Belgium and Eire have amateur allocations at 8m. Luxembourg may have one soon. South Africa has one. I am unsure about Slovenia and Croatia.
In many countries we have the stupid situation where radio amateurs have to apply for, and pay, to do research and experimentation at 8m.
The RSGB seems dead set against even a tiny allocation by NoV at 8m as does the FCC in the USA.
Much like 6m was in the 1980s, I hope that national authorities see sense and allow radio amateurs to apply for 8m permits. What would be good is if CEPT allowed national authorities to permit amateurs access.
I am pretty sure OFCOM in the UK is parroting the RSGB line.
Personally, I think radio amateurs could really contribute to radio science at 8m. We are not asking for much. Even an allocation just 5kHz wide only, digital only, low power, limited times, by application only, would be a start.
There could be talks going on in the background we don't know about. ISM allows access but low power, Pay fifty quid and you get access doesn't make sense. Maybe the MOD retain priority. Or maybe access soon via NOV once the cogs start turning in the right earhole?
ReplyDelete73's Steve