Ofcom has granted UK radio amateurs a temporary spectrum allocation adjacent to our existing 144-146 MHz allocation. The additional allocation will be between 146 MHz and 147 MHz. It will become available from 31st October 2014, will require a NoV and that the amateur hold a full/advanced license.
The temporary allocation is the result of VHF spectrum reallocation and Ofcom’s plan to have a tapered release of spectrum in the 143 – 169 MHz region to new users on a first-come-first-served basis.
Ofcom have chosen their words carefully regarding the definition of ‘temporary’, but my interpretation is that we should expect a 12 month rolling period from 31st October 2014.
The release statement is interesting reading as it identifies potential new users and the types of communication that, in the future, may be used.
The Ofcom VHF release statement.
Andrew
G0RVM
There is a good set of slideware from the RSGB about the extension at:
http://rsgb.org/main/files/2014/03/RSGB_146-147MHz.pdf
Also a NoV can be obtained from:
http://rsgb.org/main/operating/licensing-novs-visitors/online-nov-application/
Andrew
I like what Andrew is saying. Having long suffered the inadiquecies of mobile phone technoliogy which let’s face it is good for tablet operation but as for communication is at times no better than two cups with piece of string between them! I think both data gathering and then transfer and commuication using radio amateuers to support the data formatting aspect and equipment set up would be quite an interesting project for someone like myslef to get involved with as club project perhaps. In that respect I’m in.
Mark
M6KMJ
My two-pennies worth:
In the Internet of Things (IoT) [ look it up on the web if is something new ] the end-game is that almost everything exchanges data to with something else via a data network, where it can be analysed and actions taken. For example a recent proof-of-concept has passed data from escalators at a London tube station back to the manufacturer. Using this data the manufacturer has been able to observe trends which are associated to failure and take early preventative maintenance.
We already have vehicles that accumulate health data that needs to be manually downloaded at the dealers. The time is rapidly approaching where this health information will be passed to the dealer/manufacturer in realtime. The IoT is any device, anywhere. Think smoke / thermostat sensors in the home for example; just about everything will have something to report eventually. In some environments the sensors/devices will be connected to a data network via a cable, but in other environments a wireless connection will be needed.
Sure these technologies already exist, but I bet they are proprietary and thus expensive to build, deploy and support. Some systems today use the cellular network to solve the problem, but that model is just not scalable to the level needed by an IoT.
So, I just wonder, if there is an opportunity for radio amateurs to contribute in some pioneering work that may ultimately lead to a mass market, cheap wireless data communications system. My initial thoughts are that such a system would have two main elements: computing and wireless both of which we have access too. We have clever, practical IT people and clever, practical wireless people. Converge those two technologies and we should be able to come up with something 🙂
Andrew
G0RVM
Everybody get to thinking what we could do with it. I’m thinking long range broadband data, though I don’t yet know how.
Paul
M0ZMB