IARU Region 3 NEWS Release

The IARU Region 3 Directors –Chairman Michael Owen VK3KI, Directors Peter Lake ZL2AZ, Shizuo Endo JE1MUI, Prof. Rhee HL1AQQ and Gopal Madhavan VU2GMN met at the offices of JARL in Sugamo, Tokyo Japan on 14th, 15th and 16th July 2011. Also participating in his first meeting of Directors since his appointment last March as IARU
Region 3 Secretary was Ken Yamamoto JA1CJP, and all were assisted by Keigo Komuro JA1KAB, Special Advisor to the Directors.

IARU President, Timothy Ellam VE6SH, IARU Region 1 President Hans Blondeel Timmerman, PB2T, and IARU Region 2 President Reinaldo Leandro, YV5AMH also participated in the meeting. Prior to the Directors meeting Chairman Michael Owen and Secretary Ken Yamamoto visited Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and met with members of the Vietnam amateur Radio Club and worked with them in preparation for the 15th Regional Conference which will, it is expected, commence there on 5th November 2012. Based on their report on their visit the IARU Region 3 Directors were enthusiastic about the planning for this Conference, which it is hoped will assist the growth of amateur radio in Vietnam. The Directors considered the role of radio amateurs in a number of disasters that had occurred in recent times in Region 3, including the tragic fires in Victoria, Australia, the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand and the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. They also noted that many countries in Region 3 had not yet given effect the provision included in the ITU’s Radio Regulations in 2003 encouraging administrations to allow radio amateurs to prepare for and participate in disaster communications. The Directors agreed that emergency communications would be an appropriate theme for the 15th Regional Conference in Ho Chi Minh City.

The Directors spent much of their time in three working groups investigating the factual situation and exploring the options to be presented to the Member Societies in the report they were asked to present before the next Conference addressing the financial issues facing the Region that had caused such concern at the Christchurch Conference. They were reassured by the Secretary’s report that they were currently working comfortably within the budget set by the Christchurch Conference. The Directors devoted some time to reviewing the preparations for WRC-12, including the upcoming APG meeting. It seems likely that there will be an amateur on three national delegations at WRC-12. The Directors discussed the future of the Monitoring System, and after hearing the comments of IARU President Tim Ellam hope that a very satisfactory solution to the concerns identified in Christchurch will be found at the next Administrative Council meeting, to be held in Sun City, South Africa next August.

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