Industry Canada releases two new spectrum use policies (99-10-15) Industry Canada has published, in the Canada Gazette, two new policies governing spectrum use which will impact some of our microwave amateur bands. The first, is a spectrum utilization policy for licence-exempt wireless local area networks in the frequency bands 5150-5250 MHz, 5250-5350 MHz and 5725-5825 MHz. This policy will permit the sale and operation of computer LANs which can operate in the 5GHz amateur band between 5725 and 5825 MHz. These unlicensed devices can be operated with outdoor antennas, and at a power level which may cause interference to sensitive amateur radio receivers. Any cases of such interference should be immediately .reported to Industry Canada, as unlicensed devices are not permitted to interfere with a licensed service. A copy of the document can be downloaded from the IC Strategis web site at: The second document, entitled "Guidelines on the Licensing Process and Spectrum Release Plan" (RP-020), describes the way the government will decide how to allocate spectrum in the frequency range from 900 MHz to 40 GHz range in response to new requests. Where spectrum demand is excessive, IC will use the auction process. Where spectrum demand is medium to low, licences will continue to be offered on a first come first served basis. With regard to competitive licensing, the policy includes the statement: "The department intends to initiate public consultation in early 2000 to establish the policy and the competitive licensing process, with the view of subsequently licensing additional narrowband and wideband wireless access spectrum for urban and rural areas in the band 3400 - 3700 MHz." This band overlaps the Radio Amateur 3300
-3500 MHz band. The policy also includes the statement: "There are a number of frequency bands designated, or being considered, as spectrum for licence exempt (LE) devices or systems which may be of interest to potential users and service providers." • 2400 - 2483.5 MHz (being considered for high power/directive antenna)" This is a warning, that the department is considering allowing more, and higher power, licence exempt devices in the Amateur 2300-2450 MHz band. RAC has proposed a primary allocation for Amateur Radio in the vicinity of 2400 MHz, and we will continue to push for this allocation. A copy of the document can be obtained from the IC strategis web site at: RP-020 - Guidelines on the Licensing
Process and Spectrum Release Plan Health Canada releases new Safety Code 6 (1999-10-150 A new version of Safety code 6, entitled "Limits of Human Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields in the Frequency Range from 3 kHz to 300 GHz" has just been released by health Canada. The document which is 40 pages in pdf format can be downloaded from the health Canada site at: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ehp/ehd/catalogue/rpb.htm#sc6 According to Health Canada, "The objective of this Code is to establish guidelines for limiting RF and microwave exposure. As such, the document does not describe techniques for product performance evaluation. However, some basic principles and methods for evaluation of exposure levels are included in order to assist readers who are not familiar with RF measurements and evaluation. The Bureau recommends that organizations which adopt this Code develop their own procedures for compliance and exposure evaluation." If you are interested in determining whether the fields produced by your transmitter and antenna are close to, or above the limits recommended by Health Canada, you should read this document
Official Canadian Amateur Radio Call Sign Data Base Amended to Show Qualifications The official Canadian Amateur Radio Call Sign Database on the RAC web site now includes the qualifications held by individual Canadian radio amateurs. The RAC web site is
updated automatically daily from Industry Canada, so that the data displayed is as
accurate and as current as possible. Industry Canada has requested that all
amateurs check their information and report any errors or omissions to the Industry Canada
Amateur Radio Service Centre at the phone numbers or addresses listed below. Clubs
should verify the currency of the information for their club station sponsor and report
any changes.
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