Provisions for High Frequency Future Use

An area of widespread interest at the 1979 World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC-79) was concerned with allocation proposals related to the modification of the high-frequency (HF) (4-27.5 MHz) portion of the spectrum. From a wide range of proposals, the Conference adopted allocation provisions that reduced the exclusive fixed-service bands by two-thirds, made significant allocations to the broadcasting and maritime-mobile services, and provided somewhat lesser spectrum provisions for the amateur service. Shared use of fixed bands by the mobile service was greatly increased. Few changes were made to aeronautical service allocations. Provisions were planned to remove an unused fixed-service assignment from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Master Frequency Register, and to provide special assistance to Less Developed Countries (LDC's) to enable them to better meet their fixed requirements. A conservative schedule of changes, through 1994, was adopted, including several specialized planning conferences to assist in optimizing the use of HF bands. With continued national needs and improved technology being developed and adopted by the ITU member countries, systems in all authorized HF services will be widely used to meet requirements of the world community for a long time to come.