RadCom April 2024, Vol. 100, No. 4

April 2024 39 Report Spectrum issues: the demand for spectrum in the 2m band exceeds availability in many parts of the UK. Frequencies in the 70cm and 6m bands can still be found in most areas. Emerging Technology: the three main competing digital voice modes, DMR, D-Star and Fusion, continue to fuel demand for channels. Although multi-protocol repeaters and gateways are increasingly being licensed, single-mode repeaters still remain in demand. We continue to work with the VHF Manager over standards and spectrum for wider bandwidth, high-speed data, and with BATC to encourage narrower bandwidth digital video formats, which will be important if our access to bandwidth in the higher bands is reduced in the future. Data Communications: 2023 has seen a resurgence in the use of packet data and the deployment of linked systems by a number of enthusiasts. So far, the demand for spectrum in this area has been met. Licensing and renewals: Notices of Variation continue to be generated and renewed efficiently through Ofcom. In general, Primary User consent in shared bands has been efficient. ETCC membership: 2023 has seen some reorganisation of the regions to even the workload and realign responsibilities, particularly with digital modes. My thanks as always to the regional and specialist managers for their hard work. The future: 2024 will see some significant changes to the amateur licence and new opportunities to set up repeaters, gateways and beacons with minimal paperwork. ETCC is preparing to react and provide assistance with planning these, so those who set them up can be certain they have met the personal responsibilities emphasised in the revised licence conditions, and avoid interference to other users, by using the established tools and expertise the RSGB has developed for this purpose over the years. Andrew Barrett, G8DOR etcc.chairman@rsgb.org.uk Examinations Standards Committee (ESC) This report covers the work of the RSGB Examination Standards Committee (ESC) and its sub-group, the Examinations and Syllabus Review Group (ESRG), during 2023. The role of the ESC is to ensure the standards of the Amateur Radio Examinations are maintained at a level that ensures the aspiring radio amateur has an adequate understanding of contemporary radio communications technology and can operate legally, safely and without causing interference to other services. It also ensures that the UK licence is broadly in line with HAREC and CEPT TR 61-02, so that UK amateurs can benefit from reciprocal licensing arrangements. The ESC monitors the work of the RSGB Exams Department, which organises the examinations, and it appoints and oversees the ESRG. The ESRG does the day-to- day work of maintaining the syllabus and exam question bank and considers any candidates’ challenges to exam questions. The ESC considers the examination statistics, reports of exam irregularities, appeals against the outcomes of challenges and produces an annual report on the performance of the examinations system. The latest of these, covering the 2022 examinations year can be found at: https://rsgb. services/public/publications/esc/reports/2023/ examinations_standards_committee_report_2023. pdf The membership of the ESC can be found at: https://rsgb.org/main/about-us/committees/ examination-standards-committee/members The membership of the ESRG can be found at: https:// rsgb.org/main/about-us/committees/examination- standards-committee/exams-group/members/. During 2023, Dr Donard de Cogan, M0KRK, stepped down as acting Chair of the ESRG. Donard oversaw the change from twice-yearly face-to-face meetings of the ESRG to weekly online meetings during the Covid pandemic. The online meetings proved very effective and have continued following the pandemic. I would like to take this opportunity to formally thank all members of the ESC, ESRG and the Exams Department at RSGB for their work during 2023, and especially Donard for his work as acting Chair of the ESRG over the last four years. The new chair of the ESRG is Andrew Lenton, G8UUG, who has joined at a busy time as the group is currently working on updates to the licensing and operating sections of the syllabus in response to the new Ofcom licence proposals (see below). Due to the hard work and enthusiasm of the team of RSGB remote invigilators and club exam secretaries and invigilators, a total of 2232 candidates sat an exam in 2023. The exam data for 2023 (2022) are: at Foundation 1500 (1696) candidates and 1282 (1461) passes; at Intermediate 416 (534) candidates and 361 (450) passes; and at Full 289 (371) candidates and 191 (239) passes. That is a total of 1834 (2150) candidates who have achieved the standard necessary to obtain their first amateur radio licence or to upgrade to a higher class. Direct to Full (D2F) examinations began in January 2023. In 2023 there were 27 D2F candidates and 12 passes. The take up of the D2F exam during its first year is somewhat disappointing, especially given the high degree of enthusiasm for the development expressed in the consultation responses. However, this might just reflect the downturn in numbers of candidates at all levels in 2023 compared to last few years. Of the 2232 candidates, 1992 sat the exam online with remote invigilation, 82 sat the exam online in a club setting and 158 sat the exam on paper. One of the main activities of ESC/ESRG in 2023 has been drafting a syllabus update (v1.6) and reviewing the exam question bank to align with Ofcom’s proposals for significant changes to the licence, which were consulted on in 2023. As a ‘heads-up’ to the training community and potential candidates, the draft revised syllabus sections have been posted on the RSGB website, here: https://rsgb.services/public/publications/exams/ syllabus_v1.6_sections_1_and_7_Dec_2023.pdf It should be pointed out that there may be further changes to v1.6 after Ofcom has published the final version of the licence. In parallel to this, the regular work of monitoring the performance of the exams system through the year, reviewing and topping up the question bank and responding to exams challenges has continued. Looking forward to 2024, work will continue on syllabus v1.6 and the exam question bank. At this stage it is planned to keep the changes to the minimum necessary to satisfy Ofcom requirements. Further down the line a more substantial review will take place which will fully consolidate all the licence changes since the introduction of syllabus 2019, and consider data on pass rates and progression through the levels. Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to thank again everyone involved in the examinations process: the staff at HQ, members of ESC and ESRG and, most importantly, the tutors and invigilators that make the system work and so contributed to the health of amateur radio during 2023. Tony Kent, G8PBH esc.chair@rsgb.org.uk GB2CW I begin the report for 2023 with the sad news that we have lost another GB2CW volunteer – Martyn Vincent, G3UKV. He passed award on 3 January 2024. Martyn had been running GB2CW at 9am on 3605kHz every Thursday morning for many years. He was also an RSGB Morse Code Assessor and was a very valued Vice Chairman of Telford and District Amateur Radio Society. Martyn was District Representative 53 (Shropshire, North Worcestershire and West Birmingham), previously the Regional Representative for Region 5 and also a previous member of the Nominations Committee. Martyn was also a well-respected member of the microwave and contesting communities. It is always difficult to replace people with such experience and to even maintain the status quo, so we are always looking to recruit new volunteers to the GB2CW scheme. With the advent of Zoom and Skype it is so easy to conduct tuition online these days but, although it is online and therefore no special licensing or indeed any licence at all is needed, it would be good to add this facility to the RSGB schedule, if only for the publicity it brings to the efforts of the volunteers. There are certain locations in the UK that are difficult to maintain an RF class in on the 2m band, so it makes sense to use Zoom or Skype or some other similar online program. This is preferred rather than have no class at all. So, if you are conducting such a class, please email me with the details and let me publicise it within the present GB2CW schedule. If you are running, or wish to run, a tuition class