        ***************************************************************
        Text of speech made by the president of the RSGB (GM4AUP)
        at the Sandown Park VHF Convention on February 20th immediately
        before the AGM of the Northern Lights Contests Group (AKA the
        annual presentation of VHF trophies).
        ***************************************************************


      
           Twelve  months  ago  when  my  predecessor  addressed   this 
      gathering we were looking forward to the IARU Region 1 meeting in 
      De  Haan in September. That has now come and gone and it is  time 
      to  consider the consequences and pointers for the future.  First 
      it would be wrong not to record a vote of thanks to all those who 
      took part in and supported the work of the RSGB delegation. It is 
      a  matter of record that the RSGB submitted as many proposals  as 
      any  other  national  society  and  a  lot  of  work  went   into 
      preparation  and vetting of these proposals as well  as  detailed 
      briefing of the delegates.
           Often  it is the case that the proposals for  submission  to 
      such  conferences and the results of the deliberations  are  only 
      seen by what must appear as a privileged few. This time this  was 
      most definitely not the case. A detailed discussion piece on  all 
      the VHF proposals appeared in Radio Communication well before the 
      conference  and  the  results were  published,  with  commendable 
      speed,  in Radio Communication immediately after the  conference. 
      The  formal text of the various recommendations will appear  soon 
      in Radio Communication but the informal report gives the  essence 
      of all the decisions. The proposals were also circulated via  the 
      packet radio network.
           It  is an unfortunate fact that the time  scales  associated 
      with  the  preparations for such events means  that  they  cannot 
      always  respond  to  what  are seen  as  immediate  and  pressing 
      concerns, however informal discussions at such gatherings  always 
      result in a better understanding of the problems which are  often 
      quite local in scope.
           Undoubtedly  one of the most significant changes in the  use 
      of  the VHF bands in recent years has been the rapid  and  almost 
      explosive  growth of the packet radio network. Such rapid  growth 
      has  not  been  without  its problems and  with  the  benefit  of 
      hindsight  there  are  many  things that  could  have  been  done 
      differently.  Packet Radio like amateur radio as a whole  is  the 
      sum  of  individual  efforts and the packet  network  unlike  any 
      professional  network has grown from the bottom up in a  very  ad 
      hoc  fashion.  This  growth has been helped  by  a  very  liberal 
      licensing  regime. 
           It  is impossible to determine any reliable figures  but  it 
      seems reasonable to assume that somewhere between 10% and 25%  of 
      all  active  amateurs have packet radio equipment.  Packet  radio 
      probably accounts for a similar or higher proportion of the total 
      traffic on the popular VHF bands. The current allocation of  only 
      3.75%  of the popular 144 MHz band to this mode of  communication 
      is clearly inappropriate and this fact has been recognised by the 
      VHF  Committee for some time. There is, however, often a big  gap 
      between  identifying a problem and solving it and the portion  of 
      144 MHz allocated to packet radio is one such problem. Of  course 
      there  are  those who, rightly, say that traffic should  move  to 
      other  bands,  most  notably  432  MHz.  Unfortunately  licensing 
      difficulties on this band have meant that it was less  attractive 
      to  the service providers. 
           The  VHF Committee have taken two steps, one short term  and 
      one  long term to make more spectrum available for  packet  radio 
      users on 144 MHz. The long term measure was to move IARU Region 1 
      to  undertake  a detailed re-appraisal of the whole  question  of 
      band-planning  the range 144-145 MHz. This, particularly  between 
      144.5   and  145  MHz,  is  a  hodge-podge  of  special   purpose 
      frequencies  that have been written in over the years. The  "all-
      mode" nature of this part of the band has degenerated into FM  at 
      25  KHz intervals with special modes plugged into the  microphone 
      socket as well as various local nets that nobody else knows about 
      until  somebody   wants  to  use the  frequency  for  some  other 
      purpose. These are legitimate and proper uses of an amateur  band 
      but the selection of a frequency for any particular use is a  bit 
      of a lucky dip and the whole thing is rather a mess. You will see 
      a request for comments and suggestions from the VHF Committee  in 
      Radio  Communication in the near future. Your input will be  most 
      welcome,  write in, send them a message or call in at  the  stand 
      today.  The  results of this exercise will feed into a  new  band 
      plan that will be considered at the next IARU Region 1 meeting in 
      1996, however there will be a preliminary meeting of VHF managers 
      in 1995.
           As  a short term measure the VHF Committee has  agreed  that 
      certain  extra  frequencies be used for packet  radio  until  the 
      review   described  above  has  been  completed.  It  should   be 
      emphasised  that  this is temporary measure taken to  avoid  what 
      would otherwise have probably been a totally anarchic  situation. 
      There can be no guarantee that the current extra frequencies will 
      be allocated for packet radio after the 1996 conference.
