Radio Communications Agency 450-470 Band Alignment Project
A number of customers have expressed concern about the Radio communication Agency 450-470MHz Band Alignment project, and the effect this may have on any telemetry equipment they now have or may purchase in the future.
The objective of this project is to bring the UK licensed radio channels into line with Europe, and to maximise the usage of the spectrum. It applies only to LICENSED channels, and does not affect the de-regulated band that we use.
Licensed radio usually involves the use of two radio channels, one being used by the base-station transmitter and the other by outstation transmitters. Some parts of the 450-470MHz band are allocated for telemetry use, other are allocated to, for example, private mobile radio (PMR) systems. The spacing of channels varies across the range, and part of the objective of the alignment program is to ensure that the two channels are consistently 10MHz apart. It also in some cases requires reversal of the channels, so the base-station will use the channel previously allocated for outstations and vice versa.
These changes will obviously have a major impact on licensed
radio users, and will be phased in over a 5 year period. However, they
do not affect
de-regulated radio use. The Radio communications Agency issued a consultation
document in December to all users of licensed radio, outlining their
plans. This document appears to have caused alarm to many de-regulated
radio users.
Should you have any concerns please go to the Radio communications
Agency website: www.radio.gov.uk -
their consultation document is available on this site at www.radio.gov.uk/topics/spectrum-strat/450-470-realign/condoc-dec02/450-470condoc.pdf
On
page 11 of this document, at the end of section 4.2 is a paragraph
stating: 'Within the band there is a 1 MHz block (458.5-459.5 MHz) used
for a number of applications by, among others, Short Range Devices
(SRD).
SRDs are licence-exempt, so it is not considered feasible to move this
block over the timescale of the band alignment project; as a result,
all changes will occur around this block.'
We have asked the RA to make
it more prominent on their website that de-regulated radio is not affected.