ARCIA eNews - January 2013

Sergeant Peter Bertram Mill of Mordialloc, Victoria, has been recognised by the community with an OAM, Medal of the Order of Australia.

Peter Mill is a current member of Victoria Police who spent many years at the RED workshops initially working on the 64 block UHF system upgrade. The last 15 years he has been an operational member as a station Sergeant in the Southern Suburbs. Peter volunteers an incredible amount of time for St John Ambulance and has been a driving force in managing/engineering the St John Ambulance Radio systems across Victoria and also other states. Peter spends significant personal time solving the St John Issues of spectrum management, site location and engineering, maintenance and on-going fleet support including control room design and operations. Peter has also secured a lot of ex-police radio equipment officially and re-worked it for application issues for volunteers.

ARCIA is proud to host the first industry networking event for 2013 in Sydney on 14 February. This is a unique opportunity to join other radio professionals and share the excitement of an energised industry that continues to grow and establish new wireless opportunities. Launch the year and establish new relationships with industry colleagues old and new.

The NSW Industry Dinner and Networking event will feature ample networking time, presentations, a guest speaker and door prizes.The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre offers a delicious selection of food and beverage in a sophisticated and unrivalled setting. Attendees will enjoy a three-course meal along with ample time to enjoy a friendly drink with people from the industry.

Nestled in the heart of Darling Harbour, boasting exceptional waterfront views, the NSW Industry Dinner and Networking is set to be a fabulous night. For those of you attending the RFI Spurious Challenge Yacht race on the 15th February, this is a great opportunity to attend two significant industry events and to engage and network with others. Registrations are closing on 8 February so make sure you reserve your place now.

1. 803-960MHz band review – as notified in other newsletters and on our LinkedIn site, the ACMA have released the second discussion paper on this section of the spectrum. Although many in the industry may not see direct relevance of this sector of the spectrum, it has sections allocated to Trunked radio allocations and many of the latest Tetra systems in major developments for the resources sector are located there, as well as the fixed links that operate many of the VHF and 400MHz systems in remote areas of most states. ARCIA will be presenting an ‘Industry based’ response and we seek your thoughts and input for this important response. Closing date for comments to ARCIA is 12th February 2013 with the ACMA response required by 22nd February 2013.

2. 400MHz band implementation – the first major milestone of the 400MHz band review implementation is upon us – 31st December 2012. This is the date that all of the radio systems within the High Density Areas (basically Sydney/Newcastle/Wollongong, Melbourne/ Geelong and Brisbane/Gold Coast/Sunshine Coast) are supposed to be transferred to narrow-band operation. Although progress has been steady our anecdotal reports indicate that much is still to be done and the ARCIA committee are meeting regularly with the ACMA Implementation team to try to ensure a smooth change. This is an important exercise and ARCIA strongly supports the ACMA in this area, moves are afoot to have a guest speaker from the ACMA ‘400MHz Implementation Team’ for the Sydney Regional Dinner on Thursday 14th February 2013.