 January 2004 being the operative date for an end to code tests.
The issue of there being a two-tier (Entry Level and Unrestricted) or three-tier licence (Entry level, Novice and Unrestricted) system saw the meeting fairly evenly divided. The ACA’s Mark Loney said, "...about 50/50 or maybe a few more for a two-tier structure". Mr Loney said generally there had been more support for three-tiers at the earlier ACA meetings. Hobart also had a 50/50 split. .
The ACA’s Mr Loney described the meeting as the biggest held so far. It began at 7.30pm and concluded at 10pm.

It stuck to the now well-established ACA format for these meeting of 30 minutes of a powerpoint presentation that covers the philosophy of the ACA’s review which is to:

Seek comment on proposed changes arising out of the World Radiocommunications Conference held earlier this year.
Restructure the licence system due mainly to the end of the Morse code requirement, plus the WIA’s proposed Entry Level licence.
Make amateur regulations and the administration procedures for certificates of proficiency, callsigns and licensing, more effective and efficient.
After running through the topics in the discussion paper, the next phase of the meeting was question time, with a series of questions being discussed.

The hottest issue of the night was the ACA’s proposed "no interference" policy for amateur stations. It was unfortunate that the ACA kept discussion on that most contentious issue to the very last question in its public meetings so far.

Soon after the release in late August of its discussion paper the ACA came out very defensively on the "no interference" policy in response to email it received.

As it tried to stick to its guns, the level of opposition to the proposal got stronger. It is interesting to track to the ACA on this issue as its road-show travels around the country.

At each city the ACA has slightly modified or qualified its rationale for the "no interference" policy, and observers feel it is now backing off or taking a "softer" approach to the issue.

On the other hand the ACA claims that radio amateurs are reading much more into the outlined policy in the discussion paper.

At the Melbourne meeting the ACA said there were only a few such alleged interference cases a year, but expressed concern that some are drawn out affairs lasting for years and involving legal action.

The "intractable" cases are often caused when both the radio amateur and his complaining neighbour are uncooperative.

The lack of immunity standards for domestic radio and television receivers in Australia is also continuing to cause problems.

Although the ACA has given reassurances at its public meetings, we must maintain the "rage" against the totally unacceptable "no interference" proposal as it is spelt out in the discussion paper.

The radio amateurs at the Melbourne meeting were not in support of the suggestion that radio amateurs move from Apparatus Licensing from Class Licensing. They were skeptical of the implications, and not convinced it would be cheaper.

Mr Loney explained that Class Licences include CB Radio, LIPDs, marine radio, aviation, and satellite systems. The ACA website lists 13 Class Licences.

He stated that a Class Licence need not be limited to type approved equipment. If introduced for the amateur service, it would include the amateur qualification requirements.

The Class Licence would facilitate the ACA outsourcing as a package to an outside body, amateur examination, issuing of certificates of proficiency, maintaining a record of station locations, and issuing callsigns.

If the Apparatus Licence is kept for the amateur service, the ACA could still outsource some of the administrative activities associated with amateur qualifications and callsigns.

It was made clear on several occasions by Mr Loney that the ACA desires to achieve changes to amateur service regulations that are only possible without amendments to the Radiocommunciations Act.

For example the ACA wants to introduce a Class Licence for visiting foreign radio amateurs. However similar provisions for visiting ships and aircraft permitting them to operate without taking out an Australian licence exist under the Act.

The reluctance to change the Act is also partly behind the ACA putting on the table that the amateur service could be covered by a Class Licence. The WIA policy is for a new Amateur Operators Licence to be established, and recognised under the Radiocommunications Act.

The amateur fraternity needs to seek what it believes are the best possible changes, rather than take what might be second-best or compromise because the ACA is reluctant to amendment the Act.

Admittedly changes to legislation can take two years, but that should not be a real issue if we are to achieve quality long-term changes and improvements for amateur radio in Australia.

The issue of the proposed lifting of prohibitions on Third Party Traffic (messages handled by radio amateurs for non-amateurs) emerged at the Melbourne meeting as one of topics that had so far not received adequate attention.

Mr Loney was unable to answer all questions put on this topic. For example, the controls if any there would be on the handling of private email or private video.

The issue of phone patch, and connection of an amateur station to the public telephone network were issues "we have not thought about" he said, and encouraged them to be raised in submissions.

The amateur fraternity should be aware that the ACA is continuing on the path it began years ago of increasingly relying on self-regulation of the amateur service in Australia.

Probably not fully appreciated is the fact that the ACA will not look at any new changes for the amateur service after it has completed this current review and implemented its changes.

If we get it wrong through the review process, then we’re stuck with it for five or ten years.

The Department of Transport has issued a paper on the results of its consultation on a proposal for the introduction of an offence of using a hand-held mobile phone while driving. The consultation document suggested that "two-way radio microphones" should be included within the proposed ban, which would effectively have banned mobile amateur radio in the UK.

In its submission to the consultation document, the Radio Society of Great Britain pointed out that amateur radio had been operated from motor vehicles since 1955 without any accidents being recorded.