After more than a year of "silent diplomacy", on 21 April UBA submitted a proposal to BIPT to gain access to a small band segment around 40 MHz in Belgium:
The UBA proposes to grant the radio amateur service access to the frequency range 40.660 – 40.690 MHz under the following conditions:
- On a secondary base
- For holders of a class A operating certificate (HAREC licence)
- A power limit of 5 W ERP
- A bandwidth limit of 3 kHz
- On individuele base, after prior approval from BIPT
- It is mandatory to keep a logbook in which all transmissions are noted
These last 2 measures allow BIPT to act quickly and adequately in the event of interference reports from other services.
At the annual UBA meeting, the chairman of the BIPT Council indicated that BIPT is in favor of our proposal.
We therefore expect BIPT to hold a consultation on this shortly.
The period of this consultation is at least 1 month. Only at the end of it BIPT can, provided that the consultation proceeds favorably for us, publish a decision granting us access this band segment.
So it will probably take a few months before we will be allowed to transmit on the 8 meter band.
Until then, any amateur radio activity from Belgium around 40 MHz is illegal!