           Some  in the audience today might think I've spent rather  a 
      long  time  talking about packet radio, well I was chair  of  DCC 
      last  year  so that's not too surprising. Even  so  packet  radio 
      seems  to  have attracted more than its fair share  of  problems, 
      compounded,  as usual, by the antics of an  irresponsible,  noisy 
      and thoughtless minority. There are some who would complain  that 
      there hasn't been sufficient consultation, that's as may be but I 
      recently  attended  then Annual General Meeting of  the  Society. 
      Sitting  at the front, trying to look inconspicuous  and  praying 
      hard  that there weren't going to be any awkward questions  about 
      VHF  band planning were both the chairman of the DCC,  G1YAA  and 
      the chairman of the VHFC, G3UBX. Their prayers were answered,  in 
      a  two hour wide ranging general question session neither  packet 
      radio nor VHF band planning were ever mentioned.
           Enough of packet radio, there are other problems threatening 
      our use of the VHF bands. You are all, I'm sure, aware of envious 
      commercial eyes looking at our bands. The vagaries of propagation 
      on the lower VHF frequencies mean that the pressure on the 50 and 
      70  MHz bands isn't too serious but we need to be vigilant  about 
      the 144 and more especially the 432 MHz band. Our inefficient use 
      of  25 KHz channels on the 144 MHz band, as well as  exacerbating 
      band planning problems, must seem remarkable to commercial  users 
      who  are already moving from 12.5 KHz to 6.25 KHz  channels.  The 
      use  of  50  KHz for a single FM repeater  QSO  is  difficult  to 
      defend. At the De Haan conference a recommendation was made  that 
      users of the 144 MHz band on FM should move to a genuine 12.5 KHz 
      channel  system,  several  major  societies  including  both  the 
      Germans, the French and ourselves registered an objection  saying 
      that  this  would be difficult to implement.  The  VHF  Committee 
      considered this matter in some depth a few years ago but will  be 
      re-examining  the  issues  in the near future.  You  will  see  a 
      request for comments and observations in a future issue of  Radio 
      Communication.
           Commercial  pressure  on  the  amateur  VHF  bands  has  now 
      acquired  a  European dimension. Following the "Low  Power  Keys" 
      affair  mentioned last year the VHF Committee has  determined  to 
      keep  a  close  watch on European  matters  and  has  established 
      communication  with  the European Radiocommunications  Office  in 
      Copenhagen.  We were, thus, well aware that a  detailed  spectrum 
      investigation into the use of the frequency range 29.7 to 960 MHz 
      had  started. The results of this exercise will be used to  drive 
      all  sorts  of European initiatives. The RSGB took  the  lead  in 
      pressing  the IARU Region 1 organisation to respond to  this  and 
      has  also taken the opportunity to provide direct inputs  to  the 
      ERO. The price of retaining our allocations is eternal  vigilance 
      against  threats  and I would like to take  this  opportunity  to 
      remind any of you professionally involved in electronics to watch 
      for  any  plans to establish new standards or  working  practices 
      that  would impinge on amateur VHF operation (or  indeed  amateur 
      operation in any  other part of the spectrum). Let us  know,  the 
      sooner  the  better.  Be on the look  out  for  entertainment  or 
      professional  equipment with IFs in amateur bands,  new  services 
      (such as digital audio broadcasting on 215 MHz) using frequencies 
      harmonically related to amateur bands and the use of receivers of 
      very limited selectivity for control applications.
           The old adage of "use or loose" is as applicable today as it 
      ever was. Ask any VHF user who has been operational for more than 
      a few years and he'll tell you how much activity has dropped off, 
      he'll  probably blame it on packet radio, repeaters,  the  novice 
      licence,  home computers or, inevitably, the RSGB. He'd be  wrong 
      however, what has happened is that VHF activity has split  itself 
      it  several  quite  distinct  areas  whose  practitioners  rarely 
      communicate   with  each  other.  This  is   understandable   but 
      unfortunate and it is difficult to see what can be done about  it 
      although   the  VHF  Committee  have  a  continuing  program   to 
      investigate possible ideas, again your input and suggestions  are 
      most welcome. The good news is that, judging by contest  entries, 
      the  more technically and operationally demanding aspects of  VHF 
      operation  are  coming back into favour. In such a  gathering  as 
      this VHF contest operation needs little encouragement but for too 
      long  it has been rather an introverted part of the  hobby.  It's 
      not  stretching things too much to single out  G4PIQ's  excellent 
      column  in Radio Communication for bringing contesting  out  into 
      the open. I hope you'll enjoy the back packer's events.
           Finally  a look into the future. There are many things  that 
      might happen to VHF amateur radio. Will there be 50 MHz repeaters 
      ?, will novice licensees be allowed to operate on 144 MHz ?, will 
      there  be  a general increase in licensed power  levels  ?,  will 
      there  be a more lenient planning regime for towers ?,  will  all 
      packet radio operation go to 19.2 kbaud ?, will amateur equipment 
      be VAT exempt ?. Well you can always dream but what is certain is 
      that  none of these things will ever happen without a strong  and 
      respected  national  society.  I urge you  all  to  support  your 
      national society.

