Thanks to the generous donations of Canadian amateurs to the DARF fund, RAC Vice President, Jim Dean VE3IQ, was able to participate as one of the 47 delegates from Canada in the month-long, World Radio Conference  in Geneva in June 2003.

Two other Canadian Amateurs, Bob Jones VE7RWJ, and myself VE3PU, also participated, but we were part of the IARU delegation, and our travel was paid by the IARU 

Having been through the experience myself twice now, I can assure you that Amateur Radio attendance at a WRC is absolutely essential if we want to preserve our rights and privileges as well as the spectrum which has been allocated to us. That was demonstrated many times over at the 2003 conference, where Jim Dean played an important part in the negotiations for an expanded world wide 40 metre band, and changes to the international amateur regulations, including the deletion of the Morse testing requirement.

Canada is one of the more competent and visible players at a WRC. Canadians are  not only technically knowledgeable, but are wise and experienced in the politics of international meetings. Canada supported RAC fully on both of the above important agenda items. 

The Canadian delegation knows what it wants, and works very hard to achieve its goals.  However, without our participation, those goals would not include the wishes and interests of the amateur radio community.

From the Amateur Radio point of view, WRC-2003 was a success. The realignment of the 40 metre band, the revision of the regulations governing the amateur service including the rules for the formation of call signs, increased allocations to HF broadcasting, Little LEO's, space science, and emergency services were all on the current agenda, as well as the proposal for a satellite borne radar in the amateur 70 cm band.

On all of these issues we made some progress. In some cases the results were outstanding. Details have been reported elsewhere on this web site.

Both the IARU and RAC are now in the final stages of preparing for WRC 2007, and, will  send  Canadian Amateurs again. We hope we can continue to have the support of clubs and individual amateurs through donations to DARF. Every little bit counts. 

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Donations may be made by cheque or credit card.
Cheques should be made out to "The Defence of Amateur Radio Fund", and may be sent by mail to:

Defence of Amateur Radio Fund
720 Belfast Road, Suite 217
Ottawa Canada, K1G 0Z5