The 12th meeting of the Maritime Forum Group of the working group on Frequency Management (WG FM) was held last 17-19 June in Copenhagen, chaired by Jaap Steenge of the Netherlands.
The Maritime Forum Group mainly covers issues involving maritime mobile and maritime radio-navigation.
Various issues were considered at the meeting, including the following:
- harmonisation of personal radio equipment, including automatic identification system search and rescue transponder (AIS-SART); man-over-board (MOB) devices; automatic identification system for MOB (AIS-MOB); emergency position-indicating radio beacons automatic identification system (EPIRB-AIS); very high frequency (VHF) portable radios with digital selective calling (DSC) and global navigation by satellite system (GNSS), a highlight being the proposal to draw up a new CEPT recommendation on use of the 160.900 MHz frequency band in MOB devices;
- results of the WG FM project team 22 (PT22) monitoring campaign specifically focusing on the maritime emergency frequencies 6215 kHz and 6312 kHz showed that illegal broadcasting continues from various CEPT countries, noting that it was hard to eliminate;
- revision of ERC DEC (99)01 on harmonisation of material for General Operator’s Certificate (GOC) and Restricted Operator’s Certificate (ROC) exams - plans call for this work to be finished by the end of next year;
- accompaniment of matters associated to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), specifically results from the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC 93) meeting, and preparation of the next meeting of the recently created subcommittee on Navigation, Communications and Search and Rescue (NCSR);
- establishment of a database with contacts from administrations and organisations that issue ship licences and radio operator certificates in maritime mobile service;
- question in the scope of working group 5B (WG 5B) of the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R), specifically concerning MOB and AIS systems, Recommendation ITU-R M.493 on the digital selective calling system for use in maritime mobile service and revision of Recommendation ITU-R M.585-6 on consignment and use of identifications in maritime mobile service;
- accompaniment and study on problems implementing appendix 18, revised at the 2012 world conference, specifically regarding the new channels with 4-digit nomenclature.
