FINAL REPORT - Stakeholders - Ofcom

The United Kingdom has closed down all coast stations offering a commercial (public
correspondence) service in all frequency bands because they are no longer economically
viable. If communications are not established through coast stations of other countries (e.
g. the Danish coast station Lyngby Radio), the public communications needs of ships are
mainly met by GSM, if close enough to a base station on land or by satellite (Inmarsat).
The issue of public correspondence services and the increased use of GSM and satellite
communications are addressed in more detail elsewhere in this report.
Apart from the frequencies used for distress and safety, it would appear from a United
Kingdom perspective that the MF bands that are designated for commercial traffic could
be released for other services. Due to the international character of the maritime mobile
service and the need for agreement in the ITU, would be a very time-consuming process
6.6.4 Regulatory and Standardisation Issues
Coast station equipment for general as well as for distress and safety use has to comply
with the R&TTE Directive.
The shipborne equipment has to comply with the R&TTE Directive for equipment used for
non-SOLAS purposes and with the Marine Equipment Directive concerning equipment for
distress and safety under the SOLAS Convention; compliance with this Directive
guarantees automatic compliance with the relevant requirements in the SOLAS
Convention.
6.6.5 Possible Improvements to Existing Technology
There is no incentive for any improvements to the existing technology; this applies in
particular to Morse telegraphy, since its importance is rapidly decreasing (see also
Section 6.6.3).
6.6.6 Possible New Technologies (in-band)
With regard to SSB telephony, it is believed to be premature to consider a change-over to
digital techniques. As far as the digital modes of operation are concerned, it could be
envisaged that high-speed data systems in accordance with Recommendation ITU-R
M.1081 might be implemented. These are presently limited to the HF bands; nevertheless
they could also be implemented in the MF bands within one telephony channel.
There is also the possibility to use many of the techniques addressed in section 6.5 within
the spectrum allocated to the maritime mobile and mobile services between 1.6 and 3
MHz. Firstly, NVIS propagation characteristics (see 6.5.3) might provide possibilities for
introducing more services in the range through sharing, however the main technology
challenges will be the development of antennas for mobile stations with a high launch
angle. Large vessels will of course be able to install the electrically low horizontal
antennas best suited for such propagation but this may not apply to smaller ships or land
vehicles if sharing was to be contemplated.
The adaptive techniques described in section 6.5.1 are equally applicable to spectrum in
the range 1.6 – 3 MHz and the Email and data services described in 6.5.2 might also be
extended to the upper end of the MF frequency band.
Although WRC-2003 was mandated to review, under its agenda item 1.14, also the
frequency arrangements in the maritime MF bands concerning the use of digital
technology, no pertinent decision was taken.
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