Finland joins NATO - NOT amateur radio

Although not a political animal by nature, I can understand why Finland has joined NATO. It is the 31st member state sharing a very long border with Russia. It feels safer as a nation within NATO, knowing that if it was attacked all the NATO countries are duty bound to support it. It looks like the invasion of Ukraine has had the exact opposite effect with even more NATO countries on its borders.

Personally, I just wish all countries could live in peace and harmony as defence spending is, ultimately, a total waste of money.

No 23cm in Finland?

According to a piece in Southgate News, amateurs in Finland lost the 23cm band (apart from temporary access by special permit) back in April. They are seeking alternative spectrum, possibly the 220-225MHz band that is allocated in the USA. The prime driver is amateur television.

The authorities are concerned about future interference with Galileo navigation satellites. It is a pity they could not have retained access to 23cms, perhaps with a much reduced ERP on a "non interference" basis. 

As far as I am aware there are no similar plans across Europe for 23cms. If the Finns get access to the 220MHz band, I think this would be the first in Region 1. 

Personally I would have tried for low band 1, possibly including the 8m band, say 40-45MHz. The bottom could be narrowband and the rest for DATV on a secondary basis. Even if they only allocated 2MHz, this would be useful in under-used spectrum.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/december/finland-radio-hams-ask-for-1240--1300-mhz-replacement.htm#.X9kP9miTLrc

60m in Finland

Southgate News reports that the 60m WRC band (15kHz wide) is being allocated in Finland a year early. It is a great pity that a wider allocation is not being made in CEPT countries. 100kHz wide would have been so much better. Still, the 15kHz band will be allocated world-wide in the end. Of course, the FCC in the USA might eventually allocate this band, maybe in 2020? I joke not. The FCC has been unbelievably slow with the 137kHz and 472kHz bands.