RASA proposes 60m trial in VK

The Radio Amateur Society of Australia (RASA) has written to the Australian radio regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, proposing a trial allocation in the 60m (5 MHz) band

We suggested that amateur operation be restricted to the existing Australian commercial allocations of 5351, 5355 and 5360 kHz, using USB with a maximum 2.8 kHz bandwidth and the 15W transmit power granted at the World Radio Conference.

We also proposed a trial digital allocation in the vacant 5363-5 kHz segment.

We understand that these channels may not line up with international allocations, but our first concern is to ensure that sharing is possible with existing Australian commercial users.
— RASA President, Glenn Dunstan VK4DU

The channelised arrangement has been used in many other countries to introduce the 5 MHz amateur band – notably, Europe, the USA and New Zealand. These countries all have much shorter distances between amateurs and commercial users than Australia.