australia's wia applies for 500 khz amateur allocation (mar 2, 2007) -- the wireless institute of australia (wia) has applied to the australian communications and media authority (acma) for experimental access to a small band of frequencies near 500 khz. amateur radio operators in the united states, the uk, sweden and germany have recently been granted experimental or provisional access to frequencies just above 500 khz. the new zealand amateur radio transmitters also has applied for access to the band. "we conducted a poll last year of australian radio amateurs to ascertain if there was an interest in a similar allocation in australia," wia director glenn dunstan, vk4du, said. "we received numerous enthusiastic responses." the wia requests a temporary/experimental amateur allocation of 505-515 khz, in line with current medium-frequency allocations available to radio amateurs and experimenters in europe and the us. the wia requested a temporary amateur allocation, rather than an experimental license, because many administrations prohibit communication between amateur and non-amateur stations, dunstan explained. the wia proposes a maximum necessary bandwidth of 200 hz, which limits operation to cw and robust data modes such as psk31. it's also proposed that normal amateur output power limits be permitted. in the us, a group of 21 radio amateurs are operating in the vicinity of 505 khz under experimental license wd2xsh, issued to the arrl last year.
